Vahana’s Holiday Haven |

Christmas is a wonderful time of year to show the woman in your life just how much you love and value her. Your gift to her will let her know just how special you think that she really is. Nothing shows your love better than a well thought out gift which takes into account her interests and desires.

Here is a list of gift ideas to get you started on your way to purchasing the best gift for the woman in your life this coming holiday season:

Gift Idea #1 – One of the best Christmas gifts you can give the woman in your life is the gift of your time. Take time out to show the woman in your life that you value her, and all that she has done for you, by volunteering to complete tasks for her that you know she doesn’t like to do. This could be cooking a meal, or even cleaning her home for her.

Gift Idea #2 – If the woman in your life doesn’t take time out of her busy day to pamper herself, give her a gift of some luxury spa products which she can use at her leisure in the privacy of her own home. Great options for this are bath salts and nice smelling lotions or body butters.

The Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo is held each year on the fifth of May to celebrate the Mexico’s win over the French at the Battle of Puebla in the year 1862. Many people, especially Americans, assume that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexico’s independence; however, the true Mexican Independence Day Holiday is on September 16th.

The Battle of Puebla is a battle which brought great national pride to the Mexican people because their small, poorly armed army of about 4,500 men was able to completely stop a French army, nearly twice their size, from invading Mexico. The victory showed the Mexican people what they could accomplish as a nation and spurred national pride and unity.

Cinco de Mayo is a national holiday in the country of Mexico, but the largest celebration is held in the state capital of Puebla where the battle took place. In addition, the largest Cinco de Mayo celebration in the world is actually held outside of Mexico in the Los Angeles area of California. The next two largest Cinco de Mayo celebrations take place each year in Denver, Colorado, and in St. Paul, Minnesota. Each of these three large events draws hundreds of thousands of participants each and every year.

Thanksgiving is a holiday each year where your family can really start some great family traditions. Often families tend to get into a rut after a while, and adding some new and interesting family traditions to the Thanksgiving celebration can really liven things up and give people something to look forward to all year.

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for those people we treasure in our lives and those things we have been blessed with over the past year. A nice tradition to start is having everyone present at your Thanksgiving gathering go around the room and tell what they are thankful for in their lives. In addition to what they are thankful for, you can add on the tradition of also saying something nice about each person in the room.

Another great family tradition is to have a white linen tablecloth on a different table than the one used for serving food, so that it does not become stained. Before or after the meal, hand out a black permanent marker to each person and ask them to write something on the cloth and sign their name and date it. You can then use the same cloth each year and have people continuing to add their information on it, or you can use a different cloth each year, maybe a smaller one, and have someone in the family turn them into stitchery or even a quilt.

St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday which celebrates Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick was one of the patron saints of Ireland credited with spreading the Catholic religion to many areas of Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day takes place on the 17th day of March each year, which is the day which Saint Patrick died.

St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland with many businesses being closed on the day. In other parts of the world, especially the US and Canada, it is widely celebrated but is not an official government holiday.

St. Patrick’s Day is a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland. Interestingly enough, occasionally the church authorities move the date of the holiday because of its clash with other holy days. In 2008 this is the case, and it shall be moved to March 15th to avoid Holy Monday.

President’s Day is a United States federal holiday and is celebrated on the third Monday in February. The President’s Day holiday was originally to honor President George Washington and was known as “Washington’s Birthday”; however, it was renamed in the late 1980s to celebrate both Presidents Washington and Lincoln. The day is now simply referred to as President’s Day. It is common to find banks and government offices closed on the President’s Day holiday; however, most retail stores are open on the day, and many have special sales which happen on that day each year.

Because the celebration of President’s Day is all about leadership and celebrating the special men who have led our country over the past two hundred plus years, I have gathered together some of my favorite US President leadership quotes. They are listed below for you to read and think about this President’s Day.
1. “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” - John F. Kennedy

One of the best things you can do for the Christmas holiday is to build your own family traditions into the day. Family traditions are something that can be enjoyed by both adults and children, year after year.

The first thing you want to do when you are planning to build your own family traditions is to think about what you did with your own family growing up and what you enjoyed most as a child. Are there things from your childhood, and the childhood of your spouse, which you can use to build lasting traditions for your own children? Starting with family traditions and then building your own is always a good idea.

Early in the holiday season is the time to decide if your family traditions will include a visit to relatives or if you will spend the Christmas holiday at your own home. Some people prefer large gatherings for Christmas, while others prefer to spend a quieter day at home with their own children and spouse. Whatever you and your spouse decide is fine, as long as you are both in agreement with each other.

While the traditional 4th of July Holiday is to celebrate the anniversary of the declaration of the United States’ independence from England, it is interesting to note that is not when Independence Day celebrations first began. Even more interesting to note is that even though the United States celebrates it’s independence from England on that day; the holiday itself is largely based on English traditions.

You may not know that during the sixteenth century there were many political and regions debates raging and a lot of discontent existed in the British Isles. During this time, the British people started using both official and unofficial anniversary dates to make their own political statements and show their alliances. They did this buy having parades and feasting which ultimately were to show other people who their alliances were with.

When the colonizers left the British Empire, this tradition carried across the ocean. When discontent began to spread, these events were used as a means of protest which allowed the colonizers to show their political affiliations and messages based on their parades and dinners. It was all simply for show. Whenever there was a large parade, feast or other event happening, people often showed up simply to see what was going on. In this day, the large groups of people were seen as supporting whatever political opinion was being promoted – whether they truly did or not.

Holiday shopping for men can be a real challenge. Often finding the right Christmas gift to show your father, spouse, or other man in your life how much you love them can be a down right painful experience. However, there are some simple things that you can purchase to really show him that you love and care for him.

Here are some gift suggestions to get you started thinking about what you can give to the men on your shopping list this holiday season:

Gift Suggestion #1 – If the man in your life is handy around the house, and he enjoys the outdoors, a Swiss Army Knife is always a good selection. Swiss Army Knives stand for quality and function both at the same time. Every man can use and enjoy a Swiss Army Knife.

Earth Day is a holiday which falls in April of each year. Celebrations of Earth Day are held around the globe, and the day is dedicated towards educating people on the merits of recycling, and doing other things to help save this big blue marble we all live on and call earth.

There are many ways you can celebrate Earth Day with your children and spend the time teaching them about the environment. Here are some ideas to get you thinking on how you want to spend your Earth Day.

Every single person on earth, child or adult, can do their part for the environment. You can teach this to your children in very simple and easy to understand ways. From the day your child is able to turn off a light or television, teach them about wasting electricity and make it part of their normal daily routine to shut off the power when they are done with something such as a television or game. Also, teach them to always turn off lights when the leave a room. If you teach them this as very young children, then it won’t be such a battle when they get to be teenagers.

Each April the holiday known as Earth Day is celebrated around the world. Earth day is a day of celebrating this great big earth we live on, and a day to raise awareness of the special needs of our earth. While many people think Earth Day is all about recycling and composting your trash, in essence it is much more than that. And, because our children are the future of our planet, they are often the center of Earth Day celebrations. Having our children grow up “green” will help the earth stay healthy as the years go by.

There are many ways you can celebrate Earth Day with your children and spend the time teaching them about the environment at the same time. Here are some basic ideas to get you thinking on how you want to spend your Earth Day this year with your kids.

Every single person on earth, child or adult, can do their part for the environment. You can teach this to your children in very simple and easy to understand ways. From the day your child is able to turn off a light or television, teach them about wasting electricity and make it part of their normal daily routine to shut off the power when they are done with something such as a television or game. Also, teach them to always turn off lights when the leave a room. If you teach them this as very young children, then it won’t be such a battle when they get to be teenagers. And, as they become teens, then it is time to teach them to use power strips and get rid of all of the phantom energy drains in their rooms.