Here is a fun freebie for all my visitors and subscribers - Family Resolutions and Goals for the New Year mini e-book. This will help you jump start your New Years Resolutions - not only for you but for your entire family too. You can download your free copy by Right Clicking Here and saving it in your hard drive. Feel free to tell your friends about this freebie.
Wishing you the very best this coming New Year!
The New Year is almost upon us. To most people, New Year means a fresh new start. Did you know that resolutions are frequently made and broken a week or two before the start of the New Year? A common question is - “How do you actually make and keep your new year resolutions?” Well, an answer could be … make it into a family project. Have a family meeting and talk to every family member about the changes they would like to make as individuals and as a family.
Have everyone in the family make their own list of goals and resolutions and during another family meeting, let everyone talk about their list. You can then, talk about ways on how each person can help one another with their resolutions and each one can keep track and encourage one another. It is important to consider though that the key is prioritizing the list to see which goals are most important and focus on them first. Do not attempt to change too much at once because it can be very overwhelming. Although accountability is a powerful tool in making life changes, not that there is a thin line between encouraging others and nagging them. Remind your family members to make sure to encourage others in a positive way.
After your list is prioritized, you can then convert the resolutions to goals. Look at your calendar and figure out a date by which you want to accomplish each goal. Everyone has projects that has been put on hold. Choose a project and then pick a date to have it done by. Write all the steps you need to take to reach that goal. Make it visual. If you do this, it will be easier to stay on track. A trick you can do is to post your checklist where you can see it and update it daily.
Now let’s talk about family goals. Family goals need to be agreed upon by everyone in the family. It is not possible to work together if you do not work towards the same thing. If the goal is spending more time together as a family, make sure to consider everyone’s schedule into consideration. Sure there will be some conflicts but try your best as a family to be flexible to achieve your family goals.
Of course every member of the family will have specific personal goals like weight loss and exercising. To help them reach their goal, avoid fattening foods at home and have everyone join in the work out sessions even if it’s not everyone’s resolution - it’ll be for everyones good. It not only helps keep them motivated, but helps everyone get in better shape too.
Set up short term and long term goals and you can monitor your progress towards keeping your New Year’s resolution. Your short term goals will be our stepping stones to help you achieve your bigger goals. Use calendars, charts and even checklists to help you keep track of you and your family’s progress.
Phew … I am still pooped. I had a very busy couple of days … I was busy cooking up a feast on Christmas Eve. I made tons of food because we had the holiday celebration here in my home. I made 3 kinds simple but yummy of dips/spread, my famous corn chowder (everyone’s fave), clam linguine, teriyaki meatballs, lots of different kinds of breads and appetizers including my shrimp and broccoli pizza and lots more. I had fun cooking and entertaining but I am still tired. I have been so busy with family and guests in this last week that I have been hardly online. This is what I love most about my job - I get to place my family first. I am swamped with work and will have to dig myself out of an email pile up - so I will remain to be quiet in the next few days while I catch up.
So, what were you doing on Christmas? I was cooking, entertaining, taking lots of pictures and videos and cleaning up - I am tired! Below are a couple pictures of me being “me” on Christmas - one is me taking videos and one is of me cleaning up after the kids opened their presents.
As expected during the busy holiday season - my schedule has been interrupted by the holidays, kids on break from school, family and friends being over - If you have been trying to get a hold of me - just to let you know, I have not checked my emails yet - so if you are waiting for a reply - “Take a number” - it’ll be a while. I will try to reply as quickly as I can. I am hoping to be back on my regular work schedule when the kids return to school and after the holidays are over - around Jan. 7, 2008.
The kids are on holiday break from school already and I have been busy looking for activities to keep them busy while they are on break. I found this one fun idea - that I may just have to try - it’s a Candy Wreath.
All you would need are wire, hard candies in various flavors/colors, string and bow - having pliers would be very helpful too. Below is a video tutorial of how the candy wreath is made.
Easy and Fun Christmas Craft - Candy Wreath
I will have to give this a whirl and hope the kids have fun making it.
Our topic for this week is Favorite Christmas Tree Ornament. We put our tree up a week after Thanksgiving Day but I didn’t get to decorate it after three days. I was tired of my old Christmas decorations so we ended buying some new ones - actually just a set of 84 Xmas Decors for less than $15 - I thought that was a steal. Anyway, all the decors were gold but they were different designs - here is my favorite below.
How about you - if you put a Christmas tree up, what is your favorite Christmas Tree Ornament?
If you want to join us in our Friday Meme - go ahead and post your Favorite Christmas Tree Ornament in your blog and link back to MommyCommunity.com. You can use our graphic below by copying the html code and pasting it in your blog post. Then, add your name and URL to the link and a comment would be super awesome too!
HTML code for Friday Faves Graphic
Our 3rd Annual Carol for a Cause Fundraiser starts today and ends on Christmas Day. Listen to Moms and their kids carol for this wonderful cause. All proceeds will be given to the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. To listen to the carols - go to MommyCommunity.com/carol. Any amount you can donate will be greatly appreciated. After your PayPal donation has been received, you will be re-directed to the page where you can hear the carols and also get access to awesome downloadable goodies like:
Pamper Yourself Like a Princess
Holiday Traditions
Free and Fun Activities for Families
Family Resolutions and Goals for the New Year
177 Ways to Burn and Reduce Calories
Analyze Your Business Workbook
Viral Marketing Basics
No Cost and Low Cost Energy Saving Tips for Moms
Many thanks to the moms who sang …
Alice Seba
Angela Wills
Annette Yen
Jen Houck
LaTara Ham-Ying
Lisa Braverman
Melitsa Avila
Nell Taliercio
Sharon McMillan
I interviewed Kim Lashombe of ScrapbooksAlive.com on How to Capture our Holiday Memories using Photos and Video. She shares how easy it is to do - it is quite addicting too. You do not need fancy equipment - just your photos and a special program that is most likely in your computer already. She also shared a special report that teaches “How to make Video Xmas Cards” - you can access the tutorial by Clicking here!
Also mentioned in the show:
Carol for a Cause
Holiday Season Kickoff
Mom’s Talk Radio hosted a Special Wordless Wednesday Challenge and I thought I’d take it … what do you think of our big hair? I say OUR cause - look it - my husband’s hair was BIG too - what was he thinking? What was I thinking? Well these were taken 20 years ago - in 1987. You can see a more recent picture of me and my hubby here.
Our topic this week is Favorite Christmas Carol. I have a lot of favorites - “It’s beginning to Look a Lot Like Xmas” is one of them. I also like Winter Wonderland, Sleigh Ride, Jingle Bells - gosh, I can go on and on. How about you?
If you want to join us in our Friday Meme - go ahead and post your Favorite Christmas Carol in your blog and link back to MommyCommunity.com. You can use our graphic below by copying the html code and pasting it in your blog post. Then, add your name and URL to the link and a comment would be super awesome too!
HTML code for Friday Faves Graphic
I am busy trying to organize tha 3rd Carol for a Cause Fundraiser. It is a fun thing I do each holiday - I hope you can help out by either donating to the awesome cause or helping us spread the word. You can learn more by clicking here!
This is the 3rd year I am hosting Carol for a Cause. It is a unique fundraiser where I recruit carolers to sing a Xmas tune. Once the songs are compiled, I set up a site which is live for 12 days only - starting Dec. 13, 2007. All donations will be sent to Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. All those who donate will be given access to where they can listen to and enjoy the Xmas Carols and will also be sent to a Thank You page filled with awesome downloadable gifts. Below is a clip of last years carols - take the time to enjoy the snippets of Holiday tunes - just click on the play button.
If you would like to join in the fun by singing a Christmas carol - feel free to reply to this post or send me an email. I would love to have you join us. If you would like to donate a downloadable gift, email me as well. The downloadable gift will be given to all those who donate to our cause.
I really enjoy doing this each year - the ladies who volunteered to sing last year were awesome - some sang with their kids, some with their their hubbies. So will you help us out this year?
I will be blogging about this and will make sure to let you know when the site goes live so you can listen to the carols and get some fun gifts too!
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