1. Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on ABC

Dick Clark, on the other hand, has been hosting the New Year’s Eve special on ABC for 40 years! Longer than I’ve been alive. Don’t you feel like he’s the Santa Claus of New Year’s?

   The big show begins at 10:00 p.m. E.T., and Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber are scheduled to perform. In 1972, Dick Clark hosted this inaugural show and competed with Guy Lombardo’s New Year’s Eve special which ended-up airing for 21 consecutive seasons since 1928. My family and I like to watch this live show broadcast from New York City with the famous ball drop!

2. Family Friendly Events

I found out about this nationwide event calld First Night USA - a nonprofit that offers “community spirit” celebrations in 23 states. These celebrations focus on arts and performance allowing families to enjoy a night of spectatorship in downtowns of cities across America like Council Bluff, Iowa, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and Alexandria, Virginia. I love the idea of exposing my children to art and theatre and getting out of the house to explore this holiday night with other local families.

3. Cooking Dinner for Friends

I read this great article in the Washington Post by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan called, An Intimate Dinner for Friends. It listed some apropos recipes for a calm night with close-knit friends including fennel-roasted salmon and cranberry tart. One New Year’s I had dinner with about five other friends, and as the clock struck midnight, we all went outside and banged on pots and pans under the moonlight. We felt genuine childlike joy as we made each other laugh clanging and marching around in a circle. This is a great tradition for New Year’s Eve.

4. Don’t forget Happy New Year Cards!

I like sending Happy New Year Cards on both the Eve and on January 1. I like the idea of my faraway cousins receiving Happy New Year Cards on their laptops while they watch New Year’s Day football on the tube; and I want my girlfriends to laugh at their Happy New Year Cards right before they make the Hoppin’ John black-eyed peas receipe for everyone to enjoy that day.

Let’s make a pact to not feel so pressurized this December 31. Hopefully I’ve offered some fun ideas for your New Year’s plans. Watch Dick Clark, revel in family-centric events, cook an intimate meal for friends, or send faraway loved ones Happy New Year Cards. Just make a choice, and do it!

Martha Stewart’s site has a great idea for a last minute handmade gift. Fill organza sachets with herbs such as lavender, tansy, wormwood, cedar, patchouli, rosemary, cinnamon, or cloves to repel moths. These sachets are a sweet-smelling alternative to your grandmother’s chemical smelling mothballs. They are pretty easy to make. Just buy the organza squares and decorative ribbon from a Joann Fabric Store and dried lavender from a flower store.

Another idea comes from a mother and creative designer in Charlotte, NC. She blogs about this great last minute handmade gift idea.

DIY family photo magnets. Get your magnets from Hobby Lobby and follow this blogger’s tutorial. All you need is photo paper, chipboard from the back of a notebook, rubber cement, and a white marker. Such a personal and inexpensive gift for your family and friends!

Our favorite last-minute ideas are Christmas ecards. A life szver if you forgot to send a printed card to someone. Frankly, I save myself time and effort and send all my friends and my family members a fun or a heartfelt ecard with a personal message from me to them.

Our Sexy Fruitcakes ecard makes light of that time old culinary Christmas gift – the fruitcake. Whether you hate the taste of them or love them, fruitcakes get a bad rap. Lucky for us, The Food Network’s Alton Brown gives the fruitcake a makeover with an updated recipe finally allowing the fruitcake to, in the words of Justin Timberlake, bring sexy back.

Christmas ecards are the ultimate last minute gift. We hope Doozy helps you this Christmas Eve Eve so that you remember everyone on your list.

 I recently watched Irving Berlin’s White Christmas On-Demand. I love the lyrics to the  song, Snow, that Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye, and Vera Ellen sing on the  train from L.A. to Vermont. The lyrics go:

“I’ll soon be there with snow
I’ll wash my hair with snow
And with a spade of snow
I’ll build a man that’s made of snow”

The show business foursome leaves the palm trees of Southern California for the snowy scapes near a New England Inn. According to the Chicago Tribune, “A white Christmas, as defined by the National Climatic Data Center, is one with an inch or more of snow on the ground at 6 a.m.”

The places in the U.S. with the highest probability for White Christmas each year are two cities in Michigan (Marquette and Sault Ste Marie), two in Minnesota (Hibbing and International Falls), and one in Washington (Stampede Pass.)

Chicago has a 40% chance of White Christmas each year. New York has a 10% probability. And Los Angeles is 0%. So think of us this holiday season when you send Christmas ecards. We’re warm here in the balmy weather of Southern California busy making gifts; instead of the toys Santa makes in the snowy North Pole, we’re making Christmas ecards!

The National Chanukah Menorah is located near the White House at The Ellipse, in the President’s Park South and will be lit at 4:00pm. Hot latkes and doughnuts will be served.

In New York City’s Midtown neighborhood, the “World’s Largest Hanukkah Menorah” stands. Certified by The Guiness World Book of Records and designed by artist Yaacov Agam, this sculpture is a festive Jewish decoration amidst the Christmas lights, songs, and colors generally associated with Manhattan at this time.

In Saint Louis, Missouri, Home Depot sponsors a Menorah Workshop where kids can build menorahs from wood. Started by Rabbi Levi Landa in 2008, this annual event has been so popular that Home Depot is extending it to other cities. It’s a great way for kids to do something hands-on to celebrate the holiday especially if your child has an inclination for doing carpentry or handiwork around the house.

In Boulder, Colorado, Ignite Chanukah with Vodka Latke Party is described as Colorado’s biggest young adult Chanukah party. It’s a way for young adults to share ideas about Chanukah and other Jewish topics in a light-hearted way. The vodka and latkes is the pre-party. The talks and five minute speeches are the main event, and there is usual an after-party as well. What a great way to get into the festive mood.

In whatever way you like to celebrate Hanukkah this season, we’ll be sending Hanukah e cards to all of our Jewish friends and family this year. Nun, gimel, hei, shin!

On mornings that are harder than others, Bob visits DoozyCards.com, plays one of our animated ecards, and shares it with his mother. He tells us that our light-hearted, animated ecards put both of them in a smiling mood and help them get on with their day. In his message Bob says “We want to thank you for bringing so much joy and happiness into our lives. We applaud each and every one of you.”

We found Bob’s and Liz’s story to be remarkable. The irony that Bob sends us a thank you note with Christmas greetings is that it is perhaps his sunny disposition that deserves the highest recognition. Most us of hope to live to age 90 like Liz; the wisdom that comes with it is earned. Parents dedicate their lives to us and sacrifice so much for us, and when it is our turn to care for them later in life it is truly a gift. We know that Bob and Liz are treasuring this time together. We are glad to bring a little merriment and joy to their day. They certainly bring some to ours! Happiest of Holidays, Bob and Liz!

Families across the country journey to local, regional, and national theaters to watch these traditional shows that are synonymous with the season. It seems to me that people can be divided into two camps: A Christmas Carol People and The Nutcracker People. There is of course the rare breed of species that is on the fence. If you are someone like that, please find below my arguments for each, and let me know what you decide!

Case for A Christmas Carol.

Supporting fact #1:

There’s a whole literary following of the Dickensian style. You know – Victorian England, British accents, poor working conditions and miserly bosses. Going to see A Christmas Carol sends a message to the world: “I am literary. I love words and fine writing.”

Supporting fact #2:

You will probably leave the theater with a good moral learned. The themes of regret, guilt, greed, and gratefulness will permeate any theatre-goer’s mind and even leave a few of us crying with tears of recognition. Spectating A Christmas Carol can make you a better person.

Supporting fact #3:

The ghost of Morley is downright scary! This is a much bigger thrill than seeing a horror movie at the cinema.

*If you find yourself in the A Christmas Carol People camp, consider your gifting style to fall into this category of Christmas ecards:

Case for The Nutcracker.

Supporting fact #1:

Dancers are athletes as well as artists and watching ballerinas do their thing is awe-inspiring. Here. This video will explain what I’m talking about. When you watch a good ballerina perform, and you see the holes in the shoes and the muscles working to their capacity, you feel so much respect for the art.

Supporting fact #2:

Silence. Unlike, A Christmas Carol, there are no lines of dialogue in The Nutcracker. Simply, sit back, meditate and watch the dreamlike sugar plums grand jete their way across the stage in silence to the melodic sounds of Tchaikovsky.

Supporting fact #3:

Be a kid again and romanticise that you, in a way, are Clara being courted by your own prince!

*If you find yourself in The Nutcracker People camp, consider your gifting style to fall into this category of Christmas ecards:

We have been mostly nice all year. It seems everyone we know is cutting-back on toy spending this year, the economic situation being what it is. We’re enjoying sending Christmas ecards again this year.  At our house, we send unlimited funny Christmas ecards and holiday greeting cards to all our family and friends across the country. This has cut-down Christmas costs for us;  instead of spending money here and there on various $5 gift cards, we’re saving money with fun and beautiful Christmas ecards.

So we understand, Santa Claus, if you need to save on your expenses this year too. In our letters from years past, normally, we’ve asked for certain material items – remember when we asked for a car? Oh, and then there was that year with the letter where we explained to you just why exactly diamonds are a girl’s best friend. But, we promise this year, Old St. Nick, that we’re okay with just the health of our families, a blessing on this great country, and wishes for a prosperous 2012.

1. The Menorah

First thing’s first. The beautiful menorah candles have such a meaningful significance. Counting down the eight days of Hanukkah, lighting one of the eight candles each night, is a sacred way to remember the past and to cherish time with family.

The blog, Old Growth Yiddishkeit, has lovely advice on how to make an environmentally sustainable menorah that is still kosher.  Using olive oil and cotton wicks is better for the environment and actually a closer match to what they  would have used in the 2nd century BCE.

2. Dreidel

   An excellent article from Patch.com, gives instructions on how to glamorize your dreidels using Elmer’s spray adhesive, fine glitter, and a decorative glass vase. Martha Stewart Crafts (available at Michael’s) makes fine glitter. It’s more powdery and subtle. In my opinion it looks better on the dreidels than the large traditional glitter squares. Less messy too!

3. Latkes

The Huffington Post featured an avant-garde recipe that puts a new spin on this traditional food. How ’bout adding  celery root and parsnip to your latkes this Hanukah? I thought it sounded delicious.

4. Celebration

Dance, laugh, and sing with your family in celebration of Hanukah. Here are a few great ways to do it!

Rock-out with your kids to this bouncy Hanukah pop ballad sung a capella by the Maccabeats. It has over six million views on YouTube!

Menorah. Check. Dreidel. Check. Latkes. Check. Hanukah e cards … we’ve got you covered. Another way to wish others joy is to send Hanukah e cards to family across the country. We have plenty of Hanukah e cards here at DoozyCards.

 They’ll love groovin’ to this original Happy Happy Hanukah song e card.

So now that this blog post has hopefully equipped you with everything you need, go get started with the Hanukah preparations! We here at DoozyCards wish you a warm Hanukah 2011.

A woman was at Kmart buying for the Toys for Tots charity, when she decided to pay-off three layaway accounts belonging to three random strangers. This snowballed into other Kmart shoppers doing the same thing, and three days later $3,500 had been donated towards layaway accounts.

There are plenty of ways to show your Christmas giving spirit this season. Sending Christmas ecards to your loved ones far away  shows them you care. We here at DoozyCards, offer 6 months of free Premier Membership to active service men and women currently in the Armed Services. That’s why when we came across this nonprofit group called Trees for Troops it really sang to our hearts.

This group partners with Christmas tree growers and FedEx to deliver 17,000 trees to military families. FedEx uses East, West, and Central routes to deliver these trees to such deserving families. Lighting up a Christmas tree fills your home with warmth and cheer. You can find out how to donate to Trees for Troops here.

Even if you are not able to do random acts of kindness this year, send Christmas ecards to your family and friends as a token of kindness.

This year I ordered online from Macy’s, Wal-Mart, and Amazon.com, and let me tell you, seeing those boxes pile-up in my entryway was much better than lugging them around town in the backseat of my car. Harried Christmas shopping amongst the chaos of Los Angeles is not the best look for a woman.

I also found this great site, Etsy.com, that has great gifts for friends and housewarming. One of my favorite sellers on this site is BandA Prints that does custom prints of your home state, football team, and gifts for babies. It was so easy to order from this seller, and have it delivered directly to my house.

Our Holiday Greeting Cards are a “Happy Holidays!” to your loved ones through the push of a button. For me, living here in Southern California, there are days in December where the sun is out, and it’s actually quite balmy. But I know for sure my relatives on the East Coast are building a snowman. They have enough snow in New York, Vermont, and Connecticut to sled, throw snowballs, and roll large balls into the the belly and head of a snowman. That’s why I sent one of my family members this Snowman Seasons Greetings. This card is a beautifully animated video of a little boy building a snowman. I love his bright orange mittens, and his creative use of a tin pail as a hat. I love sending Holiday Greeting Cards to commemorate this special time of year.