Mother’s Day is advertised as a day of relaxing and pampering, but what if you get stuck with (um, I mean, “receive the honour of”) hosting the gathering to celebrate it? Naturally, you’ll want to make the experience extra nice for the assembled moms, which may include your mom, mother-in-law, grandma, sister or sister-in-law, among others.
While stuck in an airport due to a delayed flight, I found myself feeling things I hadn’t felt in a while. To my surprise, I realized they were the same emotions I had experienced during the early days when my kids were infants. Inspired by this, here is a list of similarities between caring for a new baby and having a long airport layover:
My kids have many strengths, but speed is not one of them. Particularly when it comes to putting on snow pants and boots, along with a jacket, hat and mittens. They… are… slow.
For my first five years of motherhood, I managed to avoid getting seriously sick. Sure, I got colds and coughs, but nothing I couldn’t soldier through. Then, when my kids were ages two and five, I got the flu. The full-on, real-deal, knock-you-out flu. We’re talking achiness, chills, fever, coughing, sneezing, headache, and congestion. If “soaking several sets of pyjamas in my own sweat” had been on my bucket list, I’d have earned a big checkmark. Any effort to get up and do anything was completely flu-tile.
The start of a new year is a fitting time to take a bird’s-eye view of how we’re doing in life. It’s a chance to celebrate our accomplishments while also being honest with ourselves about things we can improve. For example, there may be areas of our lives where we’re not being as efficient as we could be, or we’re making choices that compromise our chances of attaining true fulfilment.
After some deeply personal soul-searching, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is something that has been holding me back and draining away my energy.
I admit it: I’m a Star Wars nerd. The franchise and I were born in the same year, so I’ve never known a world without Star Wars. The opening fanfare music gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. I had a Hoth System play set as a kid. I own a Yoda key chain.
Back in the day, being a girl and a Star Wars fan was fairly rare, since it was mostly boys playing with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo action figures. Today, it’s a different story – literally. Star Wars returned to the big screen in 2015 and 2016 with
The holiday season is about carrying on the traditions that are special to you, whatever they may be. It might be anticipating the daily antics of the Elf on a Shelf, curling up to watch a favourite yuletide movie or baking a classic family recipe. For me, it’s sending holiday cards.
I realize that in today’s day and age, sending paper cards by regular mail may seem ridiculous and archaic. It’s more expensive. It’s more time-consuming. It’s slower. It’s (as my son would say) “from the olden times.”
A parent trying to get a cranky preschooler to cooperate with a routine task (such as getting ready to leave the house) can be likened to a rodeo clown chasing around a bucking bronco.
You wouldn’t think a dentist’s office and trick-or-treaters would have a common goal at this time of year, but Dr. Mayada Kheriba is trying to change that. Every year, her dental office in New Hamburg, Ontario hosts a “candy buy back” a week after Halloween, where kids can swap their extra candy for cash.
“We started it three years ago as an initiative to give back to the community,” says Dr. Kheriba. “The kids wear their costumes to the office and receive a dollar for every pound of candy they trade in. The candy is then donated to Ronald McDonald House at Sick Kids Hospital, where it is shared with young patients – along with their siblings and families – who may have missed out on Halloween.”