Seasonal Kindness--A Collection of Great Ideas

It seems like everyone writes about kindness this time of year. I've been wondering about re-playing some of these ideas in February or March, when people are just plain tired of winter.

However, it is December and not March, so for now I will simply share some of the wonderful ideas I've come across recently.

A colleague of mine shared this website with me recently on which there is an assortment on different kindness ideas to be added to an advent calendar. Some ideas include donating winter coats and baking cookies for neighbours. The free printables can be found here: http://www.muminthemadhouse.com/2015/11/11/advent-acts-of-kindness-free-printables/

Cookie recipes: llemonade.com/baking

 If those ideas seem a little too ambitious at this busy time of year, this calendar, available as an advent calendar and a kindness calendar for those who don't celebrate Christmas, has some simpler, but still meaningful ideas http://www.coffeecupsandcrayons.com/kindness-is-the-best-way-to-countdown-to-christmas/

Another simple idea is to keep items handy to give to homeless / needy people as you encounter them in your travels. Bus tickets, subway tokens, and coffee shop gift cards fit nicely into any purse or backpack. Blankets, hats and mitts can be packed in the car. Taking time to look at and talk to the recipients can also make a huge difference.

Many food banks, soup kitchens and shelters are inundated at this time by seasonal well-wishers who tend to disappear after the holiday rush. Making a plan to help year-round is much more helpful in most cases.

An idea for the adults that can save lives is to give blood over the holiday season. This is a simple gift that costs nothing, and many are able to do.

If you know of someone for whom the holidays will be difficult due to loss of a loved one, divorce, illness etc., spending time with them doing something fun and not necessarily holiday related can help them get through the season. Often those who need it the most are the ones who fall off of the radar--this is the time to search them out and be there for them. Along similar lines, seniors' residences and hospitals often welcome volunteers to come in and visit and/or read to their residents.

The celebration of "Twelfth Night" can be a good time to consider some of these ideas as well, since the pressures of the season will have passed, and (perhaps) a little more time is available.

Warm-Ups

Over the holidays it is especially important to get outside and enjoy some time with nature. Spending time with nature helps us deal better with the stresses of the season, gives us a bit of a vitamin D boost, and is an enjoyable way to spend time with friends and family. If you are fortunate enough to live where the temperatures actually reach sub-zero at this time of year, you can go skating, skiing or snowshoeing. Those of us who only "might" get a white Christmas can still don rain or winter boots and hike through our local forests.

Each winter solstice, our family chooses one tree to decorate with bird seed treats. It is part of a tradition we started when the kids were toddlers, and as we visit that tree on our walks throughout the winter, the kids make note of animal tracks and what has been eaten and what has been left behind.

To warm up, try a bowl of homemade squash soup (recipe below), and/or an arctic float. Or just make some homemade hot chocolate and use a candy cane as your stir-stick for a seasonal treat.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (makes about 6 litres)

2 medium butternut squashes, cut into quarters
water
one cooking onion
2-3 tart apples (Granny Smith, Spartan or Empire work well), peeled, cored and chopped
1-2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
sunflower oil
sea salt (about 2 teaspoons)
pepper
cinnamon (about 1.5 teaspoons)
nutmeg (about 1 teaspoon)
powdered ginger (about 1/2 teaspoon)
cayenne pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon)

Add water to your baking dishes (just enough to soak the bottom of the dishes) then add your squash. You can remove the seeds before or after baking. Bake the sqaush for 40-60 minutes or until tender.

In a heavy and large soup pot, heat the oil. Fry the onion until it is clear, then add chopped carrots. Continue cooking for about 2 minutes, then add the apples and 2 cups of water (you may need more water later on). Continue cooking until the carrots and apples start to soften.

Scoop out the flesh from the squash and add it to the pot. Stir well and blend with an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender, using a large mixing bowl to hold the blended portions. Once it is all blended, return the soup to the pot.

Add the salt, pepper and spices to taste.

This freezes well too.

Enjoy!

Celebrating a STEM Holiday Season

STEM is an acronym that stands for Science, technology, engineering & mathematics.

Adding a little STEM to the holiday season is a great way to have a little geeky fun.

Math

Mobius Paper Chains:
Liven up the traditional paper chains by giving each link a twist before fastening. Try making a thicker link on its own, then cut it down the centre to see what happens. You can use a few of these for your chain as well.  Try cutting a strip 1/3 from the edge all around. What happens?

Stars & Angles:
What kind of star do you get when you join up all the corners of a square? Pentagon? Hexagon? Septagon? Octagon? Calculate the angles involved in each of these. What is the sum of the angles for each of the different stars?
Now try drawing a triangle on a sphere (a balloon or Christmas ball will work well). Measure the angles of this triangle. What do you notice about their sum? What might this mean if you were to draw one of the stars on a sphere? Try it and see if your predictions hold.

For the younger set:
The Twelve Days of Christmas song lends itself well to learning ordinals (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.), and at the end you can add up all the gifts the "true love" gave. Can you find a shortcut for adding successive numbers?

An Advent Calendar as well as a regular calendar can reinforce counting up and counting down skills.

Science
A few chemistry concoctions lend themselves well to Christmas.

Crystal window paint: This easy-clean recipe uses epsom salts to make a crystal pattern on any glass surface.
Crystals:
  Use this salt solution recipe to paint crystal patterns for cards and gift tags.
  Make a classic borax crystal ornament (remember when you did this as a kid?)
Snow:
  Use one of these recipes to make either shaving-cream or soap-based indoor "snow" dough.
  Paint the snow with spray bottles.
Don't forget to take a little time out for a nature walk and some star gazing too!

Engineering
Design your own Rube Goldberg machine to deliver a gift to a loved one, or make it a little simpler and set up your electric or wooden train around the tree to do the same thing.
Make and use some squishy circuits (playdough recipes that conduct and resist currents) to make a light-up Christmas tree, Rudolph, etc.

Technology
Design an electronic gift card, video greeting or holiday game using one or more of the following:
Scratch drag-and-drop computer programming tool from MIT
Windows paint
Picasa (try making a mosaic creation too!)
Photoshop
MS Movie Maker
Muvee
Or any other photo, drawing, graphics, video or word processing programs you like.
Or try Make-a Flake for some addictive mess-free snowflake making.

Remember, many more math & science activities can be found on the Lemonade website.

The Great Christmas Search

Every year the same thing happens at our house. My older son makes his Christmas list, and the top item is inevitably something that a) doesn't exist b) is not available in this country, or often, not even on the continent c) exists but won't be sold for several years as it's still in development d) no longer is sold in stores and is either not available on Ebay etc., or has gone out of our financial reach due to its rarity e) never existed, but he wishes it did.
In past years, it has been elusive model train parts, books that are out of print, videos or music selections that are no longer recorded, discontinued Playmobil pieces (the outlet store in Mississauga eventually helped with that one!), and a spare dedicated camera battery that took us seven weeks to find. Other families have trouble finding stock of popular items, but our problem is usually the opposite!

My younger son used to ask for "interesting" things too--like the year he wanted a Beluga whale--not a "zoo adoption", not a toy, but the actual real thing. Thankfully, his desires have become a little easier to appease over the years!

The item of interest this year is actually more of something we already own. This should be easy, right? Nope. The plain painted dominoes that are perfect for building domino runs are no longer made by Melissa and Doug. When we emailed them, they directed us to their numbered domino set. This is a completely different item. Ebay doesn't have any now either.

My sons spend hours building complicated domino runs. Sometimes the runs are part of a larger Rube Goldberg machine (see here for more on Rube Goldberg machines), and sometimes they stand alone. For the past four (five?) years, they have been the most played with item in our house, even beating out house favourites such as Crazy Forts, Snap Circuits, Lego and K'nex. I love how such a simple toy can lead to so much creativity.

I originally purchased them on a whim at Winners. They were likely being discontinued at the time. I know others use dominoes like this, but aside from an incredibly expensive version made in Germany, I have been unable to find a source.

They are simple wooden blocks that should be easy to cut, sand and paint ourselves, right? Except they use hardwood that is a little more challenging to work, and the exact uniform size of the pieces is critical. Some of the transition pieces are pretty complex as well, at least, they are for unskilled carpenters such as my husband and I. Making some will be our last resort.

I have to admit though that I have actually come to enjoy the treasure hunt associated with these requests. I suspect this is something that I will miss in a few years, so despite the stress associated with it all, I am determined to enjoy it.