You can have everyone dress in their Christmas outfits and a photographer can capture that special Christmas and it’s forever preserved for you and your loved ones. On the other hand, going to a professional photographer isn’t cheap. So if you want other images of Christmas to save in your scrapbook or share with family, you’ll have to learn how to take that perfect picture yourself.

With all of the user-friendly digital cameras available today, that won’t be a difficult task. The functions on these cutting edge cameras can completely take away that weird glassy red-eyed look that we all hate.

Get in a few 'in all their glory' shots for your Christmas album.

You don’t have to worry about making sure you’ve got the focus correct – most digital cameras have auto focus. Best of all, digital cameras don’t cost anything for you to share with family or friends.

Just upload the photos into your computer, attach them in an email and off they go! You can instantly share. Not only that, but you can take the digital photos to your local film developer and have them printed onto gift items such as coffee mugs or calendars. Every grandparent loves photos of the grandkids.

You can have family members dress in opposite colors – the men in red and the women in white. Or you can use contrasting shirts and pants. Using a digital camera to take the picture, that’s the easy part, but as everyone knows, getting the family to sit still long enough (and not make animal faces at the lens) while trying to take a photo can seem like a Herculean task. How can you get around that?

Don’t take the photo at your house. Take your Christmas photos elsewhere, like outside. Let your kids do what comes naturally. Laugh and have fun playing. Shots that aren’t posed make some of the best Christmas photos.

You can also go to area businesses for your Christmas pictures. Since businesses are looking to pull in the Christmas shoppers before, during and after Thanksgiving, they’re going to go ahead and set up displays featuring Christmas scenes.

You can get pictures of your family in front of these displays. If the business won’t let you do that, head for a smaller shop and just ask. Most business owners are happy to oblige. The perfect Christmas picture is the one where everyone in the photo is wearing a genuine smile and the camera has captured the true beauty of the moment.

Perfect Christmas Family Portraits is original content from Country Living

But maybe you’re just beginning your Christmas holidays as a family and you don’t really have any traditions of your own yet. There are many popular traditions that you can pick from and make them a part of your own holiday traditions. There are traditions that are suitable for any age group.

One favorite holiday tradition in many families is making Christmas cards to send out. You can choose to send cards personalized with your own family photo and a poem or a few lines telling the receiver what they mean to you. If you don’t have the time to make Christmas cards, you can get store bought ones and add your own touch to them.

Family photos for Christmas are another age old tradition. Start today and have memories to share forever.

Another well-known holiday tradition is attending a church event together. Many churches have Christmas Eve services that are beautiful with all the decorations and the soft glow of candlelight. Many churches choose to pass on the live poinsettias they use in decorations on to the people who attend the service.

Young children can write letters to Santa and take it to the local post office. Some post offices have a special box set up just for letters from Santa. Kids can also get involved in decorating the Christmas tree and as you hang the ornaments on the tree, if there’s no history behind the ornaments, you can share bits of your history with your child or talk about the meaning of Christmas.

Putting up the tree can become a time of sharing conversation that children look forward to. You can start a tradition of listening to certain songs as you put up the tree. One family listened to Bing Crosby Christmas songs while putting up their tree over forty ago, then their grown children kept up the tradition and later passed it on to their children.

A well received tradition is the practice of dining by candlelight on Christmas Eve and afterward, each family member opens one gift. You’ll want to set aside a particular gift on Christmas Eve so that you’re not digging through the piles of gifts to find it.

After the gifts are open, gather together to sing Christmas songs. Christmas is filled with anticipation of the coming day and the days leading up to it should be celebrated just as much as the day is.

Most cities have Christmas parades or Christmas music shows that residents can attend. Make it a habit to attend one every year. The night before Christmas, begin the tradition of reading a Christmas book, sharing the Christmas story, or watching a much loved Christmas movie together. Whatever traditions you decide to incorporate into your family, you’ll be glad you did. It’ll make the holidays more meaningful and give everyone something to look forward to.

Family Traditions at Christmas is original content from Country Living

First, lay aside perfectionism. Limiting yourself into believing there is only one right way to create an object will makes every decision on which craft to tackle harder on both you and the children you’re in charge of. Believe me children will have their own ways of doing things, regardless of any directions you give them, and therein lies a large part of their development. As long as you’ve taken account of their age and skill level your choice will be sufficient.

Next, consider your budget. When choosing a craft idea for kid programs, you need to be aware that some of them are expensive. Prepackaged kits to make a fun foam picture frame or a craft stick cross are affordable for a few kids, but if you are needing to do a craft with a lot of kids, these kits might cost too much. It’s often easy to do almost exactly the same project by just looking at the craft kit components and buying the same materials in bulk at the discount store. You may have to do some preparation, like cutting out shapes ahead of time, or at least making cardboard patterns for the kids to use in cutting out their own. The savings will be worth it, however.

Another consideration is this – boys and girls have different likes when it comes to craft activities, especially once they’ve passed the age of four years. If the craft seems a little girly, don’t attempt to gain your boys’ attention. Stick with lace-up billfolds, dinosaur related artwork or Indian artifacts. Girls will like beads, cookie decoration, and anything that is pink or purple. For a craft idea for both sexes, keep it on the boyish side and add some girly twists to make everyone happy.

An aspect of creativity that some non-creative types don’t realize is that one idea will launch from other ideas. If you get the children talking and listen to their thoughts you can receive feedback for making a similar craft in a different way on your next day at the table. Craft ideas books are excellent for this type of lateral crafting as well. Use what you can and change what you must. For instance, the craft may have a slogan to be written across the front of an item the children just made. Change it up for the age of the group, the common element, to turn the item into a gift for a special person – whatever works.

Finally, realize that you don’t have to change the instructions or create something new to have a good craft idea for children. The kids will have a great time either way. Just pick a craft idea and let the children lead you into more creativity – they are naturals at it.

Finding Craft Ideas for Summer Kids is original content from Country Living

You can un-school, de-school, or home school. There are other styles of home education, but those are a good basic three to being with. You’ll find information on the three within GoodByeCityLife. If you need to, ask questions in the comment form below.

Once you’ve decided on a style of education, create a mission statement or plan of action. Now is the time to set certain ground rules and commit them to paper. Home schooling requires a lot of self-discipline. Having goals set to paper, no matter how lenient, help to keep the focus. Personal traits required for teacher and student are: an eagerness to learn, hard work and effort, discipline, time, patience, flexibility and an enthusiasm for sharing knowledge.

In your mission statement you might also want to record your motives, goals and reasons to home school your child. Don’t forget to get input from your sons or daughters and review your statement every few months to make sure you are on track.

Set Up Your Proposed Schedule

How many hours, how often, and on which days? Flexibility is one of the key underlying principles behind homeschooling, but 70% of humans thrive on schedules so this may be a concern for you and your home schooled child. It is only natural that parents, especially in the beginning, feel that their children should be at their books at the time that regular students are in school. That ‘feeling’ is the opposite of home schooling and can be counter-productive.

One of the most ignored but glaring drawbacks of the public schooling system is the sheer waste of time and energy that it promotes. Many periods are simply wasted away and the child effectively derives only 1-3 hours of study per day. There are days when the studies become too intense and other days when no work is performed at all. There is a lot of ‘invisible waste’ of hours in the public school system.

Not so with home schooling. There will be ample time for other activities or bonding time. Time spent actually preparing your child for real life. Not the boredom of a classroom.

Stick to your schedule for a few weeks, then reassess and rewrite if necessary.

The actual number of hours that you need depends on the curriculum you have chosen and the learning style that suits your child. If you are dealing with a subject that is more complex, you may need to sit with the child for a longer period. Using various techniques, it may be necessary to demonstrate what you are trying to teach. For instance, a difficult math lesson may take more time than the equivalent lesson in English.

Given the fact that too many public school hours are wasted in meaningless activities (waiting), extra-curricular activities that your child has no interest in, and ultimately boredom – do not allow public school hours to dictate the hours you’ll spend teaching your child at home. At home, he is getting high-quality, one-on-one lessons that are highly productive. About 1-3 hours of study is a good place to start in the primary grades, but let you child decide if he’d like to do more. The more enjoyable hours you put in, the more learning takes place.

Your child does not have to learn seven hours a day. Allow him to dictate the time after you’ve met your minimum. Flexibility and fun are the cornerstones of homeschooling. Do not stuff too many skills into a single term or year.

Homeschooling does not stop at lectures, books and tests. Field trips, documentaries on television, day to day life such as shopping and banking, and libraries also make up an important slice of the home schooling process – all of which has educational value. It makes sense to intersperse these activities so that learning becomes fun. You may want to finish off the few hours of textbook learning in the morning and dedicate the afternoons to these kinds of activities.

Compassionate and intuitive parenting is truly the secret to homeschooling success. Children make great advances in learning and show more enthusiasm when they are being led by love and respect. They also turn out to be surprisingly well balanced and well informed when they are taught at home.

Planning to Home School is original content from Country Living

When I was young I was all but ignored. When I had my daughter then, I was at a serious loss. I hadn’t a clue how to parent her as I’d never been parented myself. Yes, I had been provided for, for the first 7 years of my life, but not guided or taught or assisted in the exploration of the world. I had to make sure my own child would have the opportunities I was never afforded – time of a parent.

When Veronica was just 4 weeks old a very good friend of mine said: “Read to her. All the time.”

“But she doesn’t understand the words! Why would I read to her now? Can’t this wait a few years?”

“No. Start now. Here’s a book – Slippy Chicken Soup with Rice. Read it.”

So I sat on the edge of the bed, tiny baby Veronica drifting off to sleep “Slippy once, Slippy twice…slippy chicken soup with rice!”

Feeling rather silly. I kept it up anyway. Every night there was a story. Right up until she was 10 years old. Sometimes she’d read to me. Other times we’d alternate paragraphs. Serious bonding time. Serious make a child literate time.

In a world that is slowly but surely turning away from paper books and having faces glued to monitors and television screens, the importance of developing a passion for reading when very young cannot be overlooked. Reading is a habit and should be established well before they even know what you’re saying. There’s no forcing required – I can’t tell you how many horror stories I’ve heard from full grown men about their mothers shoving words down their throats and chastising them for being incapable.

If you can’t excite your child over the written word yourself, before you do any damage, consider a few options:

Sign him up for reading class. There are many well structured after school reading classes that aim to draw children to books. They help kids with diction, idioms and phrases. For young children, these classes can be fun with animated characters and pictures. Illustrated picture books, rhymes, silly songs and pretend stories all work to engage a young child into the joy of reading.

If your child has a favorite character, topic or animal, pick a series of books that features this character. For my son, it was Spiderman. Thanks to a love of wildlife, my best friend’s son latched on to some great chapter books early in his childhood.

Set a good example. A skill like reading cannot be learnt in isolation. Do not leave all the hard work to the after school program. Pick up books that you think your child will like. Sit and spend time reading together, or reading seperately, but in the same room.

For the Love of Reading is original content from Country Living

A lot of people have gone before me and many will follow after as it fits with the environmentally “green” lifestyle choices we’ve made. For many of us a Vegan lifestyle is in perfect alignment to a return to simpler times, age-old ways, and is considered a far healthier way to eat. If you are sitting on the fence as I was, here are a few considerations to make before making bold strides and statements towards eating Vegan.

Quite a few environmental groups today claim that Vegan is the ultimate way to go green. In many ways, this is correct. While others only claim to live green, those who are eating Vegan as well as being environmentally conscious are really walking their talk.

Eating Vegan is certainly good for your organ health. Very quickly you’ll see a decrease in blood sugar levels. This is extremely beneficial to diabetics as it may one day eliminate personal insulin usage. Goodness, don’t go doing anything or making any dietary changes if you are diabetic without discussing the entire matter with your doctor. Making changes without talking to your doctor could have devastating consequences – it only takes a minute to ensure you have his approval.

Want to lose weight and control your blood sugar? Vegan eating may pack twice the benefits. People who avoid eating meat are also often able to lose weight much faster accounted for in the decrease in calories and fats from some meats. Plus fruits and vegetables that are common in a Vegan diet also assist in weight loss due to their negative calorie effect. While this is not a huge benefit for everyone, it can be a massive help if you want to shed a few pounds.

As you can see, a Vegan diet substantially lowers fat consumption. Consuming excessive amounts of dairy products and fatty meats are detrimental to your health. Just one more reason to switch – especially if you have struggled in the past to manage your weight.

What About Your Children? Should They Be Switched to A Vegan Diet Too?

Quite a few parents today are starting to raise their kids on a Vegan diet as well. If you find yourself trying to determine whether a Vegan lifestyle is suitable for your children you are certainly not alone. Each year there are thousands of people switching to Vegan and children are often included. A quick check in with your family doctor can offer yo some of the best advice for children’s dietary needs.

Before you switch children over, take stock of your nutritional knowledge. If you are lacking, it will be extremely difficult for you to meet your own nutritional needs, not to mention your child. Choices in diet for children can affect them for years to come. Adequate nutrition is a strong point in Vegan diets for youth, even more apparant if you are not meticulous in your nutritional knowledge.

If you are not certain exactly what your child needs nutritionally it is time to enroll in either a nutritional class, talk to your doctor, and/or research online to get some clear information on exactly what you need to focus on for your children’s nutrition. It is extremely important to watch intake meticulously. Many beginner Vegans overlook and skip the essential nutrients that are critical to basic nutrition. If you are determined to live and raise your children as Vegans, a vitamin supplement is extremely helpful.

An increase in fruits and vegetables are important for children. Many tend to shy away from eating vegetables in normal life, however if you are encouraging the healthier lifestyle of Vegan eating, you’ll have to remind them until it becomes a habit, to eat enough fruits and vegetables. This is not always easy to do, particularly if your children are in the habit of consuming meats.

As a family, an educated approach to a Vegan diet can allow your children to eat the same meals as you, without any major upheaval and complication. You will be consuming far more carbohydrates on a Vegan diet. This has been considered good because it provides a great source of energy all during the day. While protein is an essential part of your diet it can take much longer to digest, which will allow you to pack on weight faster and have lower energy levels.

Switching Your Family to Vegan Diets is original content from Country Living

Think back to Christmas when you were a kid. Remember how excited you were as you counted down the days until Christmas eve when Santa would arrive?

You probably remember all the sights leading up to the holidays – the twinkling lights, the wonderful scents, visiting friends and family, dinner parties, cookies and treats galore and classic Christmas songs at home, at school, in the stores and even in the streets.

Hearing those old carols from years past can sure trigg6er a stroll down memory lane at Christmas time, can’t they? Today, children all over the world still love those same tunes and the same Christmas specials and they too will have fond memories to share with the next generation of children.

Here are a few of my own favorites:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was and is still one of everyone’s favorites. Remember how happy you were when Rudolph triumphed and ending up saving Christmas by helping Santa Claus guide the sleigh safely through the night? It was the one thing that made him different that also made him a hero.

Another one? Frosty the Snowman had us all imagining dancing with Frosty in the playground, in the streets, and at the train station. We’d singing happily about having fun just like Frosty suggested. Thumpity-thump-thump, thumpity-thump-thump, way more than just a song. In our childish imaginations, Frosty was real and we all delighted in hearing a song about him or watched him on television.

Another favorite is the catchy tune of Jingle Bells even though most kids these days can’t relate to a sleigh or horses. But one that they will be able to understand and be affected by (at least most of the children I know are) is Santa Claus is Coming to Town – many small children learn how to control themselves during the crazy holiday season based on the words of that song! We wanted to be on his list – the nice side not the naughty.

As for being nice during the season or good, another old time favorite is the Chipmunks singing their Christmas Don’t Be Late song.

As for me, I did have one particular favorite – being the poor kid in the county with a love for animals I really related to The Little Drummer Boy. Rum-pa-pa-pum.

Well that was a fun walk down memory lane. I sang them, taught them to my daughter and one day she’ll share them all with her child. And after all, isn’t that one of the wonderful parts of Christmas – passing on traditions in a very un-traditional world these days – and creating new memories of this cherished holiday with loved ones.

Music, Kids, and Christmas is original content from Country Living

For one young age group on your shopping list – kids that are six and younger – you can’t go wrong buying the furry Elmo dolls that talk and are part of a popular kids’ show – Sesame Street. One of these dolls, the Tickle Me Elmo, laughed when tickled and sold out long before the Christmas holiday even began.

For the same age group, you can get the cool learning toys. Those are toys that are computerized and don’t feel like a learning experience so that kids are happy to learn and enjoy playing with it. Anything by LeapFrog is a good choice for this category.

Can't decide which gifts to buy for a child? Don't purchase the whole store, get the goods, here.

Another hot Christmas toy for 2009 for the younger generation are the building blocks that come in bright colors, like Legos. Kids love building their own little worlds with these toys and the blocks are made to work with other blocks in the same collection.

Ride-on vehicles, made to look like miniature versions of the real deal have held their popularity for years and are still one of the hottest selling toys of 2009. Kids love zipping around the yard and going to imaginary places in their very own car, truck or motorcycle.

Any age group loves the furry collectible animals that come with their own virtual world, like the Zhu Zhu pet toy hamsters. You can buy clothing and accessories for these collectible animals. With some interactive toys, you get a code in a plastic tag on the animal. When you enter the code online, the pet in the virtual world also gets the same article of clothing.

Handheld game systems like the Nintendo DS are popular among every age level and you can find electronic games in a wide variety. Interactive electronic toys are always a hit among kids and some of the best selling interactive toys are video games, especially the video game systems that fly off the shelves early every shopping season. If you plan to get your child or relative a gaming system, you need to get it now.

For the quieter kids who aren’t into interactive electronic games, there are electronic notebooks where they can pen their favorite lyrics, poems or words. Of course, fashion dolls sell out every year and 2009 won’t be any different for this hot ticket item.

Now, you can even find fashion dolls associated with popular television shows or movies. Some of the fastest selling fashion dolls for 2009 are the new vampire dolls based on a best selling novel about vampires. These fashion dolls all have accessories to enable the receiver to be able to add items to dress the dolls.

Toys based on a movie that begin as one toy yet can morph into another are very hot right now – especially the robots that turn into vehicles known as transformers. But none of the hot toys seem to last at the stores. They’re the first items to go so don’t get left holding the empty shopping buggy.

Christmas Toys for Children (2009) is original content from Country Living