The joy of giving Christmas presents

Giving Presents at Christmas is a popular tradition aroundthe world. This is because Christmas time is about the most amazing gift thatwas ever given. The gift of baby Jesus who has changed the course of historyand has the power to change people’s lives too.

Christmas can be an exciting time as we also give gifts inremembrance of God’s gift to us. However, for children it can become quite aselfish time if we do not teach them how to give and receive Christmas gifts.

Giving gifts is really about sending a message to the personthat you love and appreciate them. It should never be about how expensive agift is or putting in your order for what you want. Encourage your children tomake a gift as this involves giving of their time as well. Talking about how tolook out for people’s likes and dislikes is important too.

When making presents is not possible, encourage children touse their own money when buying. Help them earn it by doing certain jobs andplanning this well in advance.

Here is a very good and interesting article on how to make aspicy barbecue sauce as a Christmas gift

It is the little things . . . .

In a true relationship, it is the little things in life thatmakes life worthwhile.

Do not try to impress the love in your life with bigextravagant things. Sometimes we rate ourselves as inadequate if we cannotimpress them with earthy things.

However, stop and smell the roses! Surprize her with some littlegestures, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg, but at the end of the day it willbe transferred to the chest of memories!

Let the grey stuff work overtime – here is some ideas:

·        Dry your sweetheart off  when he or she comes out of the shower.

·        Take your guy out fishing. Now that would be asurprise!

·        What about this one: The boyfriend of a specificlady wanted to have a picnic on a golf course, but after getting permission, itrained for about a week straight. Not giving up he went to her dormitory andborrowed anything green he could from her roommates. This included sheets,blankets and even comforter covers. While she was in his room watching a movie,not having a clue what he was doing, he laid out all the sheets over the floorand couches. He also tacked a blue sheet to the ceiling that he had taped starsand a moon onto it. He set plants around to make it look more"authentic" and they had the picnic of their lives.

This is what live all is about – love changes everything!

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Prepare the perfect Christmas dinner for him 

Flirting at parties

Can you stop yourself from being attracted towards theopposite sex? So what is our initial step when you try to please the personthat you are attracted towards? All of us like to flirt whenever we find anyopportunity around us. Flirting is more than a treatment to get over from ourheavy work schedules. No one can stay away from the magical trips of flirtingat interesting places. Flirting is a kind of social activity which is expectedand essential for existence of humanity.

This is quite interesting to note where we normally flirt. People enjoysticking to magnetic tricks and tantrums of flirting at every place. It can beyour school, college, your office and can be any other place. But most of thepeople enjoy flirting at parties. Flirting at parties is something inevitable,and no one can avoid it. At most common parties for Christmas, New Year andwedding ceremonies, flirting is expected. Flirting at such parties and socialgatherings increases the interesting side of the party.

The most common reason for flirting at parties is that, at these parties andcarnivals every one feels relieved and the mood of party lets every one tofollow their heart. Every person wishes to please an attractive person ofopposite sex. At parties and events our social boundaries are mostly loosenedin terms of active bounds over the common activities. All parties let personsof both sexes to enjoy and share the pleasures of flirting and move outside thesettled boundaries of our social structures.

It is pretty fine to flirt at parties but there are some codes of ethics evento flirt at parties too. It is good to share attraction at parties but youcannot behave the way you want. You need to go according to the culturalaspects of our society where there are certain codes of conduct even forflirting. This is because it may be possible that your act of flirting may hurtsomeone, or you may sometimes resort to unethical ways that can spoil everything including your personal impression over the person. Flirting at partiesis the most common idea but one has to keep in his mind the basic tips tofollow to have healthy flirting. One should know where to flirt and how toflirt.

There are certain tips to be followed for flirting; one should always try to flirtat the place which is friendly and healthy for flirting. You cannot startflirting at church or at the funeral of a person because one should not forgetthe basic mannerism and social ethics. The most important things that help inflirting are the body language and frequent eye contacts followed by a simplegreeting.

People enjoy flirting in groups which is the easiest and healthiest part offlirting at parties. One should not try to catch the person who does not seeminterested in you again and again. Just follow your heart and try healthyflirting, you will be pleased by the experiences that you will have.

By Jane Saeman

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Simple exercises for memory improvement

Designate a place for everything. Makeduplicate keys for emergencies, and have a key holder. Remember to replace thekeys every time and you'll have one less area to improve your memory.

To remember to pay your bills and reply tocorrespondence, have a mailing sorting system where you attend to your mail assoon as possible. If you only have a few things in your 'to do' or 'action'folder, you will not need to rely on your memory to know when the electricityaccount is due.

Keep a diary to help you plan the minutiaeof your life. Include your to-do lists for the day, week and month. Your diarycan become a portable filing cabinet for phone numbers, addresses, birthdays,medical information, phone messages, inspirational thoughts, bridge-playingstrategies etc. The act of writing something down reinforces it in your memory.Make sure to look at your notebook several times a day.

Understand your own style of learning. Mostpeople are visual learners, remembering best what they see. They benefit themost from memory notebooks and signs. Others are auditory learners, rememberingbest what they hear. They benefit from talking out loud or using a taperecorder. A few people are kinaesthetic learners, remembering best what theyexperience. They will benefit most from writing things down or acting them out.Knowing your strength will help your memory run at peak efficiency. To enhanceyour memory, try using all three learning modes.

Whether its picture puzzles in books or simpleobjects in a tray, you can improve your memory by practicing remembering whatyou see. Ask someone to put ten different things on a try. Study it for 30seconds before removing it and then write down what you saw. Practice until youget a 100 per cent score. If you neither have the time nor the patience forsuch games, pick up a magazine and look at a picture. Close the magazine andtry to remember details such as how many people were in the picture? What kindof shoes was the woman wearing? Was the car blue or black?

If you are spiritually inclined, memorisefavourite parts of your book of faith otherwise try more secular things such asthe wives of King Henry VIII, the films starring Al Pacino or the lyrics to asong that you like.

By James Gunaseelan  

My life without liquorice 

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease characterised bybone loss and changes in the bone quality that could lead to loss of bonestrength and fractures.

Osteoporosis is a ‘silent’ or asymptomatic disease as isoften only diagnosed by means of a bone mineral density test when a person hashad a fracture.

However, osteoporosis is a preventable disease. Here aresome tips:

·        Make sure that you take in sufficient calcium.All young people from age 14 upwards need between 1000 and 1500 mg of calciumdaily in order to build up maximum bone density. That means having betweenthree and four cups of milk (skim milk if you tend to be overweight), yogurt orcottage cheese every day.

·        Postmenopausal women over 40 should take inabout 1500 mg of elemental calcium per day. If it is difficult to make thispart of your daily diet, a good calcium supplement, that contains at least 500mg of elemental calcium per tablet, should be considered. Milk, cheese,sardines, tofu and green vegetables are all rich in calcium.

·        Men between the ages of 30 and 50 need 800 -1000 mg of calcium daily and men over 50, 1200 mg of calcium per day.

·        Make sure that you get enough vitamin D. Generally,most people are exposed to sufficient sunlight in order to produce vitamin D.However, older people who spend a lot of time indoors often need additionalvitamin D. Use a soft margarine that contains a vitamin D-supplement or take anoral vitamin D supplement – usual requirement 600 – 800 IU daily and containedin many calcium tablets.

·        Additional magnesium may be needed by diabetics,alcoholics and people who take diuretics. Nuts, seeds and grains are all richin magnesium. Chicken, fish and red meat increase the absorption of magnesiumand other minerals.

·        Lose the alcohol and the cigarettes. Reducealcohol intake and stop smoking. Research has shown that between 20 and 25percent of men who drink four or more units of alcohol per day, suffer somefrom of bone loss.

·        Exercise at least twice per week. Weight-bearingexercises such as running, and resistance training, where you have to pushagainst your body weight or against weights, apparatus or elastic bands, areessential for building strong bone structure.

·        Exercise moderately three times a week. Walkingis an excellent and easy means of exercise and provides the necessary skeletalprotection and benefit. Brisk walking for 30-45 minutes three times a week isadequate. Resistance training may also enhance muscle and skeletal strength,but must be performed cautiously in the patient at high risk for osteoporosis.

Remember, although treatable, the prevention of osteoporosisis much more effective. This requires an understanding of predictive factors sothat the likelihood of osteoporosis may be judged, an awareness of methods tomeasure bone mass, knowledge of lifestyle adaptations and drugs available to preventfurther bone loss.

Do not hesitate to obtain professional medical advice.

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