Thanksgiving is this week, and that sentence alone freaks me out just a little bit.  I mean, where did 2009 go?

Thanksgiving makes people think of a lot of things.  Family, traditions, FOOD.  (When else are you allowed to eat marshmallows on your vegetables without people judging you?)

It can also mean Stress with a capital S (sometimes for the very same reasons: family, traditions, food).

It also marks that time of year that we cannot continue to deny one simple fact - and I apologize to any of you who are trying your best to deny this fact for as long as possible.  When Thanksgiving is over, we cannot be angry that the neighbors have little twinkling lights all over their house.  We cannot groan when we walk into the mall and there are giant ornaments hanging everywhere.  We cannot be annoyed that the grocery store is playing THOSE SONGS over and over (and over) again.  (Well… in theory.)

It’s time for those next holidays.  The ones that involve singing and cheer and gifts.

So now is the time to start planning.  Why not take the first step and post those books, toys, and clothes that you’ve been meaning to put on Zwaggle?  Not only will you have a chance to increase the amount of Zoints in your account to use for your own holiday shopping, but you’ll be giving other families the opportunity to give those items to someone they love.

And that can help with the whole Stress thing.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Oink. Oink. Oink.

No, you didn’t mistype the Zwaggle blog address and land on a farm site. Those would be the sounds of MY house this week, as first one child, then a second, and then a third fell victim to the dreaded H1N1 - the so called “swine” flu. I’ve considered bathing the remaining kids in Purell, but I doubt it would do any good. Instead, I’ve decided to buy stock in Kleenex and Motrin, and cleaned the drugstore shelves of all of the Nyquil/Dayquil/Vick’s Puffs/Tylenol/orange juice that one woman could buy in my fair city. I despair of any of it doing any good, though - I think, at this point, that the flu will just have to run its course. And hopefully not run over me in the process. It’s been a good two weeks of at least one person being ill and I’m ready for a vacation. My most commonly heard refrain? “Wash your hands like Lady MacBeth!” (I swiped that from a friend - it just fit so, so well!)

One thing I discovered this week while my kids were down is that I am woefully unprepared to deal with this many kids at home at once, all under the weather and lounging around on the sofas. We don’t seem to have enough to do when you are too sick for school but not sick enough to nap all day. (Wait - that sounds AWESOME to me - I’d love to nap all day.) When I have sick kids, I try to set up a “Command Central for Illness”.  I keep the thermometer, Motrin, cough medicine, and tissues in one place, so that I don’t have to keep searching for things. (Not that I EVER misplace stuff …looking away, whistling innocently.) The sick kid can lounge on the sofa with a pillow and a blanket and when not sleeping, I do allow television watching - I know some people say that if you are home sick, there’s no tv, and I am usually of that mindset - but when someone is home with a fever - all bets are off.

But what, exactly, do you provide as busy work or amusement for a sick kid? Well, DVD’s are always welcome, as are new games for the Nintendo Gameboy or Xbox. New books are a tried and true pleasure, and I’ve been known to break out the Playdough for a fevered preschooler who is  just well enough to drive me bananas. In fact, homemade Playdough is exceptionally fun and I’ll give you our favorite recipe at the end of this post. What about other arts and crafts? Coloring pages can be printed off the computer, glue and sparkles and paints can make the hours fly by.

How do you handle having your kids home sick?  Share some of your tricks of the trade here and help us all get through what’s going to be a long, long winter.

Here’s to good health for all of us and a quick, fever free winter!

Homemade Kool-Aid Playdough

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 packages unsweetened Kool-Aid- any color

I’ve added glitter on occasion.

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and water.  Wearing gloves, knead for 10 minutes. Store in zip lock bag in refrigerator.

One other really delicious playdough recipe comes courtesy of my mom. This was my very favorite when I was a kid.

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, using your hands. This edible play dough recipe should feel soft and pliable. Form shapes and be creative!