by Douglas Itkin

Sometimes at my family’s Thanksgiving dinner table, my mother has asked everyone to name things we’re thankful for, which is followed by sighing from some and deep thinking from others.  This year I’m getting a head start by posting here in my wife’s website.  My short, somewhat random list:  My wife and two kids, my sister and nephew, my parents, my grandparents, extended family, friends, health, job, public school teachers, flow, soccer, windsurfing, Obama, photographs, movies, NPR, Apple, Jon Stewart, Tina Fey, Polartec fleece, Keen, Kidoinfo.com, the light two minutes after sunset, wind and solar power, quiet after a snow storm, giant trees, Grossinger blintzes, Ryvita, mac and cheese, stuffing, and the generosity of strangers.

What are you thankful for? Click comments to share your list.

StoryCorps—a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving oral history—is declaring November 28, 2008 the first annual National Day of Listening.

This holiday season, StoryCorps asks you to start a new holiday tradition. I love this idea. Ask the people around you about their lives — it could be your grandmother, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood. By listening to their stories, you will be telling them that they matter and they won’t ever be forgotten. What a memorable gift to share.

Storycorp makes it simple for everyone to participate. Follow these 5 Easy Steps:

• 1. Download the Do-It-Yourself Guide ahead of time, with simple step-by-step instructions.
• 2. Select your interview partner.
• 3. Create a question list. StoryCorps has a list of favorite questions organized by topic or type of person (e.g. grandparents, friends, growing up, marriage)
• 4. Record your conversation. Use your own tape recorder or video camera or plan to borrow one from a friend. Practice using it before the interview
• 5. Save and share your conversation. Once you are done, share it with your friends and family and tell Kidoinfo and StoryCorps about your experience.

You know that we at Kidoinfo love making things with our kids. Just as much, we love supporting local artists with our gift-buying dollars. Rhode Island and Massachusetts are rich in opportunities to admire and buy locally-made items, often directly from their makers.

Here’s this year’s Kidoinfo list of recommendations for buying handmade holiday gifts:

artwork by catia chien. available at craftland.

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During my first pregnancy, I spent all my free time reading books, cover to cover, that would help me mother my baby, but I didn’t read one thing about mothering myself! After my daughter’s birth, I found that I was the one in need of soothing and tender loving care. Fortunately, the following books were recommended by my doula and answered many of my questions, eased my fears, and provided practical tips to empower me in my new role as mother—true life savers!

Mothering the New Mother: Women’s Feelings and Needs After Childbirth a Support and Resource Guide: by Sally Placksin
Health practitioners and new moms unite in this great read to give practical suggestions for overcoming many common issues faced by women during the postpartum period. Also included are checklists, reading lists, and a prenatal and postpartum questionnaire to help assess needs and plan for the postpartum period and beyond.

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By Erin Barrette Goodman

Reading Amanda Blake Soule’s beautiful book, The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections, feels like sipping tea with a (very creative and inspiring) friend.

How to savor the seasons, explore nature, garden, create meals, and add small touches to deeply meaningful celebrations (including birthday parties, and half-birthday-parties for imaginary friends!) are woven among inspiring photographs of the Soule family’s coastal Maine home.

As I read, I found myself sighing frequently as I lingered over her stories and ideas about consciously choosing to live a creative life with one’s children. And almost immediately, I began to see small, manageable steps (like having a family art night or taking a “family breath” before meals) that I could introduce in my family as we continue our ongoing quest for more fun, peace, and connection.

I had the privilege of interviewing Amanda about her book and life with her husband, Steve, and three (soon-to-be-four) young children. Want to win a copy of Amanda Soule’s book, The Creative Family? See details following interview.

Kidoinfo: Your book is filled with so many wonderfully creative projects that families can explore together – both small and simple like Victorian parlor games, which require little or no props, to large (and loud) like your family’s outdoor “banging wall” (a collection of hanging pots and pans and drumsticks). But before we talk about the many creative things that families can add to their lives, I’d love to talk about some of your family’s conscious omissions. For example, I read on your website that your family does not watch television, correct?

AS: The children (and Steve and I) do watch movies from time to time – we have a television tucked away for that. But no, we don’t watch television – if you turned the TV on you’d get nothing but fuzz here. A lot of people focus on this aspect of my book, and I guess it is a bit of a stretch to imagine at first. But honestly, I don’t miss it at all – and not only because of the time that’s freed up by the absence of TV – which is huge. But there’s also an absence of negativity and images that frankly I don’t really want or need occupying space in my brain or in my kids’. I think that in addition to the time that TV takes away from us, there’s also an innocence and a bit of imagination that get taken away– both for children and adults. My life and mind feel quieter without television. And in that quiet, there’s a bit more room for the things that are most important to me – making things, keeping a home, spending time in the natural world, and connecting as a family.

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I applaud all who take the “Handmade Pledge” and proudly display the button—the pledge to buy only handmade things this holiday season. I make the pledge with some exceptions. Although I am an avid fan of buying handmade and make many gifts myself, I cannot say I will shun all mass-produced products completely. We are huge book fans in our house and like to support our local businesses as well, which include toy, gift, and book stores. But if we all pledge to consume a little less and think a little more about where we buy our stuff, who makes it, and how it is made, we can make the holidays more meaningful for our families and our community.

I love advent calendars because I adore secret treasures hidden in small places and the excitement of counting down the days to a favorite holiday (such as Christmas, birthdays, etc.). Over the years I have filled the little cubbies in our Christmas advent box with an assortment of candy, ornaments, and notes of activities or events happening during the month. However I found last year our schedule was so jam-packed and constantly changing that we did not attend all the events or do all we planned. Moreover, since sweet treats are everywhere during this time of year, having even more in the advent box seemed a bit much.

This year I am taking a simpler approach. Since I am a fan of beautiful and exotic paper and am always looking for a project that involves patterned paper, I am going to make envelopes from origami paper for each day and hang them from a string. If you want to make it even simpler, pre-made envelopes would work just fine. I plan to fill twenty five envelopes with a different word (e.g., snowflake, fancy, candle). Since my boys love stories, I think we can take turns using the “word of the day” in a sentence at breakfast or in a bedtime story—maybe on Christmas our family challenge will be to use all twenty-five words in a story. This way we do not have to remember (or stress if we forget) to make the cookies, eat the chocolate, or build a snowman (especially when there’s no snow on the ground).

Find more advent calendar ideas on Kidoinfo and learn how to make an embroidered felt one on whip up. I will let you know how mine turns out. You need to have twenty-five interesting words, so feel free to add your suggestions in the comments below. See my list of words here.

HOW TO:
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By Nancy King

I have been cooking with my daughter ever since she could stand. She’d climb onto the step ladder and stand beside me at the kitchen counter, and from there, we could mix it up—from cookies to banana bread to fresh applesauce. I’ve never been accused of being “crafty,” so I’m not the mom who can pull out the glue stick and pipe cleaners. And I have close to zero tolerance for imaginary games (“OK, Mommy, let’s pretend you’re my pet monkey…”). I do, however, love cooking, and being able to share that with my daughter has made for countless happy hours in the kitchen for both of us.

Imagine my delight, then, when I got my hands on the new line of “Head Chefs” kitchen tools for kids. Made from soft silicone, with bendable arms and legs, these give new meaning to playing with your food. There’s a spatula, whisk, measuring cup, spoon, and basting brush—all in vibrant, merry colors and all with suction-cup feet that allow you to pose them on the counter while they wait their turn.

A confession: Head Chefs are so darn cute (they have belly buttons, after all) that my daughter and I haven’t actually cooked with them. I know they’ll work great—they’re sized for small hands and the slightly squishy silicon is easy to grab and hold on to—but frankly we’ve fallen in love with our mini kitchen staff. They cheer us up and cheer us on while we’re cooking, and we can’t bring ourselves to get them dirty. I’m sure we’ll get there—the tools are dishwasher safe, so cleanup is a breeze—but for now, we’re content to hang out in the kitchen with our bendable buddies.

Details:
Head Chefs Kitchen Tools from Fiesta Products
$9.99 each
Available at several retailers, including Amazon.com

Yummyfun Kooking is the DVD series for kids that might sound a wee bit familiar. It’s got a childlike adult host, ridiculous characters who stop by to hang out, cupboards that open to reveal puppets, a freezer full of foods that come to life, and unblinking double entendres (in the episode we watched, there are bananas sleeping in a hammock). Sounds like Peewee’s Playhouse, right? I do recall Peewee making G.O.R.P. in one episode, but this show is all about cooking.

In Yummyfun, Clare Crespo is Yummyclare. She lives in a kitchen, in a mouse hole, in the house of a smart, curious girl named Oona. The recipes are perfect for the youngest little chef to make and eat: once Yummyclare chooses a banana from the banana hammock, she pops it in a hot dog bun and decorates it with faux ketchup and mustard (actually red jam and peanut butter). The set is full of surprises and enviable fashion details, like Yummyclare’s sequined strawberry belt buckle and rickrack festooned collar.

Crespo is the author of two punchy food books: Hey There, Cupcake! and Secret Life of Food. It’s a treat to see her in DVD form. For more information, go to the Yummyfun site.

The details:
Yummyfun Kooking DVDs $15.
Order at yummyfun.com

Making Thanksgiving decorations, paper turkeys and place cards are rites of childhood. Whether you are hosting Thanksgiving at your place or traveling to another dining room, your kids will probably be able to find work as ambience stylists. Pitch the idea to your kids (and your hosts) a few days ahead of the holiday and get busy with the construction paper, glue, googly eyes, pinecones, felt and—if the suction on your vacuum is up to it—glitter.

Crafty Ideas:

• Tree of Thanks on Kidoinfo

• Leaf Garland on Whip Up

• Napkin Holders on Wise Craft

• Finger Puppet Favors by Martha Stewart

• Pinecone Turkey by Martha Stewart