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Our Gift to You: 6 Recipes Near & Dear to Our Hearts

At the heart of ParentsCanada, you'll find a group of people who are dedicated to providing the best parenting content possible—the information you need when you're panicked in the middle of the night, when you need an answer to “what's for dinner?” or when you're navigating new terrain in your parenting journey. In short, we try to be there for your family, even from afar, through a computer or phone screen.

With that in mind, we thought we'd share a gift from our ParentsCanada family this year. This collection of recipes is two-fold—each one comes from a member of our team, yes, but with a focus on the dishes that our own families enjoy most. We hope you and your families will enjoy them, too.

Tap the button below for all of these recipes, from our staff and contributors.

Pineapple Squares, from publisher Jane Bradley
Ginger Crinkle Cookies, from executive editor Katie Dupuis
Snowball Cookies, from sales and marketing director Lori Dickson
Breton Brittle, from senior editor Amy Valm
Potato Latkes, from tech editor Marc Saltzman
Vanilla Crescent Cookies, from cookbook editor Bonnie Young

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Is the Holiday Season Taking a Toll on Your Mental Health?

We’re deep into December now, and we all know what that means—so many competing priorities. Have you checked in with yourself? How are you coping with seasonal stress? Dr. Shahana Alibhai, author of Feel Better: How Understanding Your Emotional Palette Can Keep You From Getting Swept Away, shares three questions to ask yourself to determine whether you need extra mental health support. Check out the whole story here, and weigh in on the poll below.

The results of last week’s poll:
Where do you fall on the Elf on the Shelf debate?

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ It's so fun! We love it! (10.5%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Ugh. I wish I'd never started it. (7%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Never happening in my house. (82.5%)

From our readers:

“I never bought into it. I do not see the appeal. ”

“Everyone in my house, especially my young adults, can't seem to get enough of it. They look forward to waking up every morning just to explore where will the Elf be today.”

“I told my kids he would mess their room up and steal all their toys, so I don't let him in the house.”

I Find Large Family Gatherings Overwhelming—Any Tips to Help?

Even if you grew up in a big, rambunctious family, large get-togethers can be a lot. If anyone knows that, it’s writer Rebecca Stanisic, whose immediate family tallies nearly 20 people for special occasions. Here are her tips for how to manage the chaos so you can have a good time amidst the mayhem:

• Give everyone in attendance a task—it helps when everyone chips in. It also means that the host doesn’t feel like their day is spent cooking and cleaning up after everyone.

•  Know when littlest guests need to nap or be in bed for the night, and time main events (like exchanging gifts and eating dinner) accordingly. 

• Having a game or two to play breaks up the day and may also start a family tradition that lives on for years to come.

• Find moments to sit with loved ones and listen to the laughter and stories in the room. Perfection isn’t the goal of large family gatherings during the holidays—time with each other is. 

Read on for the whole story.