GivingTuesday

Have you heard about the new movement that encourages people everywhere to band together and support those charities and organizations that they feel are worthy? GivingTuesday, initiated in Canada by CanadaHelps, GIV3, and several other partners, marks the opening day of the giving season. After you've done all your holiday gift buying on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it's time to pay it forward  on GivingTuesday.

Giving Tuesday is a day for each and every one of us to really make a difference. It's also a great way to get your kids involved in learning about helping those who are less fortunate.

Be a part of this new tradition of generosity and give back to a cause that matters to you.

Who will you support today?

Giving Back at the Holidays

Now that December is upon us, many people are starting to get into the holiday spirit. For some, that means thinking about what they are thankful for during the year and wanting to pay it forward in the season of giving. Over the past year, my girls have volunteered in a few ways. Both have visited the Ottawa Food back and learned that not everyone in Ottawa has enough to eat each and every day. They've visited residents in nursing homes to play games and sing with them and have shared their allowance with the typhoon victims in the Philippines.

Giving back doesn't need to be big. It just needs to be meaningful. For kids, learning that there are people who need a helping hand is a great lesson in empathy and kindness. There are so many ways to get your kids involved. Here are a few ideas for you and you kids:

• Donate to a charitable organization
• Invite an elderly neighbor or someone who lives alone to join your celebration 
• Deliver a meal to a family in need
• Write a thoughtful note to someone special
• Donate clothes you've outgrown
• Donate food to a local charity or food bank
• Volunteer at a soup kitchen
• Send a care package to a soldier
• Visit hospital patients
• Foster a dog or cat
• Adopt an endangered animal through a zoo
• Shovel snow for a neighbor
• Help pick up trash at a local park
• Join a church or school group that does community service projects

Giving back is a great thing to do all year round, but the holidays tend to bring out the charitable side in most people. Try some of these ideas with your family and make a difference this holiday season.

How does your family give back at the Holidays?

Easy Peasy Sufganyiyot for Chanukah

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah, the 8-day Jewish Festival of lights.  Chanukah commemorates the victory of a small band of Jews called Maccabees over the pagan Syrian-Greeks who ruled over Israel. After regaining control of their temple, the Jews went inside to find it dirty and destroyed so the began to to clean it and rededicate it to G-d (in Hebrew, Chanukah means to dedicate). In the Temple, there was an eternal flame that had to stay lit all the time. But when the Jews came into the Temple to light the flame, there was only enough oil to keep it burning for one day. After they lit it, however, a second miracle occurred — the lamp remained lit for eight days until the new oil arrived. This is how Hanukkah became known as the "Festival of Lights." To commemorate this miracle, during Hanukkah Jews light the menorah. We light one candle each night of Hanukkah and give thanks for the miracle of the oil. And we also eat lots of stuff fried in oil.

One of my favorite things to eat are little fried donuts called Sufganyiot. They're yummy to eat but can be tricky to make. I found an easy recipe that's great to do with kids.

Ingredients

• One roll of store-bought biscuit dough
• Canola oil for frying
• A small bowl of sugar, white or powdered
• About 1/2 cup of any red jam 

Step-by-step:

1. Let dough sit at room temperature for 20 minutes so that it's easy to roll out.
2. On a floured surface, roll out dough until it's 1/2-inch thick. Cut out 2 1/2- or 3-inch circles.
3. Fill a pot with 2 inches of oil and heat it to 360-375 degrees so it's nice and hot.
4. Fry the dough until each side is a deep brown. test one to make sure they're not doughy in the middle.
5. Transfer donuts to a paper towel, pat off any excess grease, and then coat with sugar.
6. Fill with jam using a squeeze bottle. If the jam is being difficult, warm it for 30 seconds in the microwave.

That's it. Eat up and Happy Chanukah!

Talking to Your Kids About Death

This past week was a tough one for my family. Just after we celebrated her 90th birthday, my grandmother passed away. While she was elderly, it was a bit unexpected to loose her so fast. and of course, as with any similar situation, there were lots of arrangements that had to be made in a short time. This was the first time that my girls had experienced the death of  a close relative. I'm not sure what they expected but they did have lots of questions. At 11 and 13, they were able to understand the concept of death and they were both affected in different ways and had lots of questions. My niece and nephew are younger, 3 and 6, and while they also had lots of questions, I'm not sure they fully understood what was going on.

After the initial shock, there was the question of the funeral. My family had decided on a small graveside service. Then there was the question of having the kids at the service. Both my girls wanted to be there to say good-bye and after much discussion,  it was decided that my nice and nephew would attend too.

In the course of the discussions, I did a bit of research about the different ways young kids understand death. Here's what I found out:

• Young kids are very literal in their understanding of death so it's important to talk about death in very concrete terms, like the body wasn't working anymore and the doctors couldn't fix it.
• Kids may need lots of reminders that death is permanent and that the person won't be coming back.
• Avoid using euphemisms like passed away or "lost" - kids won't understand and may fear getting "lost" themselves.
• Remember that kids have magical thinking and may need lots or reminders that the death wasn't their fault.
• Children process grief in bite-sized chunks, not all at once. And many delay grieving until they feel it's safe to let those feelings out — a process that could take months or even years, depending on how close they were to the one who died.
• Reassure your child that they are safe and talk about ways to stay safe.
• The best way to answer questions to give accurate, simple, clear, and honest explanations about what happened.

In the end, it was helpful, both for the kids in our family and for my parents to have all the kids at the graveside, both young and old. It was a good reminder of the circle of life and it was helpful for my girls to be able to say good-bye. And while my nice and nephew didn't fully understand everything that was going on, they were able to be their typical joyful selves and help those in mourning grieve.

Have you talked to your kids about death? What helped them understand what was going on?

Letters to Santa

By Kamerine I know it's still November but I've been thinking about Christmas. I'm thinking of great gift ideas for friends and family, and making a wish list of my own.

The kids are thinking about Christmas too - as soon as they saw snow falling, they started asking about Christmas. Is it Christmas yet? It's going to be a long month.

A fun tradition is writing a letter to Santa, one that I may start this year with my kids. We've done Christmas lists, where we sit down and ask the kids what they would like for Christmas. We get a mix of things they do actually want, and things that they see when they look around.

But back to letters... I'm happy to tell you that Canada Post has a deal with Santa. Write up your letter to Santa and drop it in any red mailbox around the city, no stamp required. Santa's elves will get your letter to the North Pole.

Use the address below, include your return address, and keep the Christmas spirit alive! To get a response in time, make sure to mail your letter by December 17th.

SANTA CLAUS

NORTH POLE H0H 0H0

CANADA

The Santa letter-writing program is an employee-led volunteer program where current and past employees volunteer their time. It encourages children to read and write letters, and helps teach them about the postal system. For more information visit the Canada Post website or contact Media Relations at 613 734-8888 or email medias@canadapost.ca.