I love the holidays.  The whole of December is one big party that tapers slowly between Christmas and New Years.  Then, with any luck, we can get the kids tucked away in bed right around the time our English cousins are ringing in the New Year and collapse in front of a movie or two, until Auld Lang Syne reassures us that life is about to return to normal.  Adventurous? Notsomuch.

I’m a big believer in routine.  The holidays definitely throw our schedule for a loop and it always gets me wondering, “Do I wish I had those kids that go with the flow and are happy to pass out on a friend’s sofa somewhere around 10pm?” While I don’t mind throwing caution to the wind for special occasions, the answer is still “No.”  Sure we might have to excuse ourselves from Thanksgiving dinner before the meltdowns start, and we miss the entertaining conversation that springs from Aunt Jane having one glass too many, but I like our routine.  We roll with it when we can, but if we have to call it a night at 7, I know there are at least 340 days of the year when I’m glad the kids have a predictable schedule.

Nanny Carrie’s Tips
1) If your schedule is all over the map, start with one or two routines and work the rest of your day around it.  (ie. Bathtime always starts at 7pm.  Or, always plan to be home for afternoon naps.)
2) Expect the unexpected.  Throw some jammies in the car for family gatherings that run later than planned.  That way you can get everybody ready for bed before the long drive home and save a battle with overtired little ones.  (Don’t forget the nighttime diapers for bedwetters!  Disassembling wet carseats for washing in the dead of winter is not fun.)
3) Late dinner at a restaurant?  Pack a lunch bag with some healthy snacks for the kids to eat while you wait for your order.  (Hint: This is a great time to break out the fruits and veggies that they’re more likely to eat when they’re bored and starving.  Then you can cross mama-guilt off your list when the rest of their dinner consists of french fries and ice cream sundaes!)

Do you prefer a structured day, or a more flexible schedule?  What works best for you?

I usually blog around this time of the week, but some of us have been chillin’ at the cottage. I’ve had no time to write – far too busy shoving smores in my gob, pulling leaches off little feet and enjoying an icy beverage from the campfire cooler.

So, all is well in dreamy cottage country. All will be shattered when I have to face the hard reality of cottage laundry – but we won’t think about that now.

Oh, and as for the title of this post – probably more accurate to say that at this point in time you can smell us from distances far and wide!

People often tell me I make things look easy. I think the reason I make things look easy is because they often are. A perfect example is the neighbourhood Easter egg hunt I recently organized. Please note that when I say “organized”, I am using the term very loosely. I sent out an e-mail to everyone on the neighbourhood e-mail list. It was the same e-mail I sent out last year.

So I managed to get some cred and kudos for doing pretty much nothing.

The e-mail included information about how many eggs to stuff per kid in your family, what area of the park to hide the eggs in (based on kiddo ages) and what time to have it done so that we would be ready to start on time. Oh, I also told egg hiders to bring plastic bags with them in case they came across some dog poop or other park treasures.

That’s it. That is me organizing the egg hunt. Note what I didn’t do:
- I didn’t stuff eggs for kids in the neighbourhood;
- I didn’t hide eggs for kids in the neighbourhood;
- I didn’t go and clean up the dog poop in the park before the egg hunt.

Surprisingly, with all that I didn’t do, I still got a handful of e-mails from highly appreciative mamas. They all mentioned how remarkable it was that with six kids and a business I could find time to organize the egg hunt. I reminded them that forwarding the e-mail from last year took me about 15 seconds. Regardless, these appreciative mamas unanimously came back with “Well, someone had to send it out – so thank-you!”

Perhaps a case can be made for the old expression: “if you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it”. Maybe all of us busy folks have just figured out the real trick – don’t just make it look easy, make it easy!

We decided to celebrate Mabel’s Birthday at HQ by having a friendly workspace decorating competition. Check out these amazing (and sometimes extreme!) make-overs!

Kim from Special Programs

Emma from IT

Caitlin & Melissa from Marketing

Head on over to our Facebook Fan page to see more great work spaces and join the fun by leaving a comment on your fave one. The photo with the most comments will be the winner of a fun little prize from Mabel!

There is a lot of fun stuff going on here at The Mabelhood in 2010! To start things off, friend and amazing fella, Chris McGrath, will be joining us with a guest post next week. He will post about a tremendous accomplishment – he just reached his goal of losing 200 lbs. No gimmicks, but a lot of sweat and hard work. With all those New Year’s resolutions buzzing around, we’re hoping his motivation is contagious!

The following week, you will be introduced to Nanny Carrie (who happened to have a baby a couple of days ago). As an experienced nanny who is oozing with kiddo love, common sense and practical solutions, Nanny Carrie is the mama with the answers! She will be providing regular posts helping us deal with all that kid stuff that drives us crazy.

Of course you’ll still be hearing from me about life in the mama trenches while also juggling Mabel’s Labels madness. Caitlin will be keeping you posted on all the Mabel news and Tanna is here to keep you organized.

All the best for 2010! It’s been a pleasure sharing 2009 with you! And a warm Mabelhood welcome to Chris and Nanny Carrie!