Momming | The Wolfe Pack {Reviews~Support~Opinions for the Discerning Homeschool Mom}

Handy Dandy Guide to Streaming Family Christmas Movies

December 4, 2019 by Katherine Wolfe 10 Comments

If your family is similar to ours, you look forward to snuggling up and watching CHRISTMAS MOVIES together throughout the month of December.

But, have you noticed that as the number of streaming services has increased, it has become more and more confusing to figure out where to watch which movie?

Me too!

So, in order to best prep for the month {after all, December is always the busiest month of the year,} I spent some time searching for the best CHRISTMAS MOVIES and noting which service will be showing them this month.

I ended up with a list of more than 70 CHRISTMAS MOVIES {with Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix and Disney+ included} and put it all together in this handy dandy guide!

Hopefully, this guide will bless you this season. At the end of the guide below, you will also find a cute copy that you can print. Please enjoy!

AP = Amazon Prime D+ = Disney+ HU = Hulu NF = Netflix

Abominable Christmas	NF
A Christmas Carol	D+
A Christmas Carol {in color}	AP
A Christmas Tree Miracle	AP
A Frozen Christmas	HU
A Frozen New Year	HU
All I Want for Christmas Is You	AP
Alone for Christmas	HU
Alpha and Omega—The Big Fureeze	HU
Alpha and Omega—A Howliday Adventure	NF
Angela’s Christmas	NF
Babes in Toyland	AP
Barbie—A Perfect Christmas	HU
Barbie in a Christmas Carol	HU
Beauty and the Beast Enchanted Christmas	D+
Benji’s Very Own Christmas Story	NF
Bigfoot	HU
Bob’s Broken Sleigh	NF
Christmas Cartoons	AP
Christmas Cartoon Extravaganza	AP
Christmas Cartoon Wonderland	AP
Christmas Chronicles	NF
Christmas Inheritance	NF
Christmas in Wonderland	AP
Christmas with the Kranks	D+
Click, Clack, Moo—Christmas at the Farm	AP
Costume Quest Christmas Special	AP
Curious George—A Very Monkey Christmas	HU
Elliot, the Littlest Reindeer	NF
Fairly Oddparents Christmas	HU
Forty-eight Christmas Wishes	NF
Frosty, the Snowman	TV
Get Santa	NF
Holiday Inn	AP
Home Alone {1, 2, 3}	D+
Home for the Holidays	NF
How the Grinch Stole Christmas {classic}	NF
How the Grinch Stole Christmas {live action}	NF
Ice Age—A Mammoth Christmas	HU
If You Give a Mouse a Christmas Cookie	AP
Inside Lego Christmas	AP
It’s a Wonderful Life	AP
Jack Frost	AP
Kid Songs—Christmas Songs for Kids	AP
Klaus	NF
Legend of Frosty the Snowman	TV
Legend of the Christmas Witch	AP
Madagascar—Holiday Classics	NF
Marvel Super Hero Frost Fight	NF
Mickey’s Christmas Carol	D+
Mickey’s Once/Twice Upon a Christmas	D+
Miracle on 34th St {color}	AP
Muppet Christmas Carol	D+
Nightmare Before Christmas	D+
One Magic Christmas	D+
Pete the Cat—Groovy New Year	AP
Pink Fong Christmas Carols	AP
Polar Express	TV
Prancer	HU
Puppy Star Christmas	NF
Ritchie Rich’s Christmas Wish	D+
Rudolph + Classics	AP
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	AP
Santa and Me	AP
Santa Buddies	D+
Santa Claus Presents a Children’s Christmas	AP
Santa Clause {1, 2, 3}	D+
Santa Claws	NF
Santa Pac’s Merry Berry Day	NF
Santa Paws {1, 2}	D+
Santa’s Apprentice	NF
Saving Christmas	HU
Scrooge {in color}	AP
Super Monsters Save Christmas	NF
The Borrowed Christmas	AP
The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas	AP
The Christmas Dragon	AP
The Christmas Project	NF
The Christmas Star	D+
The Grinch	NF
The Least of These	AP
The Magic Snowflake	NF
The Snowman	AP
The Star	NF
The Wiggles– Go, Santa, Go	HU
Tiny Christmas	HU
Twelve Days of Christmas Eve	AP
Twelve Dog Days Till Christmas	HU
Twelve Dogs of Christmas	AP
Troll’s Holiday	NF
Ultimate Christmas Present	D+
White Christmas	NF

Handy Dandy Guide to Streaming Family Christmas Movies by The WOLFe Pack Printable Download

Every Homeschooler Needs THIS Stuffed in Their Stocking

December 1, 2019 by Katherine Wolfe 18 Comments

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}

Every homeschooler needs FRIXION ERASABLE RETRACTABLE COLORED PENS stuffed in their stocking!

WHY?

Two simple reasons…

ONE: They’re a colorful addition to your school supply arsenal.

They come in a variety of fun, VIBRANT COLORS but don’t bleed or transfer and are FULLY ERASABLE {see below.} So, you no longer need to sacrifice COLORFUL FUN for the sake of practicality! The seven pack includes what you see in the pictures above and the ten pack adds lime green, orange and a third shade of blue.

TWO: They really work!

My son uses these pens exclusively. He hates the sound of pencil scratching and he makes too many mistakes to use normal pens {that don’t erase} so this is seriously all he uses. He uses them for math problems, writing essays, science notebooking, Bible verse copywork, spelling tests….every time he needs to write something for school, he uses one of these pens. And, like most typical twelve year old boys, he makes a lot of mistakes and tends to be more than a wee bit messy with his handwriting. So, to say he erases a lot would be an understatement. He erases ALL THE TIME and these pens REALLY WORK! They write clean and clear and they erase just as well!

So, if you are searching for a FUN but USEFUL item to stuff in your homeschooler’s stocking, be sure to grab some FRIXION ERASABLE RETRACTABLE COLORED PENS by Pilot!

{WARNING: We have tried a handful of knock-off brands but nothing compares to FRIXION ERASABLE RETRACTABLE COLORED PENS by Pilot. The less expensive knock-offs run out of ink sooner, rendering the lower pointless.}

{BONUS: Pilot also makes FRIXION ERASABLE STICK PENS that aren’t retractable. They tend to be a little less expensive but we prefer not needing to keep track of caps all the time.}

{SUGGESTION: If you’re hesitating to spend decent money on writing utensils for your kids because they tend to misplace pens and pencils frequently, I don’t blame you a wee bit! I strongly suggest a CLIPBOARD WITH STORAGE. These have been a game-changer for us. My son keeps all his pens plus protractor and ruler inside with his assignment list clipped to the front. It has helped keep him much better organized!}

Four Reasons Why I Wish Every Elf on the Shelf Would Die an Ugly Death

November 26, 2019 by Katherine Wolfe 3 Comments

I wish every Elf on the Shelf would jump into a mid-November pile of leaves and set themselves on fire. We could roast hot dogs and marshmallows while their plastic faces melted off.

Or I wish they would all bury themselves in a giant snowbank. I’m pretty sure their evil little bodies would melt into the ground, leaving behind a creepy cemetery of red felt hats to be found in the spring.

Seriously, I hate the stupid little elves. Why? It’s not like I’m a Grinch. We celebrate Christmas with an enormous {REAL} fir tree, too many beautifully wrapped gifts and an unacceptable amount of baked goods.

So, why do I wish that every Elf on the Shelf would die an ugly death? Four reasons…

ONE: {They are creepy. So creepy.} If a fat man in a red suit and white beard breaking into your home in the middle of the night ever gave you pause, his creepy-as-heck army of single-expression minions should stop you in your tracks! They appear every year, move around at night and get into mischief while nobody is looking. Worse yet, they watch your kids and report back to Santa. Who on earth would actually invite that crazy nonsense into their homes? Apparently, a lot of people. But, not this girl. If I had my way, every Elf on the Shelf would die an ugly death.

TWO: {They create crazy moms.} I know too many normal moms who have turned into crazy, manic moms because of these ridiculous elves. These moms are pinning fools in November, searching Pinterest for the most elaborate, impressive situations to create for their elves. They start December with visions of powdered-sugar messes and tight-rope walking elves. But by December 16th, too many of these moms end up lying in bed in silent tears because they forgot to move the darned elf. They’re too tired to get out of bed now but can’t shake the feeling that the kids will be scarred for life when they wake in the morning and discover Sparkles in the same stupid spot as when they went to bed. These elves create crazy moms and should die ugly deaths to stop the insanity.

THREE: {They incite ridiculous competitiveness.} Not only do normal moms turn into crazy elf-manipulating enablers, they also turn into ultra-competitive adversaries. They compete with both their IRL and online friends. Who can make the biggest, most elaborate, impressive elf-scenario? Who can post the best pics of their awestruck kids gazing at the magical scene before them? Who can keep up these schemes for 24 days straight? And the kids? Oh, the kids. They compare the crazy antics of their personal elves with their classmates. Whose elf is the busiest? Which elf gives the best morning gifts? Which elf has behaved so outrageously that he has his own Twitter account? And who has the lame elf who never moves and just sits in the same spot night after night? What about the kids that don’t have elves? How do they compare? Both moms and kids alike would be better off if every Elf on the Shelf would die an ugly death.

WARNING Things are about to turn more serious. I’ve been mostly kidding around so far. I really don’t want to burn the elves at the stake. But, I really do detest them. And here is why…

FOUR: {They are treated like demigods.} People treat them like tiny, creepy, plastic demigods that spy on their kids day and night. And this is not just imaginative play and the “magic” of the season. The crazy stories of flying in from the North Pole and being stone-still during the day while upending all sorts of chaos at night all in the name of helping Santa is NOT just providing an opportunity for our kids to exercise their imaginations. This is well beyond pretending that Super-Man is legit or wishing that unicorns were real. This is point-blank giving an inanimate object qualities that belong to our one and only true God. Why do we do that? Why do we let our kids believe that these creepy little dolls have the ability to decide whether they’ve been good or bad little kids? Why do we tell our kids that these ridiculous elves can actually JUDGE their actions and dole out prizes and consequences? Why? Not only have we transferred our parental responsibilities of monitoring behaviors, we have blasphemed God by telling our kids that these magical, moving creatures with super-human qualities have the right to JUDGE their choices. It was all fun and games until we did that. Maybe I don’t seriously wish every Elf on the Shelf would die an ugly death. But I do wish we’d put them away and never bring them back out. There are plenty of ways to make jolly memories for your kids this holiday season without these creepy, crazy-making, competitive-inciting demigods.

Want to find out how I feel about Santa too? Check out The Rare Reason We Don’t Do Santa.

The RARE REASON Our Family Doesn’t Do Santa

November 12, 2019 by Katherine Wolfe 4 Comments

As anybody who is on FaceBook or part of any “moms group” knows, whether your family does or doesn’t do Santa can be a hot-button topic. I’m an Admin for a large homeschool moms group on FaceBook and we even had to create two separate threads {Pro-Santa/No-Santa} because the two camps could not discuss their differences nicely. But, while we all know Santa discussions can lead to drama, did you know that there are several reasons that people claim for not doing Santa?

LYING TO OUR KIDS Not sure how or why the vast majority of the western world decided to band together to lie to our kids about this jolly, fat man and his magical capabilities. But, sure enough, you’ll find ALL walks of life agreeing to continue this childhood conspiracy. It does not matter where people land in the spectrum of most defining categories: finances, education, race, politics, gender, location, social beliefs…

Most people in the western world lie to our kids about Santa. And it’s not just us lying to our own kids. We actually EXPECT others to lie to our kids too. Phone calls are made to the principal if some bratty kid on the playground breaks the news to Santa-believers. It’s common practice for the Wal-Mart check out lady to perpetuate the lie to our kids by asking what they asked for from Santa. Classroom teachers cannot discuss their own religious beliefs with their students, but, by golly, they better lie to them about the fat man in the red suit.

But, as bizarre as the lying is, that is not why we don’t do Santa in our home.

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON Another reason, which is more often discussed in my circle of friends, is the fact that allowing Santa to be a part of Christmas takes away from the real reason for the season: celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Now this reason can be {and often is} debated back and forth among conservative Christians even within the same denomination. The basic argument is that Santa and all of the gift-giving hullabaloo simply distracts from Jesus. And, anything that distracts from our focus being on the world’s Savior is not glorifying to God. It’s kinda hard to argue against that basic stance, though people do.

But, that’s not the reason we don’t do Santa in our home either.

SANTA IS CREEPY This one is only occasionally thrown out there as a reason not to do Santa but it certainly deserves a quick mention. After all, when you think about it, what Santa supposedly does in our lives is totally creepy and downright illegal. He “knows if you’ve been good or bad” and he sneaks into our homes while we are sleeping and leaves suspicious packages behind. If Santa isn’t a terrorist leaving behind explosive devices wrapped in red and green packages, then at the very least, he is a dirty old man watching our kids’ every action. In what universe is that NOT creepy? Apparently, this one.

And, yet, even that is not the reason we do not do Santa.

None of the reasons above are why we do not do Santa.

Our reason is very simple: Santa is not God.

Santa is not God but we give him god-like capabilities and ask our kids to believe them.

But Santa is not God.

Santa cannot perform miracles.

Santa cannot read our minds.

Santa cannot control the physical capabilities of animals.

Santa cannot harness magic and make time stop enough for him to drop down chimneys across the globe in less than 24 hours.

Santa cannot do any of that and yet we tell our kids he can.

But he cannot.

No man can.

Only God can.

And, Santa is not God.

Now before you raise your voiceless thoughts at me and explain that believing in Santa is no different than believing in Super Man, mysertious wardrobes or toothless Night Fury dragons, let me stop you. Unless you are actually telling your kids that Super Man ACTUALLY EXISTS and will be saving the day just as soon as he changes clothes in a nearby phone booth* or that the closet has the true capability of transporting your kid to Narnia, then, no, it’s not the same thing.

Our family firmly believes in the beauty of the imagination. Our son has read the entire Chronicles of Narnia and has watched every Star Wars, Marvel and HTTYD movie. He likes to build made-up animals with Legos and write creative stories about crazy creatures. He used to ask his 85 year old Gampen to dress up like a puppy and command her to do tricks as if he were a dog trainer. Having, nurturing and using an imagination is not only a good thing, it’s a vital part of being a kid and growing into a functional adult.

But when we tell our kids that there is an actual person who uses magic powers to accomplish all that Santa supposedly does, we are not simply supporting their imagination.

We ARE making Santa into a god.

We ARE equating Santa to the one and only true God.

Santa cannot perform miracles. Only God can.

Santa cannot read our minds. Only God can.

Santa cannot stop time. Only God can.

How can we justify telling our kids that Santa is a real entity with God-like powers in the same breath that reads the Bible at bed-time and glorifies the fact that ONLY GOD can move mountains, perform miracles and save us from ourselves?

We can try to deny that it’s confusing to our kids, after all, you were raised with Santa and you turned out okay. Right? Me too!

But, my brother didn’t. He’s a great person, dedicated father and a loving husband. But, he’s not a Christian. He’s not saved. Is Santa to blame? I don’t know. My brother certainly doesn’t point to Santa Claus when he repeatedly explains to my parents why he doesn’t “buy into that Jesus stuff.” But, perhaps deep-down somewhere there is a kernel of doubt that festers in his heart because what my parents said about God simply didn’t square with what they said about Santa. I don’t know. But, believe me, if that is even .000001% of the reason my brother isn’t a believer and my parents could go back and change their approach to Santa, they would.

Why would we intentionally create a potential stumbling block for our kids when we can avoid it? Christmas can be plenty fun without doing Santa. Our family has loads of Christmas traditions and has made tons of wonderful memories. We enjoy all of the festivities with a giant {REAL} tree, too much food, loads of decorations, tons of presents and as many Christmas carols as Alexa can throw at us.

We even have Santa stuff in our home. We have stockings that are always overstuffed. We watch Elf and sing about Rudolph. I have a collection of Father Christmas figurines from around the globe. We make and frost Santa shaped cookies. Santa is definitely a part of the holiday but we treat him like a fictional character at the center of a holiday story. That’s it. Why?

Our reason is very simple: Santa is not God.

Why Our Family Does NOT Celebrate Halloween

October 21, 2019 by Katherine Wolfe 30 Comments

Does your family celebrate Halloween?

This can be a contentious topic among the general population of conservative Christians.

It gets debated in FaceBook groups. It gets argued about by different denominations. It even results in heated disputes within the same church family.

It ranks up there with Santa Claus and Harry Potter for topics that cause some Christians to feel judged by their fellow {usually like-minded} believers.

Reasons for not celebrating vary but usually center around words like death, darkness and demons.

James 2:19 is often quoted as the Biblical standing to not celebrate.

But, when people ask me why we don’t celebrate, I give them one very simple statement…

“My husband does not want us to celebrate Halloween.”

Even before we were engaged, Charlie told me that any future family of his would not celebrate Halloween.

He took the time to explain to me why and he answered all of my questions on the topic, but, I’m not going to share any of that with you.

He quoted Scripture. He felt convicted on the topic. What he said made sense to me at the time {and it still does}, but if you want to engage in a debate with me about why we don’t celebrate Halloween, all I am going to say is

“My husband does not want us to celebrate Halloween.”

I know many firmly-grounded Christian families that do.

Heck, I grew up celebrating Halloween.

Double heck, so did Charlie!

But our son, who is now 12, has never dressed up and knocked on doors for candy, has never carved a jack-o-lantern and has never even attended a single Harvest Celebration or Trunk-or-Treat.

My husband’s desire never to celebrate the holiday extends to not wanting to mimic it either so we steer clear of it all.

Instead, we hide in the basement, watch movies and eat pizza and candy. It’s a rather fun family tradition that we all enjoy.

I’ll admit, it was harder when our son was younger and everybody {from the waitress taking our order to the eye doctor giving an exam} would ask what he was going to be for Halloween.

There were even a few years when we basically avoided all social activities in October because it seemed that everybody, including the library, MOMS Club, MOPS and the local Rec Center planned their crafts and experiences around the topic of Halloween.

There were some awkward exchanges between my closest friends because I’m sure they felt I was a party pooper, or worse, judged by our choice. I used to fumble for responses and replies. I often did whatever I could to avoid the topic altogether.

But, as each October has come and gone, I’ve grown more confident in the topic and finally found the perfect reply when people would ask about our holiday plans…

“My husband does not want us to celebrate Halloween.”

It’s not a cop-out. It’s not passing the buck. It’s not avoiding confrontation. It’s simply the truth and, if anything, it shows that devotion to your spouse and a unified front of both parents are more important than any cultural traditions, fun holidays or seasonal activities.

How about you? Is there something your family does {or does not do} because one spouse feels strongly on the subject?