We Wish You a Merry Christmas

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Reviewing Bridal Shower Scratch Off Tickets

Easy Game For Bridal Showers

Since my youngest daughter is planning a wedding for 2016, I know I will be invited to a few of the bridal showers that will be thrown in her honor. I am looking forward to going to each one but then I also dread them, too. I love watching the gifts being opened and the visiting with people. The treats are usually yummy but the games are not usually my favorite thing. 

It is difficult to come up with decent games for any kind of shower, I know. So, I do appreciate when the hostess comes up with something fun and unique. My other daughter will most assuredly have one of the showers for her sister and I have a suggestion for one of the games. Most people love to do the lottery scratch off tickets and I have discovered that you can get them printed for a bridal shower. Who knew? 

Funny Purple Vintage Bridal Shower Scratch Off Game Card Set~ 25 Cards

Now, isn't that the most clever idea you have seen in a while? I love the idea! There are a variety of styles and colors to choose from. I noticed that some come in packages of 25 and others offer packages of 10. There will always be only 1 winner in the package which makes it easy. The winner ticket is always on the top, too. You can shuffle them up before handing them out so that it is a surprise as to who gets the prize. Another option would be to hand them out to people as they arrive, if you didn't shuffle them first you will know that the first guest gets the prize.

What I love about this option for a bridal shower game is that there is really no one attending that is at a disadvantage. There are no silly questions that involve the bride's past, no physical feats (other than the action of scratching off the film) and no embarrassing questions or answers to go through. Simple and fun, period.

How about a few ideas on when to give the ticket to each guest? I mentioned giving them when they arrive but there are other options, too. Perhaps place a ticket on each plate when the treats are served. When the bride to be opens a gift from each guest, the guest is given their ticket at that moment. You could place them on a table and tell the guests to be sure to take just one. Then there is the simple one of just having the hostess pass them out before or after one of the other games. There is a multitude of ways to do it, any of which are simple and easy to do.

If by chance the shower is a large one and there will be more than 25 guests in attendance, you will need to get more than one package. Then, you will have to decide if you want more than one winner. If not, just remove the top ticket of each pack so that there is only one winner. 

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Reviews of California Jigsaw Puzzles

Working a California Jigsaw Puzzle Together is a Great Family Activity

California jigsaw puzzles are beautiful. Working them together as a family can help children and adults develop or refine many important skills. These include management skills as the family plans who will work on which part of the puzzle; organizational skills as one sorts pieces; and spatial relations and analytical skills as one begins to learn and predict which pieces will fit together and why. Learn more about the benefits of working jigsaw puzzles.

Adults will find that working puzzles may help ward off senility, since both sides of the brain need to work together while completing a jigsaw puzzle. Working puzzles exercises the short-term memory as you try to remember just where that piece you saw that will fit in the hole is, or where the hole is that a piece you have in your hand will fit. It's a more complex version of the card game Concentration.

As families sit around a table and put puzzles together, they not only develop brain skills, but they also have plenty of opportunities to talk to each other. We often don't spend much time getting to know our other family members because we hardly ever make time to sit down with each other in a relaxed setting. Working puzzles together is an informal way for children to spend quality time with parents and siblings or wives with husbands. If the conversational well needs priming, one can always talk about the puzzle working process.

 Why California Puzzles?

So why work jigsaw puzzles with scenes of California on them? Why not? California is the third largest state in America. It has some of the most famous amusement parks. It is a large producer of wine. It has scenery that encompasses mountains, deserts, volcanoes, beaches, rugged coasts, large cities, growing fields, orchards, and a variety of fauna and flora. As a family works California puzzles, children can learn a bit of geography, no matter what state or country they live in. Adults can see places they've never been, or families can remember and reminisce about places they have visited as they work puzzles with the photos of those places on them.

California is home to some of the most beautiful places in America. Of course, I may be a bit biased, since I'm a native Californian. I currently live on the California Central Coast, but I used to live in Southern California and was one of the first visitors to Disneyland when it was built. My dad helped build it.

Now I live among the vineyards in Templeton.  I often walk the downtown area of Paso Robles, as well as its vineyards. I love walking the boardwalk of Cambria and the beaches of the San Luis Obispo County South Coast. I never go anywhere without my camera.

 I enjoy sharing the beauty of my state with others. I share photos of my local area of Templeton and Paso Robles in my blog, Capturing the Paso Robles Area with My Camera, and I love making Zazzle puzzles of some of my favorite local scenes, especially of the coast, the trees, and the missions. You can see all these puzzles together from this Zazzle link. 

Zazzle puzzles come in two sizes. Both come in lovely gift boxes with the image on the top so you can see what the finished product should look like. The 8" x 10" size has 110 pieces. The 11" x 14" size has 252 pieces. Both are suitable only for those over three years of age. Below are some photos I have used on the puzzles you can access from the link above. I took these photos at the Santa Barbara Mission. They are just two views of this mission I put on puzzles.

My Favorite Puzzle of the Santa Barbara Mission, © B. Radisavljevic

This image appears on my most popular Santa Barbara Mission Puzzle from Zazzle

Below is one of the many beach scenes I put on puzzles of the California coast.

This photo of the rocky coast of Cambria also appears on a Zazzle puzzle. © B. Radisavljevic

I have even more puzzles with scenes from the Paso Robles wine country. These are mostly of vineyards, tasting rooms, and even grape processing. In my puzzles grapes are shown on the vine both green and ripe and even withering when left on the vines after harvest. Vineyard jigsaw puzzles show vineyards in summer when  they are green and in autumn when their leaves turn lovely shades of red and gold.  Some of these would be just right to work while you are waiting for a midnight toast on New Year's Eve at home. Here are a couple of favorite photos I used on these puzzles.

Vineyard at Harvest Time, © B. Radisavljevic

Patio of Croad Tasting Room in Paso Robles, © B. Radisavljevic

Although I love making puzzles at Zazzle, they may not be big enough to satisfy some people. Amazon's jigsaw puzzles feature California places I have not visited with a camera.  Some puzzle pictures feature art work rather than photographs. The topics for which you can find 1000-piece puzzles give you many choices. Here are some of my California puzzle favorites.

 California Dreams-Dog Days Of Summer 1000 Piece Puzzle by Lafayette Puzzle Factory EuroGraphics San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge Puzzle (1000-Piece) Buffalo Games Cartoon World: Dave Garbot Hollywood - 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle by Buffalo Games Big Ben - Death Valley National Park Springbok 1000:

& 

Next time you want to spend quality time with your family without leaving home, plan a family puzzle party. Pop corn, make hot chocolate, and work a California  jigsaw puzzle. Pick up one now while you are thinking about it. You won't be sorry, because you never know when  the next rainy day or next power outage will occur. Be prepared.

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Christmas Cookies Bite-Size Holiday Lessons Children's Book Review

SIMPLE CHRISTMAS LESSONS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

Beautifully put together, Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons was written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jane Dyer. It is the perfect addition to your holiday library and will allow you to introduce your young children to vocabulary words like 'tradition' and 'celebrate' and provide a basic guide to good manners in certain social situations. Savor the wisdom along with the illustrations that will have you and your children dreaming of sugarplums!

This book includes twenty-two simple lessons that are appropriate for all ages...

TRADITION means each year at the same time we make the same cookies and wear our special matching aprons. GRACIOUS means putting out a plate for our special guest.

CELEBRATE means time to get out the sprinkles!

While appropriate for all, this book is really aimed at children in preschool up to Grade 2.

Each page or two-page spread is illustrated with children demonstrating the word and/or lesson and each page features added characters for an extra touch of whimsy. I love the mice that the book opens with, the bunnies at the kitchen table, the lion in the dining room and the elves lending a helping hand. I have no doubt that you and your children will also love this book, too.

Amazon reviewer Cherry Ames says:

"If you have ever grappled with explaining an abstract concept to children, like tradition, disappointed or the all-important sharing, then Amy Rosenthal and Jane Dyer's cookie books are for you. Through the simple analogies of baking and eating cookies, which is something children can easily relate to, Rosenthal explains those sometimes difficult-to-understand ideas/values like gratitude, appreciative, gracious, and many more."

"Jane Dyer's soft, expressive child/animal illustrations complement and illustrate the concepts. The 'Christmas Cookies' book includes holiday-related words like joy, believe, celebrate and peace. Both of these titles are excellent choices for a child 3-6 years of age."

WHO IS AMY KROUSE ROSENTHAL?

Amy Krouse Rosenthal is perhaps most well known for her memoir called Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life which was very well received everywhere because of its unusual format and its wit with regard to the ordinary stuff of daily life. It was one of Amazon's top 10 memoirs in 2005. She has also published 11 children's books with plans for many more.

What Christmas lessons will you share with your children this year? Or what were the important lessons you taught your children when they were young? Do you think this book would be helpful?

See you
in the book aisle!
Brenda

Quick Links:

Order your copy of Christmas Cookies from Amazon.
See all of Amy Krouse Rosenthal's books here.

More Christmas Reading:

Rose Levy's Christmas Cookies Cookbook.
The Farm Chicks Book Reviews (in the Kitchen and Christmas).
A Very Brady Christmas Movie Review.

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How to Make Changes in Life - A Famous Quote that Gives Us the Answer

Available on Amazon

A Famous and Wise Quote about How to Create Change in Life

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality; to change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete” by R. Buckminster Fuller

Despite the fact that Richard Buckminster Fuller isn't from our time, his wise words still resonate deeply. Also known as 'Bucky' he was born in 1895 and passed away in 1983 at the age of 87. His extensive resume includes American Architect, Systems Theorist, Author, Designer and Inventor.

In Today's World of Challenges, Buckminster's Quote Applies More Than Ever Doesn't It?

In situations that seem hopeless or all consuming, there’s really only one way out:

'to create a new situation that makes the existing situation obsolete'

This logical approach applies to every area of life:

• Relationships - We aren't getting along? Stop fighting the situation and person, and build a new road
• Work - We have problems, have gotten laid off, or the Boss is on our case; instead of going into fight mode, we build a new road
• World Conflicts - Solve the problems by developing new ideas that make the existing problems obsolete

Best of all, while we're creating that new model, we're also creating a new focus and purpose.

Instead of thinking of a way to change the current situation, Fuller's suggestion is to take the focus off the problem. If it's possible to forget it, forget it, and begin anew by building that new plan, that new approach.

Imagine what we could accomplish if we put down those spinning wheels and simply decide to build a new path.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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