Listerine Gingerbread House Giveaway

Listerine has a fun package for Bookroom Review readers to win for the holiday season. This “Eat Your Sweets and Keep Your Teeth Too” giveaway of holiday goodies is sure to bring a smile to everyone in the family and is worth $50.

Get in the holiday spirit and spend quality time together creating a festive gingerbread house. After all the sweets, Mom, rest assured your family will have photo-ready smiles and healthy mouths when using LISTERINE™ PocketPaks®, LISTERINE™ TOTAL CARE and LISTERINE™ Antiseptic and REACH® by Design™.

The gift basket will include the following:

Williams-Sonoma No-Bake Winter Wonderland Gingerbread House Kit

This family-friendly kit includes a building tray for the house foundation, sturdy precut gingerbread walls and roof, and colorful candy decorations. Easily assembled, this is sure to create lasting holiday memories you and your loved ones will cherish.

Make Holiday Brushing Fun: *NEW* REACH® by Design™

Brush away gingerbread crumbs with the new exclusive brushes from REACH®. Adults and kids alike will love the festive patterns that make brushing your teeth fun! Plus, the brush is designed to clean and remove more plaque in hard to reach places

For the Holiday Party: LISTERINE® PocketPaks®

Family get-together coming up soon? Keep this on-the-go solution for fresh breath with you at every occasion. These slender packs fit easily in your pocket or purse, so you’re always prepared to mix and mingle with friends and family!

LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE and LISTERINE® Antiseptic

This holiday packaged duo is the perfect dop kit necessity. Plus, the individual travel-sized LISTERINE® Antiseptic and LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE have germ killing action. Keep your family’s mouths germ free, while maintaining fresh breath and a healthy smile for those memorable holiday moments.

TO ENTER: LEAVE A COMMENT ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY TRADITION.

ANOTHER ENTRY: FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AND TWEET THIS CONTEST AND LEAVE THE LINK IN A SEPARATE ENTRY

ANOTHER ENTRY: SUBSCRIBE TO BOOKROOM REVIEWS AND LEAVE COMMENT IN SEPARATE ENTRY

THIS CONTEST WILL END DECEMBER 20TH AND WE WILL E-MAIL THE WINNER WHO WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND.  THANKS FOR ENTERING AND GOOD LUCK!

Listerine provided the prize package for giveaway and review

Be Fire Smart

Every year I love to decorate our Christmas tree with my sentimental ornaments and lights.  But we must also remember to keep our family safe, because Christmas Trees and other decorations can be a fire hazard.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, nearly 47,000 household fires occur during the holidays each year. Misplaced or dry decorations mixed with fires and candles can lead to injuries, the loss of property, and even to lost lives, a tragedy which most families fail to consider amidst their festive holiday planning.

In preparation for this year’s holiday season, Liberty Mutual Insurance and Holly Robinson Peete, actress, philanthropist and mother of four are teaming up to raise awareness and spread simple tips to keep families safe this holiday by encouraging moms to set aside a few moments before the holiday rush to review fire safety precautions and response plans with their family at BeFireSmart.com.

Here are some safety tips from their website:

1. Keep decorations (trees, wreaths, etc) at least three feet from heat sources. Candles, heaters, etc.

2. Inspect holiday lights each year for things like frayed wires. If you didn’t do this when you decorated, I really urge you to go ahead and do this now.

3. Do not overload your electrical outlet(s). Please change it  if you did.

4. Do not leave holiday lights or candles unattended. I know your tree is beautiful and you want to come home after Christmas Eve service to your beautiful tree. But unplug it when you leave and turn it back on when you come home.

BeFireSmart.Com acts is a resource for parents and educators that offers tips for talking with children about fire safety, how to prevent fires, and how to create a family escape plan should a fire break out. Games and activities such as a free downloadable coloring book further engage children as they learn how to spot potential fire risks and help to keep their families safe.  I love their interactive childrens activities.

Be sure to enter the Liberty Mutual Fire Smart Sweepstakes for your chance to win a 4-day/3-night trip for four people to the Walt Disney World® Resort. You can visit “Where’s the Fire?” — the nation’s largest interactive fire safety education experience — at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot® at the Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida.

Thanks so much to Mom Central and Liberty Mutual for reminding us about these holiday fire safety tips!

Dysfunctional Family Holiday Movies!

Why do we love movies about dysfunctional families at Holiday time?  There are tons of them and they are all basically the same, with the climatic scene at the dinner table.  Saturday Night Live even made fun of the stress of the Holidays on families, with a scene at (where else) the dinner table, last week.  Christmas is almost here, and that either means spending time with your dysfunctional family, or watching movies about dysfunctional families to escape from yours.  Here are my top five that I love to watch every year!  They aren’t a exactly warm and fuzzy Christmas movie like “It’s a Wonderful Life, but they make me laugh, make me relate to them, and even realize how much I love and appreciate my own “dysfunctional” family.  Because basically aren’t we all dysfunctional?  Spill it, what’s your favorite dysfunctional  movie or holiday story?

P.S. Wanna win a months worth of Orville Redenbachers popcorn?  I know I do!  Just visit My Friend Amys blog (one you need to bookmark too!) to enter to win.

5. One True Thing(1998)
Meryl Streep, Renee Zellweger and William Hurt, what else could you ask for?   It occurs over the Holidays and deals with a daughter coming home to help take care of her dying mother and learn to heal her relationship with her father.
DYSFUNCTIONAL ASPECTS: Absentee self important father, dying perfect mother, angry daughter.
“One True Thing” is an observant, unsentimental family drama in which the tears at the end were well-earned and be prepared to shed tons of them.  P.S. Read the book first!

4.  Pieces of April
Hmm I see at theme occurring here.  But this one is a dark comedy that deals with a mother dying of cancer.  Stars Katie Holmes (pre-Tom Cruise), Patricia Clarkson( who I love!) and Oliver Platt.
DYSFUNCTIONAL ASPECTS: Sibling rivalry, estranged daughter, and an abrasive dying mother.

3.  Four Christmases

Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall,

I just watched this the other day, and laughed till I cried.  This is now a classic for me, I was completely surprised at how much I liked it!  My favorite scene: When they all played a game together.

DYSFUNCTIONAL ASPECTS: Basically, after 3 years of avoiding spending time with their families on Christmas (remember, you can’t spell families without “lies”) they are forces to visit all four divorced parents.   Hilarity ensues.

2. Home For the Holidays
Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Dylan McDermott
What can I say about this classic movie?  Fantastic acting, hilarious scenes, the aunt, the sister.  What an amazing movie.
Dysfunctional Aspects: Jodie Foster did an incredible job of showing the humor, drama, poignancy, frustration, love, loathing, fear, and comfort found in families. As exhausting as these two days were for this family, you know they’ll be back next year. Or, as Charles Durning’s character says, “There’s always Christmas”.

1.Parenthood (1989)
Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Weist,  Keanu Reeves, Jason Robards Joaquin Phoenix
I watch this movie every year and laugh so hard every time.  And then I cry.  The ending has me sobbing like a baby.  It’s the best comedic drama about the realism and heartbreak of being a parent.
Dysfunctional Aspects:  workaholics, divorce, “super”parenting, self-promotion., fathers and sons.
Best Line ever: From Grandma to (Steve Martin): she explains life to her joy of a roller-coaster over a merry-go-round… “that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited and so thrilled all together… some didn’t like it… they went on the merry-go-round… that just goes around… nothing… i like the roller-coaster… you get more out of it”. life is seen as it’s best understood… an amusement park that we all are going through. our perspective and our faith are the important factors.

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Mom Central Gift Guide and Giveaways

You have been reading my Holiday Guide and Giveaways and I am very appreciative.  I want to let all of you know about another fabulous Gift Guide and Giveaways you can participate in also!  Just go to Mom Central Gift Guide and they have some great gift ideas in all categories.  They have suggestions for Him, Her, Teens, Baby and much more!  And, best of all they have some Fabulous Giveaways!  I will be entering!  Check out what they are giving away!

Day 1, December 3rd: Deck the Halls and ‘Tis the Season Gift Packages
Day 2, December 4th: We’re Expecting Gift Package
Day 3, December 5th: Green and Global Gift Package
Day 4, December 6th: Family of Photogs Gift Package
Day 5, December 7th: For Grandparents Gift Package
Day 6, December 8th: Baby on Board Gift Package
Day 7, December 9th: Toys for Toddlers Gift Package
Day 8, December 10th: Little Book Lovers Giveaway
Day 9, December 11th: Being a Kid – Boys’ and Girls’ Gift Packages
Day 10, December 12th: Furry Friends Gift Package
Day 11, December 13th: For Tweens – Boys’ and Girls’ Gift Packages
Day 12, December 14th: Teenage Fun Gift Package
Day 13, December 15th: Health and Wellbeing Gift Package
Day 14, December 16th: For Him Gift Package
Day 15, December 17th: For Her Gift Package
Day 16, December 18th: Family Night Gift Package

Click Here to go to the giveaway page. To be eligible to win the daily prizes, you must register here on Mom Central, log-in, and leave a comment on the post. In addition, if you tweet or email friends about the giveaway, you can earn another entry! In order to earn the entry,  simply go back to the Mom Central Review blog and leave a second comment letting us know. Have fun and good luck!