For the last few years, we have spent one or two nights after Christmas writing thank you notes for our Christmas gifts. We don’t send them to everyone, but at the bare minimum grandparents and out-of-town givers get a thank you note (since they didn’t see you open it and there is always the question if you even got it in the mail). And of course Santa gets one (It is the principle here- If you can take the time to write him a letter of what you want, then you better take the time to say thanks when he brings it to you):

Christmas season is here and that also means Christmas parties. We have at least a few to go to that will involve buffet style-serve yourself- food. I thought we needed to go over a few buffet manners before we hit the parties:

The kids came to the table and found a letter (the alphabet kind, not the ‘Dear kids’ kind) on their plate. The goal was to have them work together to unscramble the word. I had to give a few clues but my oldest one finally figured it out:

My husband said the prayer for dinner. (He was prepped before hand). In a serious voice he said, “Rub a dub dub- thanks for the grub. Amen.” I wish I had a picture of my kid’s eyes as soon as the prayer was finished. It was a mix of confusion, shock, bewilderment and humor. It was completely silent for a moment as they tried to figure out what the honk was happening. A few giggles emerged and then when we (the parents) lost it, they knew it was a joke. I told them tonight we would talk about saying prayer over meals.

I set the table using cloth napkins. The kids noticed the fancier touch right away. (Did you know there are 3 different places you may set a napkin?) I told them we would be learning about how to use our napkins:

As I set the table for dinner, I added some props to the table. I put a laptop by my husband’s plate, a cell phone on mine, a toy on the high chair tray, a hat on my daughter and again my son unintentionally contributed and came to the table without a shirt. I wish I had turned the TV on in the background and been chewing gum for a little extra challenge. Then we played the game, “What’s wrong with this picture?”