How to get a Letter From Santa Postmaked From the North Pole (FREE)

Nothing  gets kids in spirit of Christmas than a letter from the big guy himself postmarked  all the way from the North Pole.  Whether you have an Elf  who has been reporting back to Santa or your kids are awaiting a reply to their letter to Santa, you can have a letter sent to your Christmas angels postmarked North Pole via the United States Post Office.

Because the post office believes in Santa (haven’t you ever seen Miracle on 34th Street?) it offers this service for free (well, you do have to pay postage…)

1. Here’s how “Letters From Santa” works:
   1. Write a letter to your child from Santa Claus and sign it “From Santa.”
   2. Insert the letter into an envelope addressed to your child with the return address: SANTA, NORTH POLE.
   3. Ensure a First-Class Mail stamp is affixed to the envelope.
   4. Place the envelope into a larger envelope, with appropriate postage, and address the larger envelope to:                                                     NORTH POLE POSTMARK
                                       POSTMASTER
                                       4141 POSTMARK DR
                                       ANCHORAGE, AK 99530-9998
   5. Your letter “From Santa” will be mailed back to your child, postmarked from the North Pole.

Letters from Santa must be received by the nchorage, AK, Postmaster no later than Dec. 15, 2015. Santa’s helpers in Anchorage, AK, will take care of the rest!

Be sure to share the experience on social media using #LettersFromSanta. 
Please Share your letters with us!! 
Merry Christmas !!

Tips:

• To save paper, write on the back of your child’s letter. If you keep them together, your child will also be able to recall what he or she wrote.
• When responding as Santa, make the response as personal as possible by highlighting your child’s accomplishments over the past year. For example, helping around the house, receiving good grades in a particular subject at school or participating in community service activities.
• This is a great activity for Thanksgiving that the whole family can enjoy, including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other caregivers.

How To Thaw A Frozen Turkey Safely 

To thaw a frozen turkey in a safe way, takes time. So you need to plan ahead and not find yourself behind schedule serving that important turkey dinner 

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us and the traditional turkey dinner will be served across much of the U.S.; so for the sake of modern survival during the turkey dinner, here is how-to safely thaw a frozen turkey using either of the following two methods:(Re-posted for this ar’s Thanksgiving…)

 

Refrigerator-Fridge Thawing

Thaw your turkey in the refrigerator. It’s the easiest method for defrosting a turkey. However it also takes a fairly long time, so you will need to plan ahead.

Keep the frozen turkey in its original, unopened wrapper. Place it breast side up in a container or tray that will prevent the turkey juices from dripping on other foods in the refrigerator.

Be sure that your refrigerator temperature dial is set to 40°F or below. Use a fridge thermometer to check this.

Allow about 24 hours for each 4 to 5 pounds of frozen turkey you plan to thaw in the fridge.

Turkey thaw time in the fridge

To thaw a whole frozen turkey,

10 pounds — 2 ½ days
15 pounds — 3 ½ days
20 pounds — 5 days
25 pounds — 6 days

Do you have to cook the frozen turkey as soon as it’s thawed?

No, you don’t have to cook it right away. Turkey that has been thawed in the refrigerator can be kept for an additional 1 to 2 days in the fridge before cooking.

 Cold Water Thawing

You can thaw a frozen turkey faster in cold water than in the fridge. However, the thawing process will require a lot more attention on your behalf.

Make sure the frozen turkey is in a leak-proof package or plastic bag.

To thaw the turkey, submerge the bag in a large enough container or pot holding cold tap water. NEVER use warm or hot water, as that can cause the outer layer to warm up to a temperature where harmful bacteria begins to multiply rapidly.

Change the water often enough to ensure that it stays cold enough to thaw safely. Although the frozen turkey itself will initially keep the water quite cool, as it thaws further, this could mean every hour or thereabouts.

Using this thawing method, you should estimate about 30 minutes of defrosting time per pound of turkey.

Time to thaw a whole turkey in cold water

10 pounds — 5 hours
15 pounds — 7 hours
20 pounds — 10 hours
25 pounds — 12 hours

If you’ve used the cold water method to thaw your turkey, it is recommended that you should cook the turkey as soon as it is completely thawed.

You should not refreeze raw turkey that has been thawed in cold water. Once you’ve cooked the turkey though, you can then refreeze it if you wish.

NOTE: If the turkey was frozen in a VERY COLD deep freeze (e.g. -10 in a chest freezer), the times listed might take a little bit longer. Your results will vary, but hopefully this gives you something of an idea…

Thanksgiving Break Ideas

It's Thanksgiving break the time of year you are looking to make the most of it.  My child has the whole week off of school.  Oh my!  how will we stay busy!! We all know some of  favorite things people like to do on Thanksgiving: watch foo what ball, watch The Macy’s Day Parade, and of course taking a nap after gorging on Turkey. What about keeping the kids busy while there out of school.  

Well the purpose of this article is to inspire everyone who reads it to turn off the TV (web, video games) for part of the day and really spend some quality time with your friends and family. You’ll have have fun doing it and you’ll create fun, fond memories.

1. Take a Walk. Pick an enjoyable destination.  Like the park, a restaurant with a play area.  Mom you just need  your walking shoes,  who knows you may find some one to have nice adult conversation with.  

2. Play Touch Football. Or soccer, tag, hide-n-seek, etc. Just get outside with the gang and do something that involves running around and taking in some nice fresh air.

3. Share Thanks. At dinner have everyone share what they are thankful for before eating dinner.

4. Eat Tons of Delicious Food. Thanksgiving is about the food when you get right down to it. And, it’s everywhere if you know where to look. Eat it up! Live it up! Dig in! Sure, you might gain a pound or two, but whatever. You can always burn that off before the spring and summer anyway. Dive into the pies and hometown delicacies. Honestly, you really only do live once and Thanksgiving only comes around once a year.

5. Boardgames! Get out those games you have in the closet since last Christmas and haven’t played yet. Scrabble, Life, Yahtzee, Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Trouble, Chutes & Ladders, whatever! Have some silly fun! Or a game of charades may be  alot of fun. 

6. Sing-a-Long. Karaoke. Get out the instruments, guitars, piano. Dust off that accordion. Bring out the tambourines, spoons, etc. Put on a holiday radio station and sing along. Make up a contest. You can really have fun with this.

7. Kids Talent Show. There’s usually one grownup at family gatherings who likes to get the kids doing activities. If you’re that person maybe you want to have the kids perform for the whole family after dinner. While everyone is watching football you could throw it together. (Of course adults can join the show too!)

8. Treasure Hunt. Create a simple treasure map and “prizes.” There can be one prize or multiple prizes, like an egg-hunt. Ideas for prizes: chocolate turkeys (is there such a thing?) or a packet of coins or a gift certificate wrapped up in a box. Share your ideas in the comments please!

9. Our Family Tree. Have everyone imprint a fingerpaint handprint on a big sheet of paper with their name underneath. You can have it framed or take a picture of it to share with everyone.

10. Start a Thanksgiving Day Banner. Starting this year create a banner that can hang in your living room that will have a picture of the whole family from each year. It can become an heirloom for future generations. You could also create a similar item electronically say with a website.

11. Three Legged Races. Link up kids/grownups. You could also try a sack race or create an obstacle course race too. Have some fun silly prizes or simple privilege prizes like the first place team doesn’t have to help with clean up or they get first dibs on the turkey.

12. Get Crafty. Get the kids together and make ornaments, chains decorations for the upcoming Christmas.  Sure the kids will have fun as well as the adults!! 

13. Write Santa!  What better way to end a festive day than writing the big man himself.  Give you plenty of time to get it in the mail and postmarked   from the North Pole!!  ( See Santa Letter Post Coming soon)  

Before you know it Thanksgiving Break is over and it’s back to school. Might as well make the best of it, right? Hey, make sure to listen to some old classical holiday music. Have a good time and live it up. 

Happy Thanksgiving all! Enjoy!

Please share your favorite Thanksgiving traditions and family fun activities in the comments! We’d love to hear your ideas!

Shopping Event

Shopping Event

Hooray it is the Weekend!!

I’m of two minds about weekends. On one hand, it’s great to have plans. On the other hand, it’s great not to have plans.

Having a plans organized  gives my husband and me something to look forward to and provides some structure to the day.  It’s great to know that we’ll be seeing friends – especially friends with kids who are harder to pin down. Theatre or opera tickets also come with the delight of anticipation which I think is half the fun.

Sometimes an empty Saturday or Sunday stretching out before us is also liberating, full of potential and surprise.  His  mom will take our son over night and we go have dinner with friends with no kids.  Or relaxing watching our shows we do not watch around  our son.    uninterrupted sleep is one my favorite things to get.  And of course, no weekend is complete without some reading (newspapers! books! magazines!) and lounging around in pajamas and slippers.

Personally, I like a bit of both — the planned and unplanned kind of weekend. Not having any plans at all sometimes makes me feel loosey-goosey, frittering away my time deciding what to do. But having too many plans can feel like, well, work, dragging out to one event after another.

Happily, this weekend we’ve got no plans on the calendar, 

Readers: How do you structure your weekends? Do you prefer to plan them out long in advance or just play events by ear?