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Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Homeschooling Awards at 12:12 PM EST

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I laugh every time I hear those words. We have a tradition in our family dating back to when my daughter was about 2 years old.
I love Christmas Lights. REALLY love them. No one else in my family remembers but I remember very clearly when were young my dad would pile us up in the car and go for drives around the neighbourhood to look at the lights.

I stared doing the same with my daughter when she was really small. Part of the game is to YELL Christmas Li- ights! when you see a particularly nice display. So we would drive around and she would yell out when she saw lights- and sometimes just a bright store sign would do

I remember one year when my daughter was about 4 or 5 years old. My grandmother was still alive she would have been about 80 years old. My mom and grandmother came over Christmas Eve to help me get ready for the next day- I normally held Christmas dinner back then. I realized that I had forgotten to get potatoes for the mashed potatoes - a KEY part of Christmas Dinner! My mom and grandmother wanted to go out and buy them and decided to take E. with them. They were gone longer than I thought….
Both my mom and my grandmother ( whom I adored) came back about 45 minutes later- laughing and looking a, little frazzled. Both of them shrieked- You could have warned us!!!
I had no clue what they meant- Then The yelled in unison “Christmas Li-ights!” and laughed… My mom had been driving along quietly in the car and my grandmother had dozed off.. they must have passed a particularly pretty display- because he Screamed “Christmas Lights” at the top of her lings nearly giving both my mom AND grandmother a heart attack. And causing my mom to jump up about a foot off the seat.
Pretty much every time during the holidays that bright with coloured lights I can an hear the two of them saying “Christmas Lights!” laughing in the background

Do you have special Christmas tradition- one that’s out of the ordinary? Please share!

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as General Homeschool and Unschooling at 10:15 PM EST

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Argh. I am so tired of bad customer service. I am currently dealing with bad service from WebKinz World.

I worked in service industry most of my life and I currently work as a marketing consultant and I really appreciate when I get great customer service and I am especially annoyed when a company gets it so wrong. I have been dealing with a ridiculous customer service problem with the popular WebKinz toys and online pets. My daughter and her friends love them. She has 20+ of them- most she has bought with her own money. I usually buy these for birthday presents, etc.

Huge WebKinz Trading Card Fiasco and Disappointment

This week she bought a Webkinz Pony and for a change she picked up a pack of the Webkinz trading cards. She jumped out of her seat in the car ride home screaming that she won a free online webkinz and that only 1 and 36 win.
As soon we go in the door she is telling her dad about it.. raced to computer and started yelling that ti wouldn’t work, etc could I help. I went over and entered all the info- and sure enough got the error message “this code all ready in use” ARGH. We went to contact section and filed a ticket… this was a few days ago.
We do something called joys and concerns at dinner and light candle for our “joys” and “concerns” and this was her joy…

Bad Experience With Webkinz

I got email yesterday from the company:
After some investigation, we have concluded that there is an issue with your Secret Code. In order for us to receive all your previous information you MUST REPLY TO THIS EMAIL and provide us with the following so that we can investigate further.

1. First name of the user

2. Date of Birth of the user (yyyy-mm-dd)

3. State or Province/Country of the user

4. Pet Type

5. Secret code

6. Contact Name (This person must be an adult)

7. Contact Phone Number

8. Sequence Number (This is printed on the top left side of the opened Webkinz tag or on the back of the tag, above the UPC code on the tag. This number could be up to 15 digits long) (Not applicable to Trading Cards)

9. UPC code (this bar code is printed on the fabric tag sewn to the Webkinz Plush Toy) (Not applicable to Trading Cards)

10. Place of Purchase (Store Name, City, State)

Thank you,

Webkinz Customer Support

Note that it was a trading card that was issue- a 2.95 purchase. It was made with her allowance and she is REALLY wanting me to fix this. She is convinced now that WebKinz is tricking kids, etc… although I have assured that they don’t do that kind of thing, etc. I have already wasted too much time on this. This should be a no brain-er for Webkinz- just send another code.

So, then I write back saying- this is a trading card- not the webkinz stuffed animal. Can you PLEASE help me …

Here is next e-mail I received:

Hello,

Thank you for your question. You asked us about problems with your Webkinz Trading Cards.

If you have purchased packs or boxes of our Webkinz Trading Cards, and you find they are damaged or defective in any way, please return the sales receipt, all contents, and packaging to:

U.S.A.
Ganz
Attn: Trading Card Product Replacement
#043
60 Industrial Parkway
Cheektowaga NY 14227-9903

CANADA
Ganz
Attn: Trading Card Product Replacement
One Pearce Rd.
Woodbridge, Ont.
L4L 3T2

Be sure to include a letter detailing the problem, along with your first and last name, your Webkinz User Name, your address information, and a phone number in case we need to contact you for any reason.

If you find that a single card is damaged when you open a pack, please send the damaged card(s) and packaging, along with your letter, to the address listed above.

Thank you,

I am surprised they didn’t ask for DNA sample. This is for a $2.95 trading card and for an ONLINE pet!

I honestly would drop it if she wasn’t so upset and excited about the win. I will report back on all of this.

Am I nuts here? or Am I just victim of consumer road rage??

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as General Homeschool and Unschooling at 2:49 PM EST

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We’ve been making this all week. My 4 year old son LOVES making - he crushes the candy canes. We buy plain 1/2 lb candy boxes at Bulk Barn or clear Christmas-y candy bags from dollar store.
My daughter has been making VERY elaborate gift tags for them- I am going to try and scan one… they are works of art!
This is great little gift to give to piano and dance teachers, neigbours and hostess gifts. I am shocked by how many people we have gifted with these! I love that the kids really made themselves with little help from me. Both of them are so proud. Candy is also delicious. I was inspired by these unbleivabley addictive Hershey Candy Cane Kisses… and thought I had come up with something brilliant- but this si a recipe that has been around for a while.. so i am not as brilliant as I thought I was

Peppermint Bark

Take about 3 cups white chocolate wafers ( about 1 1/2 lbs) You can buy at most places that sell bulk items. We have used Merkens and expensive Belgian chocolate and they are both good.

Take 3-5 traitional peppermnt candy canes or those green/red/white peppermint candies. Put in thick ziplock bag and let kids goes nuts crushing them. Chunks okay. If you are in a hurry you can do in a chopper or food processor. My son spent about 2 hours doing this yesterday. He sang Fa-La-la-la the whole time he was pounding. Was hilarious.

Put chocolate in microwavable container. Put on full pwer for 1 minute, take out ans stir. Keep doing this 3-5 times until melted. It is key to only do for 1 minute or you will burn chocolate. You can do in double boiler with older kids but microwave does work best.

When melted stir in crushed candy canes, Pour over greased cookies tins- or use greased foil ( I use Pam-type spray) . Spread evenly. When cool break into pieces.

This is a nice, easy Christmas treat that everyone seems to love!

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Recipes at 1:35 AM EST

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You literally can’t go anywhere without stumbling into “The Secret” the book /way of life/ cult-like craze that is sweeping across North America. I am not sure I can by into it.
I have been spending more and more time lately trying to feel more in balance with my life- I have been feeling out of whack with myself, my kids and my husband. Maybe Christmas has got me a bit down or because we are living in a new house or that my kids are both getting older. My daughter is just entering puberty and my son at 4 1/2 has left baby-hood and we won’t be having anymore kids, so maybe that is it. I keep MEANING to get back into some sort of meditation ritual or yoga or something then and then a million thing come up.

I have looked at The Secret at Costco but it seems but wacky to me. Is there any science behind the so-called power of The Secret? I did come across this author, Lynne McTaggart who wrote ” The Field” ( as in force field) and has made a video that tries to explain the science behind the power of intention and The Secret. The video is called Shift In Action.
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Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as General Homeschool and Unschooling at 1:05 AM EST

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