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A Pet Owner’s Guide to Surviving the Holidays

December 3, 2013 | Leave a Comment

The holidays are times of both excitement and stress, of festivity and fatigue. If you own pets, you not only get to prepare lavish meals, shop for family and friends, decorate, and wrap gifts, but you also have to deal with keeping your furry kids out of trouble when guests are over or when there are dangerous edibles like chocolate laying around.

But don’t despair! Owning pets can enhance your holiday spirit, not hinder it. Just check out the following tips for surviving the holidays with pets at home:

Staying Out of Trouble

The biggest issue with pets is that they can’t seem to stay out of trouble, especially when there are human treats and toys and decorations all around them. It’s quite a departure from the living arrangements they’re accustomed to for the other eleven months of the year, so many pets are naturally intrigued by the sweet smells in the air and tinsel hanging from the walls (they’d probably love nothing more than to claw or chew it all up!).

For starters, the ASPCA offers a comprehensive list of foods that are hazardous for dogs as well as one for cats. Things like chocolate can really upset their stomachs (or worse, if eaten in large quantities), so be sure to secure garbage containers and leave no food out where your pet could snatch it. Even if you have a cat or a big dog that’s normally pretty obedient, don’t underestimate what they’d do to get at that chocolate cake or roasted chicken sitting on your counter.

Also be mindful of decorations that could potentially harm your pet, such as a tree (make sure it’s locked in place so it can’t fall over) or small decorations that they could chew up or swallow, causing intestinal issues that could lead to a pricy visit to the veterinarian.

Hosting Guests

Having guests over for holiday parties presents another problem for pet owners: what should you do with Fluffy and Fido? Some people won’t appreciate animals freely roaming around while they’re trying to eat, but locking up your pets for several hours isn’t a realistic or humane option either. Your options here include: leaving your pets in your bedroom and letting them out after your guests have finished their meal, hiring a pet sitter to take care of your pets while you’re busy playing host or hostess, ask your neighbor to look after your pets for the evening (only if they like animals, of course), or if you have children and your party is for the adults only, ask or pay your human kids to look after your furry, four-legged kids for the night.

Going Out of Town

If you go out of town for the holidays, the logistics of making sure your pets are taken care of become a bit more complicated. Some people don’t mind dropping their pets off at a boarding facility, but not only are these rather pricy during the holiday season, they could potentially lead to health problems if your pet catches an illness from someone else’s pet. Another option is to simply bring your pet along on your holiday travels, but for many, this isn’t possible due to limited space or pet restrictions at your destination.

There is also the option of hiring a pet sitter, but this could cost you in upwards of $20-50 per visit, depending on the time duration and services rendered (e.g., taking your dog on a walk or crushing pills for your cat). If you don’t have a doggie door or your cat doesn’t use an indoor litter box, you could end up having to pay for multiple visits to make sure your pets are going to the bathroom regularly. To save money, consider hiring a reliable teenager in your neighborhood who clearly loves animals and would love to make some cash over the holidays by looking after your pets.

Holiday Gift-Giving

Sure, there’s a lot to think about when it comes to managing your pets during the holidays, but it’s not all precautionary measures! When it comes time to unwrap presents, it’s always fun to give something to your pet to make sure they don’t feel left out. Whether it’s a simple bone or bag of cat treats or a luxurious new bed (you can always search around for coupons and coupon codes to minimize the costs of gifts for your pets), getting something for your pet is a nice way to share the holiday cheer with every member of your family.

What other tips and tricks do you have when it comes to pets around the holidays?

Give the Gift of Experience This Holiday Season

November 25, 2013 | Leave a Comment

When you’re a child, you can’t wait for Christmas. You count the days until Christmas, and the night before, you might have trouble falling asleep because you’re so excited. Christmas morning you likely got up bright and early ready to tear through your presents. Christmas was so much fun!

As you age, the joy can go out of the holidays. You know you’ll need to spend both time and money to find the perfect gift for someone. Others buy you gifts, but often, the items are things you really don’t want or need. If you have the means, you might return the items for something you do want, but often, the gifts just join a pile of clutter somewhere in your house. Sound familiar?

Let’s be honest. By the time we’re early middle aged, we can buy most of what we need. Getting presents isn’t nearly as exciting as it was when we were younger.

But what if we could change that?

How, you ask?

Simple. Instead of giving “stuff”, give the gift of experience.

Do you know someone who loves to snowmobile? Why not book a night or two at a cabin where he can spend the day snowmobiling with friends? If he doesn’t have a snowmobile, make the arrangements to rent him one. If you still want to give a traditional gift, why not buy a top rated snowmobile helmet to wear while enjoying his experience gift?

You can also give the gift of your own presence with your experience gift. Kids usually receive way too many toys during the holidays. Instead, give your child a gift that expands on her interests and talents. If you have a child who loves to cook, why not sign her up for a kids’ cooking class? You could take the class with her and give the gift of your presence, too. A nice accompanying gift might be her own cookbook or apron for cooking at home.

The gift of experience also works nicely for parents in their sixties. Parents this age are often retired and have more time to pursue their own interests. To pick the perfect experience gift for them, focus on their interests. You could buy them tickets to a musical or theater performance. If your parents are very adventurous, you could buy them a skydiving package. You know best what they would like.

When buying a gift of experience, you can search the web and find businesses that offer already prepared gifts of experience. Or, you could make the arrangements yourself, contacting the business and purchasing the items needed for the experience. The one advantage to buying an already prepared experience through a business is that you may be able to return it if it is an experience the person would rather not have.

If you’re looking to spice up your holiday gift giving, try giving the gift of experience. It’s a gift your recipient will likely never forget.

Things to Consider When Traveling with Children

December 9, 2012 | 2 Comments

If you’re planning some holiday travels, or even thinking about a trip for next summer, there are some things that you should consider about traveling with children. It can be very expensive…you have to get extra plane tickets, pay for more meals, and spend more to have fun. However, that doesn’t need to hold you back from your dream vacation. Here are some things to consider when traveling with children.

Do The Road Trip

One of the first things you should consider is doing the road trip. This can be a great trip for children because you just take your regular car, and you can set your own agenda. This means traveling as much or as little as you want each day. You can also have the kids pick out which sites they want to see on the trip, which will make it a fun experience for them. Take a look at some of these other tips for traveling with kids.

Ditch the Hotel

One of the worst parts of traveling to a new place can be cramming into a hotel room with the whole family – dealing with roller beds or sleeping on hotel couches is not fun. Neither is sleeping 2-3 per bed. Instead of staying in a hotel, consider renting a timeshare in your favorite destination. Timeshares typically have 1-2 bedrooms and family room, which can be used to sleep the whole family. Also, timeshares usually have kitchens, which can be used to cut back on costs by preparing small meals and snacks at the room, instead of buying everything.

Go on a Family Friendly Vacation

Finally, you could consider going on a vacation specifically for children. For example, you could take a Disney cruise, or go to a family resort, that has a lot of activities specifically designed for children and families. The perks of these types of trips is that they have plenty of activities for kids and adults alike, and that makes the whole experience enjoyable.

What tips do you have for traveling with children?

Christmas Bliss – Eliminate Stress and Experience Great Joy

December 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment

I titled my post Christmas bliss because one of the definitions of bliss is — great joy! That is what we all should feel on Christmas. For those of us who honor the true meaning of Christmas, we are celebrating God’s greatest gift to us — the birth of his son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Because of this, there is so much to celebrate and be thankful for on Christmas Day.

Unfortunately, for many people it can also be a really stressful time and why wouldn’t it be? We are bombarded with commercials of people giving cars with big red bows on them, a zillion different toy commercials that have our children repeating over and over, I want I want I want and if he didn’t go to Jared well, then maybe he’s just not that into you. Others of us measure our Christmas success by how many different kinds of Christmas cookies, candies or other goodies we can mass produce in a month. What it boils down to, is many of us simply try to do too much and want everything to be as perfect as possible. Then, when we fall short — well, we feel like we have failed.

Please believe me when I say that there have been many Christmases where I mailed presents late, got caught up in the stress or wished I had just done more — but you know what? Christmas still came and I still felt great joy when the day finally arrived.

My Favorite Christmas Story

One of my favorite Christmas stories – How the Grinch Stole Christmas – illustrates this point beautifully. It has such a great message and one of my very favorite parts of the story is when the Grinch is listening for the Who’s to be sobbing and sad because all of their Chirstmas decorations and presents have been stolen by him but when they wake up they aren’t sad. They feel great joy and instead of crying, the Grinch hears singing and you know what…

“Christmas came just the same…It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.” Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! “Maybe Christmas he thought doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas …perhaps…means a little bit more.” ~ How the Grinch Stole Christmas • by Dr. Seuss

Making It So Everyone Can Enjoy

So how can we enjoy all that this blessed season has to offer and still keep things in perspective. I touched on this a bit in the post I wrote last year The Magic and Meaning of Christmas and I’ll provide a few simple tips on how you can feel the true joy of Christmas through and through.

Scale it Down a Bit

Don’t overdue by trying to be perfect. Don’t overspend, don’t over plan just don’t over extend yourself to the point where you and your family are stressed and miserable. See those gingerbread cookies pictured above. I made them. They aren’t perfect (gingerbread heads were rolling) and even though I had wanted to make about 3 different kinds of cookies, I got so stressed out making those that I decided not too. This year St. Nick is going to have to be happy with the cut and bake cookies from the store. Whew! What a weight off my shoulders.

Give Generously

This can be of your time, talent, heart and/or your treasure. Whenever you give, give with love and not out of a sense of obligation. I just read a wonderful story about an anonymous person who paid off a bunch of layaways for some people at Kmart. It honestly brought a tear to my eye. While the season can sometimes bring out the worst in people, it also certainly brings out the BEST in people too. You don’t have to spend money to be generous, you can volunteer to help with a toy drive, ring the bell for the Salvation Army, work in a soup kitchen or winter shelter, there are so many things you can do and it will really help you to feel the true spirit of the season.

Simplify Gift Giving

If you have a big family you can draw names or choose just to buy for kids. There are lots of fantastic DIY Christmas present ideas and photo gifts are fun, special and usually economical.

Stay Home

Traveling to see family is something that many people do but sometimes it just can’t happen. Traveling (especially with children) is stressful on a normal day but during the holidays you multiply that by about a thousand! I’m not just talking about traveling out of state either. I know many families have several places they need to be. Consider hosting your own celebration, trading off every other year or visiting one family on Christmas Eve and one Christmas Day. If you have a lot of invites it is a huge blessing to know so many people love you and want to spend the holidays with you, but it can be tough too.

Celebrate the True Meaning of Christmas

If you are feeling stressed or getting caught up in the holiday craziness instead of appreciating all the beauty, wonder and magic think back to that first Christmas. When a young mother gave birth to her sweet baby boy in a barn. She and her husband didn’t have much but they wrapped him in some blankets and laid him on soft clean hay in a manger. Simple yet miraculous.

John 1:14 — The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!!!

What are you doing this year to eliminate holiday stress?