Articles from Boomeryearbook.com explore the fascinating and varied behavioral patterns that occur when families are affected by outside events, or by the impact of the modern World; the challenges faced in the new age and the hurdles that must be addressed: The Boomeryearbook.com Guide and Coaching Strategy for the baby boomer generation.

Psychological Articles by Dr. Karen for BoomerYearbook.com

Christmas decorations in pre baby boomer years were mostly home made; paper chains and prickly holly wreaths the mailman complained about as he tried to squeeze Christmas cards through the letter box, getting skewered on the holly in the process!

Christmas stockings pinned to the mantel were actual old stockings, washed and patched and pressed into Christmas service; childish drawings were used for Christmas cards and sprinkled with glitter which spread all over the house each time an open door or window created a breeze! Our modern day decorations are sophisticated and undeniably gorgeous.

Those of us who aspire to discreet Christmas decorations are at variance with the ‘Christmas tackiness brigade’ and the clash of interests can be interesting at this time of year, according to psychological articles.

Some people have a flair for decorating their home at Christmas time. There is no doubt about it that some baby boomers have perfected the art of classy Christmas adornment. The door wreath is perfect and fragrant with just the right amount of color; the staircase is decked with evergreen and color matched bouquets to compliment the décor; the tree is correctly balanced with fat bows of wide Christmas ribbon, wired to produce the best effect and stay in shape; the Christmas lights are the tiniest and brightest, winking cosily in the firelight. No trace of tattering! No angel hair drunkenly wafting around the sitting room – no red or green foil hanging lanterns!

Other baby boomers have a different agenda when it comes to Christmas cheer. They deliberately seek out the worst possible clashing colors and Christmas novelties to deck the house with the noisiest and most intrusive crackerjack pendants; red and white painted Santa faces; spray on snow that adheres to the windows and won’t come off no matter how you scrape and rub; racing roof lights that make the house resemble a highway truck stop diner.

The worst possible tacky Christmas decoration must be the blow up plastic flashing Santa; the bouncing red and white clad effigy of Father Christmas, usually super sized, crawling up the side of the house or positioned to look as if he is about to topple down the chimney. He is large; he is garish; he is ugly; he has no trace of good taste about his person; he is irresistible to baby boomers on a mission to destroy every vestige of good taste in Christmas decoration!!

Psychological articles claim that people with a conflict of taste, not only in décor but also in Christmas trimmings, clash horribly at this time of year and fail to agree on just about every aspect of Christmas, from the size of the tree to the color of the candles on the table!

If you live in a house with a tasteless magnet, try to exercise a little tolerant diplomacy this year – even flashing Santas need love!

The Psychological Article on The Holly and the Ivy and the Blow Up Plastic Flashing Santa is part of Boomer Yearbook’s continuing series of baby boomers psychological coaching tips and how to alleviate elderly problems. We believe knowledge is power. We’d love to hear what you think.

Boomer Yearbook is a Social Network and Psychological Articles for Baby Boomers. Connect with old and new friends, or expand your mind and ward off senior moments and elderly problems with dream analysis and online optical illusions and brain games provided by clinical psychologist Dr. Karen Turner. Join other Baby Boomers to stay informed, receive weekly Newsfeeds, and let your opinions be heard. Baby boomers changed the world. We’re not done yet!

Token Gifts for Christmas: BoomerYearbook.com

Articles from Boomeryearbook.com explore the fascinating and varied behavioral patterns that occur when families are affected by outside events, or by the impact of the modern World; the challenges faced in the new age and the hurdles that must be addressed: The Boomeryearbook.com Guide and Coaching Strategy for the baby boomer generation.

Psychological Articles by Dr. Karen for BoomerYearbook.com

There are some things that come at a very high price: personal loss; bereavement; divorce; financial hardship. We can do nothing about many of the worries our friends and family are struggling to cope with this Christmas. Or can we?

Psychological articles that teach us about pride tell us that paying our Grandmother’s heating bill is a kindness but it can also lead to her experiencing a loss of dignity and distress at having to resort to a ‘hand out’ to help her out of trouble. Baby boomers with a genuine desire to help might also run into difficulties when trying to alleviate suffering for someone else.

There is a long list of opportunities for those discreet and silent gifts that are never gift wrapped and never mentioned before other people. Paying the car insurance; fixing the roof; paying the school fees; helping to make home made gifts for a friend who cannot afford to buy any this year; driving an elderly friend to the shops so they can do their own shopping; baby sitting for a pal so she can spend a rare evening out on a Christmas treat with her husband.

These things are never gift wrapped yet always appreciated so much more than the standard box of chocolates or a bottle of perfume. They might be unorthodox gifts but they are sometimes more appreciated as they produce that warmth of feeling we all love. Baby boomers adore Christmas and being a social bunch, love the trappings of Christmas more than any other generation. We invented the tackiest Christmas decorations ever!

For people who are having a hard time this year, the silent and unwrapped gift is the best option. Psychological articles observe that a favor or kindness to a friend can create positive emotions for both the giver and the receiver. Taking a friend with financial problems out to lunch is thoughtful but not always appropriate – the friend might feel ‘compromised’ if they cannot reciprocate – but
going on a forest hunt for pine cones to make a home made Christmas wreath will produce the same warm companionship and not embarrass anyone. Especially if it is followed by a guilty sharing of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows!

Holiday Love: BoomerYearbook.com

It is always better to adopt some tact and diplomacy when dealing with elderly people who need help at this time of year. Financial help is an especially touchy area and baby boomers feeling a cash gift is the only sensible option should be as casual as possible and do not make it a big production – the more fuss made, the worse the person will feel.

Try presenting cash gifts in a festive card – baby boomers are resourceful enough to know how to make a money gift acceptable for people who need the financial help more than another Christmas gadget.

The Psychological Article on Token Gifts for Christmas: The Gifts We Never Gift Wrap is part of Boomer Yearbook’s continuing series of baby boomers psychological coaching tips and how to alleviate elderly problems. We believe knowledge is power. We’d love to hear what you think.

Boomer Yearbook is a Social Network and Psychological Articles for Baby Boomers. Connect with old and new friends, or expand your mind and ward off senior moments and elderly problems with dream analysis and online optical illusions and brain games provided by clinical psychologist Dr. Karen Turner. Join other Baby Boomers to stay informed, receive weekly Newsfeeds, and let your opinions be heard. Baby boomers changed the world. We’re not done yet!

Post Christmas Blues: BoomerYearbook.com

Articles from Boomeryearbook.com explore the fascinating and varied behavioral patterns that occur when families are affected by outside events, or by the impact of the modern World; the challenges faced in the new age and the hurdles that must be addressed: The Boomeryearbook.com Guide and Coaching Strategy for the baby boomer generation.

Psychological Articles By Dr. Karen of BoomerYearbook.com

Christmas is the favorite time of year for so many of us and it’s no wonder! Whether we live in a hot or cold climate during the festive season, there is something about the traditions of Christmas that brings out emotions in all of us and sends us running to the shops for tinsel early December, no matter how hard we try to be cynical!

Christmas festivities are usually left to the lady of the house, although there are a few gentlemen baby boomers who undertake plenty of Christmas preparations such as hauling home the Christmas tree and buying the biggest turkey in the free world. However, psychological articles tell us that the more we do to make our family Christmas the best ever, the harder we come down to earth when the festivities are all over and it is time for visiting family to return from whence they came…

It is the eternal ‘Cinderella’s pumpkin’ effect – sooner or later, the pretty baubles and the nodding Santa on the porch and the evergreen with twinkling lights that make the hearth look so beautiful must come down and be replaced with the trappings of normality. The silk Christmas roses are carefully re-folded and returned to their tissue-lined boxes; the chandelier is carefully stripped of mistletoe; Christmas ribbons and crystals are rolled up and packed away till next year; the delicious left over festive foods in the refrigerator are hastily eaten before they spoil.

Psychological articles claim that the very worst aspect of post Christmas blues is the disappearance of loved ones back to work, or college, or elderly baby boomer grandparents travel back to nursing care homes, or their comfortable ‘apartment for one’ in the city. We wave them off, knowing we will probably not see them again until the next special occasion. Baby boomers are great at entertaining family and talented at making other people feel comfortable and in the holiday spirit – it’s not easy to come to terms with the anti climax of early January!

How do we cope with it? Perhaps we should stop them from leaving! Well – perhaps not… Lives have to be lived, after all! The best way to cope with the post Christmas blues is to stay focused and busy and turn to the tasks put off before Christmas to occupy our time and take our minds off missing absent family. As psychological articles inform the sharpest sense of loss is certainly felt by Mom baby boomers saying goodbye to kids leaving for college after the winter break. Mothers conquer their ‘empty nest’ emotions with some difficulty when their children leave home to be educated elsewhere. Those feelings of loss return after a long holiday period; especially Christmas when so many happy celebrations take place to enhance the holiday mood.

Cheer up, Mom – they’ll be home again soon, dragging three months laundry behind them and begging for a bigger allowance!

The Psychological Article on Getting Back to Normal After Christmas: Coping with Post Christmas Loss After the Kids Go Back to College is part of Boomer Yearbook’s continuing series of baby boomers psychological coaching tips and how to alleviate elderly problems. We believe knowledge is power. We’d love to hear what you think.

Boomer Yearbook is a Social Network and Psychological Articles for Baby Boomers. Connect with old and new friends, or expand your mind and ward off senior moments and elderly problems with dream analysis and online optical illusions and brain games provided by clinical psychologist Dr. Karen Turner. Join other Baby Boomers to stay informed, receive weekly Newsfeeds, and let your opinions be heard. Baby boomers changed the world. We’re not done yet!

Home Made Christmas Gifts: BoomerYearbook.com

Articles from Boomeryearbook.com explore the fascinating and varied behavioral patterns that occur when families are affected by outside events, or by the impact of the modern World; the challenges faced in the new age and the hurdles that must be addressed: The Boomeryearbook.com Guide and Coaching Strategy for the baby boomer generation.

By Dr. Karen for BoomerYearbook.com

There are so many wonderful things you can make with so little skill it hardly seems necessary to venture into the shops at all but the truth is that these gifts cost in other ways – blood, sweat and tears and also that precious commodity psychological articles tell us everyone has so little of – TIME!

One of the really beautiful gifts that can be home made are salt dough figures that can be baked in the oven to harden and then painted with paint and glitter to make gorgeous Christmas decorations – a great gift for grandparents who are baby boomers and annoyingly seem to have everything else. If you have a local market where you can buy wicker tubs or baskets, they are really the most beautiful gifts when filled with not just goodies but FAVORITE goodies, decorated with your little salt dough trims.

Make beautiful gift ties out of old necklace beads and crystals and baby ribbon – they look super expensive and require five extra minutes. Baby boomers always have old costume jewelry hiding in the attic – make use of all that hoarded history and turn it into great gift garnish! If you have run out of ribbon rosettes or bows, cut a sprig of evergreen from somewhere in the garden and tie some brightly wrapped candy with string around the sprigs before taping them to your parcels. For extra effect, sprinkle with glitter.

Home made chocolate truffles taste the best when they are home made and especially if they come in those cute home made gift boxes – you can get patterns free online from craft pages and keep the kids quiet for hours making them. Home made preserves should be finished with brightly colored gingham lid covers and tied with pine cones, cinnamon sticks and bright red or green ribbon to look inviting and delicious.

Psychological articles teach us that the aroma of Christmas food is heady and has associations with childhood. Cakes; Christmas mulled wine; fudge; coconut ice; Turkish delight; gingerbread cookies; shortcake; rum and raisin toffee and fruit cake are all things that can make great gifts and appreciated far more than a ‘here today gone tomorrow’ plastic gadget. The gift of your time is so much more precious.

A bottle of wine for older baby boomers is a lovely present but if it is wrapped imaginatively it can look like a work of art – buy and wash some second hand doll’s clothes and dress the bottle – the results are hilarious! A false moustache and a brightly colored scarf on a bottle of Tequila can make a great present!

Bedroom slippers are great to receive as a gift but a little boring – try making homemade soap (recipes found online) and wrap the slippers with a matching towel and face cloth – it’s fragrant, original and different to anything you find in the shops.

Photographs are always useful when making homemade gifts, for collages; gracing home made photo frames, adding to key rings and putting inside new wallets or purses. Grandchildren’s photographs can be added to other presents for baby boomers, as part of the gift tag or something extra to enclose with another gift.

There is something rustic and beautiful about home made gifts clustered beneath a Christmas tree. They need not cost the earth but they mean the World.

The Psychological Article on Homemade Gifts for Christmas – The Gift of Your Time is part of Boomer Yearbook’s continuing series of baby boomers psychological coaching tips and how to alleviate elderly problems. We believe knowledge is power. We’d love to hear what you think.

Boomer Yearbook is a Social Network and Psychological Articles for Baby Boomers. Connect with old and new friends, or expand your mind and ward off senior moments and elderly problems with dream analysis and online optical illusions and brain games provided by clinical psychologist Dr. Karen Turner. Join other Baby Boomers to stay informed, receive weekly Newsfeeds, and let your opinions be heard. Baby boomers changed the world. We’re not done yet!

Articles from Boomeryearbook.com explore the fascinating and varied behavioral patterns that occur when families are affected by outside events, or by the impact of the modern World; the challenges faced in the new age and the hurdles that must be addressed: The Boomeryearbook.com Guide and Coaching Strategy for the baby boomer generation.

Psychological Articles by BoomerYearbook.com

The worst present buyers ever are men, is the general belief, but women can buy some howlers too.

One of the most difficult groups to buy gifts for is older men. Older female baby boomers can always find pleasure in a hand tied bouquet delivered to the door or a ticket to the ballet or the latest bestselling bodice ripping novel and festive bookmark. Men, true to form, can be quite a bit more difficult to please when it comes to the gift department.

The very worst possible gift for male baby boomers, according to countless surveys conducted over many Christmases, is the economy pack of socks or underwear, usually packed in jolly Santa cardboard sleeves and sporting some terrible Christmas jingle played on a recording that sets itself off during board meetings at ten minute intervals. Ditto for the novelty reindeer tie or waistcoat; garish, undeniably festive, yet absolutely unacceptable.

Cologne and after shave lotion or shaving balm is nice but so difficult to make the right choice for someone else and how awful to have to plough through a bathroom cabinet of unwanted gifts for the rest of the year! Gentleman baby boomers are old enough to need a whole closet in the bathroom by the time they reach their sixties! No, no, no…give it a miss this year!

A great gift for men that is always appreciated is a bottle of something delicious, but ONLY if you have first done your research to find out what the man likes to drink – getting a bottle of the one thing you really cannot stomach is the most chilling Christmas present imaginable!

BoomerYearbook.com

The tool kit and the garage always seem an obvious place to start to buy gifts for men but in fact the array of tools and power accessories on the market can leave you reeling. Do not under any circumstances ask a store assistant’s advice in a hardware store – you’ll be there till next Christmas listening to the advantages of the bigger horse power version of whatever, and you might die of tedium while you wait.

Unless your man has stipulated a yearning for something particular – don’t go there! You can wander around the DIY department till sundown wondering whether to buy something that cuts, sucks or makes holes of different sizes in MDF. The other disadvantage of buying such gifts is that they weigh a ton to carry home – it’s all too stressful and psychological articles recommend we avoid the strain on our emotions; and try our best not to stereotype the men in our lives!

On the list of ‘don’t’ is also the game ticket for one! Never buy one ticket for a spectator sport (nobody to shout with; nobody to argue with and nobody to get drunk with). Buy two and he will be oh, so much happier!

Psychological articles on the male boomer psyche tell us that gadgets are always a good idea for men but, like the little boys most boomer males may still be, they are hard on batteries. Make sure gadgets run on rechargeable batteries or may be electrically recharged unless you want to see your expensive gift land in the gift graveyard by January.

As worthwhile as charitable causes are, psychological articles inform us that most male baby boomers rarely have the same feel good attitude as female baby boomers regarding adopting a polar bear or saving a few whales to celebrate the festive season. If you want to see your husband or boyfriends’ facial expression fall down a yard, give him a gift to improve his soul and help save the planet…better to keep this as a joint gift for the two of you and follow the advice of psychological articles making sure he gets something he can drink, fly, play, eat or make a noise with!

Psychological articles say that Christmas comes but once a year – the rest of the time we spend wondering what to buy to celebrate it!

The Psychological Article on The Worst Christmas Gifts Ever – What NOT to Buy is part of Boomer Yearbook’s continuing series ofbaby boomers psychological coaching tips and how to alleviate elderly problems. We believe knowledge is power. We’d love to hear what you think.