Easy Bake Oven

Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine

Anyway, that is not the point of this post. I wanted to talk a bit about my parents, and how I was raised. Of course, my reflections and memories of my childhood are just that, MY memories, and my mom may have a completely different account as to how things happened. These are the things that stuck with me and formed me into the kind of parent I am today – some as a direct result of what I rebelled against as a child, others because I appreciated the lessons I learned from my parents.

My dad grew up in the South, in the then-small town of Ocala, Florida. He may not have had a Southern accent but his manners and personality were definitely that of a Southern gentleman. I distinctly remember him telling me one time all the things a Lady should do and be. Cross your legs at the ankles, do not wear makeup or high-heels before a certain age, gum-chewing was extremely frowned upon by him, but if I did chew it, my mouth better have been closed, I could not get my ears pierced until I was sixteen. The joke was always that I could not marry until he was sixty. I’m sure there are more ‘rules’ I am forgetting. I put rules in quotes because it’s not like he was a tyrant about these things. It was just the way it was and there wasn’t really any negotiating about it. However, he softened on his own and let me get my ears pierced when I was ten. I was shocked and almost chickened out when we walked by the Claire’s in our local mall and he offered to let me get them done. The rule then became ONE set of pierced ears, and no dangle earrings. (I believe my sister had about four holes in each ear so I always wanted to catch up.)

My mom, on the other hand was raised in a very strict Irish Catholic family. She broke through so many barriers on her own because of her extreme talent for ballet. She was teaching ballet classes on her own at age 16 in downtown Boston, and went away to New York City to dance at Radio City Music Hall in the Corps de Ballet by the next year. Of course, her mother insisted she live in a convent at the time, but still, her talent paved the way for some freedom and rebellion of her strict upbringing. Her mother still ruled the roost, however, and I think that, in addition to my being such a blessing after trying so hard to have another baby, led my mom to relax any strictness she had.

Me, lost in the 80's

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I was running around like a wild child with no consequences. I had issues in second grade where I was branded a “social butterfly” and lost some privileges for a while as I learned to button my mouth in school. There were times when I lost tv or being able to go out with friends. But I can count on two fingers the amount of times I was spanked as a child (and one time doesn’t count because I’m pretty sure both my mom and I were laughing when it happened). Mostly, as far as I can recall, and my mom can correct me if I am wrong – I was a good kid. I wasn’t really getting into anything I shouldn’t (oh, except for that one time I wanted to light a kleenex on fire in my dad’s ashtray because I liked the way paper burning smelled-hey, I was or pushing the boundaries at all. I was big on not disappointing either of my parents. My mom knew that was how to get me if I did act up – telling me she was not mad at me, she was disappointed.

So how did my upbringing affect me as an adult? Well, my way of rebelling was to, after my dad had left us (that’s another post entirely for much further down the line), get a second cat (he vowed we could only have one) and get my ears pierced for the second time. That was my little way of saying “Ha! Look at what I did now!” I know, pretty embarrassing as far as rebellion goes. I guess I just always had that disappointment guilt looming over me. There were times when I first started dating J. that my relationship with my mom was a bit rocky. We had been so close and only had each other for so long, that my gaining more independence and sharing my life with someone else was a bit of a challenge for her to get used to. Of course, she ended up loving him and treats him like her son now, so that all worked out.

I grew up having formal Sunday dinners with white linens and dining in 5-star restaurants with my parents usually before or after a Broadway show. I grew up with culture and I guess to an extent the ‘finer things’ as far as certain experiences go (it’s not like we were the Trumps by any means!) and I wanted to be sure to pass some of those experiences on to my children. They both love music and the arts and sing along to my favorite Broadway musicals, so I think I’ve done okay there too. Mostly what I wanted was for them to be open to any positive new experience and accepting of other cultures, lifestyles and people – and respectful in the process.

Before I became a parent, I had certain ideals I knew I would subscribe to. I knew I didn’t believe in spanking. I knew I didn’t want to say “bad boy!” but focus on the action instead of the child committing it. I had every intention of praising the positive and not resorting to negativity, yelling, or guilt. I can’t say I’ve been 100% successful in all of my aspirations, but I have tried.

Having two children under the age of two within the first year of becoming a mom, was a bit of a challenge. One child enters the terrible twos and the other follows suit, even if it’s before she’s supposed to hit that ‘milestone’. My oldest two being so close in age has led to sibling rivalry, but mostly in the sense of them fighting amongst themselves. We never have said “why can’t you be more like your brother/sister” and they both have very defined personalities and characteristics that let them stand on their own merit without constant comparison. The years leading up to school really did put my parenting choices to the test as it was really hard to keep my cool all of the time.

I think of the three things I did not want to focus on (negativity, yelling, guilt) the only one I’m really troubled with is the guilt. I don’t really yell ever, unless as a last, last resort, and I really never label the kids themselves as being bad, I just focus on the actions and the better choice they could’ve made. However, guilt is just a part of who I am I think. You don’t realize when you grow up in it, that it becomes your go-to emotion. I try to do my best not to put guilt onto my kids, but I’m not going to lie, it happens. If I cook an amazing dinner for the whole family and it gets pushed around on the plate, it’s hard not to take it personally and throw a little guilt back at the kids. Of course it doesn’t work in getting my message across to them, so you’d think I’d get it by now.

In addition, I think I allow my kids perhaps a bit too much freedom based on that same guilt. I had such a wonderful childhood where I really wanted for nothing (except that Easy Bake Oven and Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine ) that when my kids ask to do something or for something, I fully admit to giving in more times than not because I don’t want to feel the guilt of depriving them of something. My husband came from a very different background and is perfectly fine with saying “NO.” nine times out of ten. I guess in that way we balance each other out, which is good…but I know we both have created our own reputations of Mommy being the lenient one and Daddy being the strict one. When my kids ask me something and I say “Go ask Daddy” I get groans in response. It’s something I’m aware of, admitting to, and working on.

Friends forever...

As far as those rules I had growing up, I wouldn’t ever go back and change them in my life, but I am much less “this is the way it is” with my kids. If something seems to have no real consequences or negative implications, I’m prepared to break tradition and let it happen. My daughter got her ears pierced at 6, and when she freaked out and couldn’t take them out and put new ones in, she let them close up and got them done again at 7, much more prepared for the responsibility. I have no problem with my kids chewing gum, but do find myself reminding them to close their mouths and remember my dad each time I do. I want them both to be able to express themselves and their creativity and try to foster that whenever I can. Sometimes I fear I am a bit too undisciplined with them but then we get a compliment while out telling us how well-behaved our children are and I breathe a sigh of relief that we are doing something right. Though we may struggle with the issues every other parent does: respect, listening, responsibility, I hope we’ve given them the basis to be good, compassionate, respectful people that give their best every day. And I have to hope that some of that is due to how we grew up, and those same lessons will get passed on to future generations.

Oh, and eventually did get a Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine and an Easy Bake Oven…well, my daughter got the oven…my husband and I got the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine
about 8 years ago…for the kids…yeah. That’s it.

Thanksgiving Table Crafts

Inspired by some of my fellow bloggers as well as my favorite, Family Fun magazine, I thought I’d share my family’s top Turkey Day crafts! I have to admit, almost all of the crafts my children have done over the years are thanks to their amazing grandmother, my mom. She has an agenda when it comes to the holidays and always makes sure the kids get to create something new each year and feel like a big part of the festivities. I have come up with a few of my own over the years though, so this list combines both.

Turkey Cut-out Napkin Rings

Personalized Turkey Cut-out Napkin Rings

This was one of my mom’s crafts last year. The kids just cut out card stock turkey shapes, rectangles to write everyone’s name on the front, then made rings out of the card stock, using cut cardboard tubes as reinforcement. They came out really cute and of course depending on the age and skill level of your artists, you could have some really unique turkeys! Another option we’ve done in the past is one I found instructions for on Family Fun – Turkey Napkin Rings from flat wooden craft spoons. I have another similar project using the craft spoons below.

Cornucopia Nut Cups

Cornucopia Nut Cups

This was another from last year. Growing up, my grandmother always had painted scallop shells filled with mixed nuts at everyone’s place setting for the holidays. I may or may not have gone around picking all the cashews out of those shells, as a child. (whistles innocently…) Anyway, while we don’t use the shells anymore, we do still enjoy having mixed nuts out for the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays. My mom found this craft to make a fun, reusable decoration. The kids just drew out their own cornucopia pictures on the front of some construction paper. My daughter wanted to color hers in, while my son chose to leave his just plain (and really I was quite impressed with their creations!!) then they attached the paper to a ring using glue sticks, so they stood up on their own. Next she just put some mini cup cake liners in the ring and you fill them with nuts of your choice. You can then remove the liners and put new ones in for the next event. Of course you can fill them with whatever you like: candies, mints, anything! You could also make bigger rings to fit larger liners if you’d like the cups to hold more items.

Wooden Craft Spoon Turkeys

Wooden Spoon Turkeys

Another fun craft item to decorate your Thanksgiving table are these wooden craft spoon turkeys. Gather about 5 of the craft spoons and glue together with wood glue. Next glue another stick to act as the holder for the turkeys. Cut out felt for the head and the beak/waddle parts. Attach those parts and googly eyes with glue. We cut out pilgrim hats with construction paper and glued those on as well. You can then color in the ‘feathers’ any color you like with markers or even paint. The possibilities for creativity are endless! We just placed them around the table and on plates for decoration, but you could probably put them in tall cups full of nuts or candy, or even flower pots.

Pine Cone Turkey Place Cards

My mom made this one with the kids a few years back but unfortunately I do not have pictures of their creations, so I found a similar craft with instructions on Family Fun’s site.  We just added little cards with guest’s names on them to turn them into place cards for the table. These are especially fun to make because you get to go on a nature walk to collect the pine cones first!

Oreo Turkeys

I saw this on a baking group last year and had to make them. They are so simple to do, yet involved so the kids loved making them. For each turkey you make, you’ll need 2 Oreos, a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup, a Whopper, some candy corn, white frosting for ‘glue’ and yellow frosting/gel for the feet. You can also use some blue or other color frosting for the eyes.

Oreo Turkey - edible crafty fun!

Stand one Oreo up on top of a flat Oreo, and use some of the white frosting to attach them. Add 5 or 6 candy corn white part down, into the top Oreo’s filling to make the ‘feathers’ of the turkey. Be VERY careful with this because if you push too hard you will split open the Oreo. We went through quite a few, but no one complained. Cut the Reese’s mini cup in half, and attach with a bit of frosting so the cut part is facing down onto the Oreo. Attach the Whopper on top of the Reese’s cup as the head, with a bit more frosting. Next add 2 candy corns, with the white tips facing up, to the Reese’s cup, as wings – this is optional if you’d rather have a turkey without wings, it looks cute without too. Cut off the tip of another candy corn and attach with frosting to the Whopper as the beak. Next use the white frosting to make eyes, using a colored gel if you’d like for pupils. Use the yellow frosting for feet on the bottom Oreo. You can also get red frosting or gel to make a waddle, but we forgot that step last year! This year we might experiment with chocolate-filled Oreos, or maybe even save some Halloween orange-filled ones next year! The best part about this table decor is everyone gets to eat their creation!

Just re-made these for an appearance on iVillage.com so I thought I'd add the new photo!

Mr. Turkey-O!

Laminated Thanksgiving Artwork Place Mats

Our Thanksgiving Place Mats

A few years back a neighbor of mine invited a bunch of us over to have the kids create Thanksgiving place mats. The kids decorated large sheets of construction paper using markers, crayons, glitter and leaves they’d collected from outside. (Keep in mind we live in Florida, you can probably find much prettier leaves in the northern regions!) I may have helped a bit with some of the drawing. Then they colored their names in with stencils and the moms printed out Happy Thanksgiving with the year on them. Our neighbor then took them down to the local print shop and got them laminated for just a few dollars. This will be the 6th Thanksgiving that we’ve used these place mats, they are a treasured keepsake! I can’t wait till the baby is old enough to make his own place mat to add to the table.

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I hope you try out some of our family’s Thanksgiving crafts, I know my children enjoy the traditions they created so much and love showing off their handi-work each year. So many of these can take on a personal twist and embellishments from your own family will make these one-of-a-kind decorations something to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Jim Henson with Bert

Each link below is a video from YouTube and will open in a new window so you can view them all at your leisure – Sesame Street’s birthday has slowed YouTube a bit with all the views.

10. R.E.M. – Furry Happy Monsters
9. Ladysmith Black Mambazo – African Alphabet Song
8. ladybug picnic
7. Martians Find a Phone – Kids, that item is a PHONE-shocking, I know! It had a cord and no buttons!! How did we survive?
6. Teeny Little Super Guy I remember looking in my cabinets and wishing he was there!
5. Herry & John John Count to 20 (LOVE John John!!)
4. Fly in my Soup! Waiter!!
3. Container of Milk, Loaf of Bread and a Stick of Butter I still say this every time I have to make a grocery list.
2. 1-12 Pinball Song I think this just sums up the 70′s.
1. Lowercase n This will always be my favorite.

While discussing my Top 10, my husband of course chimed in with his own picks and we soon had many more than 10, so I thought I’d add some of his favorites that weren’t in my list, as a bonus! I truly feel his favorites have shaped him has a person, since he’s sitting here laughing hysterically as he watches the videos.

5. Doin’ the Pigeon This was part of J’s courtship dance for me.
4. Phone Booth Rock Again, kids – this is called a “phone booth” if you needed to call someone while not at home, you used this, and a DIME to make a phone call. Crazy.
3. Bert & Ernie Fishing Heeere fishy fishy!!
2. It Ain’t Bad to Get Mad This Goat is okay with his anger issues.
1. Kermit the Gorf He was laughing to the point of tears watching this, perhaps I shouldn’t be blogging that though…

Suffleupagus has always been my favorite

We left off a lot of the more popular favorites, “C is for Cookie”, “Rubber Duckie” etc. but I hope you’ll comment here and share your favorites so we can all remember this epic show together!

Baby G enjoying a taste of China from Daddy at Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival!

Here are 5 to get you started:

5. KidCot Stations - There are KidCot stations in 11 World Showcase locations as well as in The Land and The Seas pavilions which feature a FREE mask that your kids can decorate. At each station, a cast member gives your child’s personal creation a stamp and attaches a paper cut-out, each themed to the KidCot location.

KidCot Fun Stops in World Showcase

4. World Showcase Passport - Passport gift sets are available for purchase in many Epcot merchandise locations, as they have been for years now. I remember getting my passport stamped when I was about 11 and asking many cast members to write my name in their language as well. Now they come with stickers for each country, and a space for the cast member to write a message in their native tongue. This is a great activity for kids that may not want to decorate a mask, but still want an “International” souvenir to take home.

3. The Flavorhood, hosted by Edy’s Ice Cream – I’m not sure I need to say more about this new addition to the Food & Wine Festival – it’s ice cream! This fun spot will let the whole family test their “flavorology” and learn their ice cream personality. Ice cream can also be purchased here. A great spot to recoup before heading out for more international tastes! Did I mention the ice cream?!

2. Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure – This interactive adventure is one of the best additions to Epcot in recent years. Be sure to head to a pick-up location early to reserve your “Kimmunicator” because this is now a very popular attraction (you receive a Fast Pass type ticket to return and pick up your Kimmunicator in a certain time frame, this is so there aren’t 30 groups heading to the same mission at once).

deep in concentration on our mission!

1. Eat to the Beat Concert Series - True, your pre-walker, pre-schooler or tween probably won’t be familiar with the line up of great performers for this concert series, but don’t let that deter you. As you know, kids LOVE music. What better way to relax between tastings than jamming along to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy or En Vouge, among others? This year 5 new acts are added to the series, which perform 3 times nightly and range from R&B to jazz to classic rock and more.

image from indigoskye at flickr.com

Display of plush at Magic Kingdom

After we all retired our Cast Member name tags, we purchased annual passes and still went pretty much every weekend. Sometimes we’d just go for lunch or dinner and not even go on a single ride. When my first son was born in 1999, we had been living in the Orlando area and been park regulars for the past 4 years. It seemed only natural to head to the opening of the Asia section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom when he was 3 weeks old. We got several stink-eye looks from wizened old grannies that always have advice to offer new parents “He needs a hat!” “He needs booties!” “He needs more blankets!” (yes, even in Florida, you get told to add layers!). Many asked “How OLD is he?!” and when I answered “3 weeks” I did so with the disclaimer, “Oh, we just live down the street, it’s not like we’re here for a 10 day vacation.” That seemed to satisfy them a bit, although I’m not sure why I cared to explain myself – we were at Tower of Terror one time when a mother was getting quite irate with Cast Members for not being allowed to bring her six week old infant on the ride. Yes, really.

So our firstborn grew up getting wheeled around Disney World until we sold our house and moved back to Massachusetts (a long story, but basically, we had a child and both exclaimed – “We can’t possibly raise a child in FLORIDA! We must return to Boston, to history and culture!” – We were back in FL within 6 months). At that time, I was pregnant with our daughter. She was born in Massachusetts, and we did indeed return to Florida 6 months later. She too, was wheeled around Disney World like her brother had been. Of course at 2 years old and 6 months old, they were too young to remember what they experienced anyway, but we had fun. Cue a few more moves, and we didn’t really return to Florida to live until 2003.

Before that, back in 2002 we had one wonderful, crazed visit where my husband’s parents, brother and his girlfriend, and the 4 of us in our mini-van all drove down to Orlando from Boston. The kids were then 3 and almost-2 at the time. Just the right age to enjoy most everything and be get that wonderful look of awe on their faces that Disney inspires. Of course they were also amazed by South of the Border on the trip back home, but…we’ll let that slide. It was the perfect little vacation so we could all experience what it was like to be a tourist at Disney again, rather than a local. The crazed part came with the super-cold front that rolled in, forcing us to seek out sweatpants and sweatshirts for the kids. My father-in-law got sick so their group went home a day early, and our son got sick as well – he decided to create a whole new appetizer at Canada’s Le Cellier while we waited to order. Ew. Just because that needed to be topped, I got the brilliant idea to adopt a pair of kittens from someone I had met online, so we met them in a Super Wal-Mart parking lot, picked up 2 tiny mewing kittens, supplies for them, and proceeded to drive back home in the now renamed Bodily Function Central mini-van. Despite those setbacks, it was nice to make a whole journey out of the trip and enjoy lots of things we’d missed for years by taking quick day trips.

Fast forward to 2003 when we took up residence again, we went back to weekend visits and trying out new lunch or dinner spots. The kids did not, in fact, lose their wonderment of the Happiest Place on Earth. They both got into pin collecting, and we got excited about what had become our family traditions – Mother’s Day at the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, October at the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party followed by http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/special-events/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/, ending with of course the amazing decorations for the holidays,

the kids exiting the Wedway People Mover (TTA) in December of 2005

When we moved outside of Tampa in 2005, we visited a little less frequently. It certainly wasn’t every weekend, but we kept the family traditions alive. There was always something new to see, some refurbished ride or restaurant or resort to explore – it never got old. Then last year, I had our 2nd son, our 3rd child.

the newest Disney baby, December 2008

Since then, we’ve visited a lot more frequently, but I realized something when we had our good friends visiting from California. We had become dependent on the phrase “don’t worry, we can come back anytime”. Any time there was more than a 20 minute wait, or we didn’t want to deal with the baby getting in and out of the stroller, we said “catch ya next time” to a LOT of attractions. We, as parents, were still having fun people watching and having a Disney-quality lunch or dinner somewhere, but as parents know there’s only so much “walking around” kids can do (especially as they approach that fun tween age) before they start to formulate plans for mutiny involving the release of the Sword in the Stone from its imprisonment, on the back of a Disney World napkin as we stop for lunch.

My oldest son is also getting to the point (10 ½) where he doesn’t want to go on ANY rides. Don’t get me wrong, he still loves Disney and loves even more when we take mini-vacations and stay in a condo for a couple of nights. He seems to love the experience of the park, but just doesn’t want to bother going on the rides right now. I’m not worried, I know this too shall pass. I went through a phase when I was that age where I was completely PETRIFIED of the Haunted Mansion. I’d been on it a billion times, I knew it wasn’t “scary” but I still did NOT want to go on that ride and no amount of begging could convince me. Pirates wasn’t much better with all the skeletons. I’m not sure if he’s inherited a bit of that or not, but he’s a kid that begs to see every new horror film that comes out, so I’m thinking no. That is another part of living slow close to the parks – you can, but don’t have to go all the time. I’m sure with a break, he’ll be extra excited to ride all his old favorites.

During that visit with our Californian friends, I made a promise to my daughter that we would go on Splash Mountain next time we came to Disney no matter what. That next time was when we saw the Hall of Presidents preview. We were lucky enough to be gifted some Fast Passes when we were waiting in line, so we walked right on. It was her first time, and she LOVED it. So I decided then and there that we were going to have a Girls Day Out at Disney World. When we got home, I got out our customized Disney maps I’d ordered a year ago when we stayed at Dixie Landings (oops, I mean Port Orleans Riverside), and told her to make a list of all the rides she wanted to go on when we went. She was quite excited about that. Our itinerary is going to involve 3 parks. We’re starting out in Animal Kingdom, heading to Epcot and ending up in Magic Kingdom to go on all the rides there at night. It’ll just be us so there won’t be anyone complaining that they don’t want to go on this ride or that, and the baby will be at home so it’ll be that much easier to get around.

S. at Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique for her birthday, August 2006

Peter and Wendy playing with our kids on the Magic Kingdom Family Magic Tour, 2006

And despite the loud parties many nights, I have to say Disney is a pretty good neighbor. Can’t really complain too much. They’re clean, always keep their lawn mowed, and they do have the best fireworks on the block.

As with most things of a fantastical nature, I avoided Harry Potter and all its hype for years. That sounds pretty confusing coming from someone that identifies as a small, stubborn, flying pixie. With the notable exception of The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien in general, I’m just not a sci-fi/fantasy kind of girl. After reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I especially wanted nothing to do with this obvious attempt to cash in on a similar story line that was Harry Potter. And then, the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone came on tv, back in 2003 or 2004 I believe. Wouldn’t you know I got sucked in by The Boy That Lived? I was pretty annoyed at myself, actually. Then we saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I didn’t care for that one as much, but it led to me wanting to actually read the books. The ironic thing was, we already had all the books that had been released up to that point, thanks to my mother-in-law that had been sending them down for the kids to read when they got older. So I cracked open Sorcerer’s Stone, and not only proved my earlier impressions wrong, I promptly fell in love.

When I had finally caught up with all the books, I had also found a new friend in my Starbuck’s barista at the local SuperTarget, who had read all the books several times. Our Harry Potter kinship led to us getting together with our kids, who were close in age, and eventually my getting a job alongside her. So when July 21st, 2007 rolled around, we were there with our two eldest children (both of whom dressed as Harry) for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My friend wanted to stay up all night and read the whole book, but I couldn’t last much past 5am. When I did read it, of course I cried like a baby, as I had with certain parts of The Order of the Phoenix, as well as The Half Blood Prince. It was exciting to be a part of something that was taking place all across the country that night, and I’m glad my son got to experience it as well. Like it or not, the books got kids eager to read; connecting with their parents in some cases was an added bonus.

As our children have grown, so of course have Harry and friends within the books and movies. Honestly, the past two years since the release of The Order of the Phoenix film have been chock full of growth for both my older children. No longer interested in primarily toys, they now favor video games or just hanging out with friends. So I was surprised when they both exclaimed with great interest that of course they wanted to see the new movie at midnight when it was released. More than willingly, I purchased tickets online for the 12:05 showing in our local movie theatre.

It has been a while since I read The Half Blood Prince, so I won’t get into how “true the movie was to the book” or “this or that was missing and how dare they!” All I know is on its own merits, the movie was beautifully shot, and the story told was wonderful. It definitely set the scene for how Harry is growing up and must bear the burden of responsibility in the troubled world in which he lives. I loved the various camera angles and the different sets used this time around; visually it was just gorgeous. Not to mention Snape.

But quasi-movie review aside, what I loved the most about last night was the realization of the tradition and memories JK Rowling has unknowingly created within her series. This was the second time we’d seen a midnight release of a Harry Potter movie, and the kids were no less enamored of the event. When they are my age, they’ll remember these times and hopefully create some of those same wonderful memories with their own families.

It is quite a unique feat to fashion such constant yet ever-changing characters that serendipitously grow along with your very own children. While mine are not quite at the “snogging” phase yet (thank Merlin!) they are getting there, so they can still relate to this whole tale as opposed to quickly outgrowing a movie as being “kid stuff”. I love that about this series. It truly is something we can all share, get excited about and discuss for years to come.

So I am happy to proudly say that I am a Potter fan. While I may not own a Gryffindor scarf myself, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at one, nor anyone wearing one. In fact, it would be a great way to get to know them better, knowing we already share a love for something that has brought such joy to so many – hopefully my kids share that same realization. So thanks again, Jo. Well done.