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My family in Memphis!

Top ten lists are fun–hey, look at David Letterman. If you home school or teach, you can use top ten lists every once in a while for journal writing prompts: “Top ten things I’m going to go over holiday break” or “Top ten memories of 5th grade.” TwitterMoms asked bloggers to post a Top Ten Check List for a Fun Family Vacation Without Distractions, and I decided, “Why not?” Alamo is sponsoring these posts and giving away five $100 gas cards. So, if you’re a blogger, check out the information on TwitterMoms.

Here’s my top ten list:

1. Bring plenty of books, toys, and magazines from home–for a car or airplane trip. On our Memphis trip above, we all read books at night when we were calming down and trying to get ready for sleep since we were in the same hotel room. (Of course, we used books–that’s the point of my blog!)

2. Find a hotel with a pool and/or playground. Kids need to do fun and relaxing activities and not just sightseeing all day. Allow for some time for swimming and playing, and one parent can take a break during this time! (Or maybe a nap)

3. Make reservations and get directions before you go on the trip. This way you will spend less time on the phone and less time lost.

4. To go with number three, if you are meeting friends or family on your trip, make as many plans as you can ahead of time–including times, dates, and places to meet. This will also help you stay off the phone.

5. Put a message on your cell phone answering machine that says you are on vacation for the week, but that you will be happy to answer voice mail messages at a certain time. Many people won’t even bother to leave messages if this is the case and call you when you return. DO NOT put this message on your home

photo by kyz www.flickr.com

Journal writing prompts are sometimes hard to come up with. So when I saw this contest sponsored by Target and Twitttermoms, I thought this could also be a journal writing prompt for just about any age student or child (or even adult!).

The contest goes like this. I must answer the question: “What Was the Most Surprising Gift I Ever Received?” and then do a couple other things like link to Twittermoms and Target and tweet about it and so on! I thought it sounded fun, and I immediately thought of this story about the most surprising gift I ever received!

When I first started dating my husband, who I met on Match.com, we went to see the movie Love Actually. That was our first “real” date, just the two of us, and I was very excited that he would take me to see this awesome chic flick. Right around Christmas time, our relationship was sailing along, and we were in the mall shopping. In a music store, I said, “Oh look, here’s the sound track for Love Actually. Remember when we went to see that?”

He pretended he didn’t. As a matter of fact, he acted like he had no idea what I was talking about and finally admitted, “Oh that movie. Yeah, it was all right.” I wanted to strangle him. When we got back to his apartment, he told me to shut my eyes, and he would be right back. So, I did, still fuming a little about his lack or memory.

When he came back, he put a wrapped gift in my hand, and I opened it. What was it? Well, to my surprise, it was the soundtrack CD to Love Actually with the ticket stub from when we went to see it tucked inside the case. I guess he did remember after all! And I remember that was the first time I told him that I loved him. Sappy, huh?

Okay, so if you use this journal writing prompt this holiday season, you probably and hopefully won’t get such a sappy response, but you might get some heartfelt journal entries from your students or your children. Sure, you’ll get the answer that their Wii was the best gift and biggest surprise from a few, but some answers might just surprise you. If you answer this question for yourself, you might just surprise yourself at your memories; and maybe the holiday rush will slow down for a few minutes as we reflect on some of the wonderful ways people in our lives have shown their love around the holiday season.

Other Journal Writing Prompts for the holidays:

1. What is your favorite tradition around the holidays? Who do you do this with?

2. Giving gifts is better than receiving gifts because. . .

3. If I could give a gift to anyone in the world it would be. . . because. . .

4. What are your plans and goals for the New Year?

5. When Joshua woke up Monday morning, he looked out his window, and it had snowed. WOW! It had really snowed, so he decided. . .

Here’s a book all ages can enjoy that can help you think of gift giving in a less consumerism-way:

Have fun!