Mamatoga

By Cari Scribner

With five children (and another arriving in January) between them, Jenny Witte and Julie Nolan, who blog and maintain a Saratoga Springs-based website called “Mamatoga,” are anticipating a busy holiday season ahead.
But the two friends likely will take it in stride, thanks to their willingness to handle everyday stress with perseverance and a huge heaping of humor.
With that in mind, the Mamatogas share their tips for not only surviving the holidays, but enjoying them, too:
Jenny’s tips:
1) When you become a parent, you realize just how much work goes into making the holidays special for your children, but you also you get to experience the joy that comes from being able to see the holidays through their eyes and feel like a kid again.
2) One of my best holiday tips to plan ahead. But also, don’t overestimate how much time you have to get things done, because when you’re a parent, the daily upkeep of the family doesn’t stop for Christmas shopping and cookie-making. You still have to take kids to school and practice and play dates and doctors appointments. And if you’re a working parent, that time gets cut down even more. Fitting the extra holiday tasks in can seem impossible, but it can be done. Start your shopping early — as soon as possible.
3) Don’t forget the small stuff, and by small stuff I mean stocking stuffers. You can pick them up all over town. At Putnam Market, pick up a few little extras to add to gifts. You can get candy for the younger ones (or the older ones with a sweet tooth) to tuck into a stocking. G Willikers is a goldmine for stocking stuffers for kids. They have an entire section full of little toys that are all inexpensive but will delight kids of all ages. One of my son Finn’s most prized gifts from last year was a simple wooden robot we put in his stocking that I had bought very early and forgot about. Pick up cute local horse-themed ornaments to send away to distant relatives or bring along to holiday parties as a hostess gift. One of my newest traditions is the Peppermint Pig. You can buy these at a number of places around town, and they’re an inexpensive way to take part in an old Saratoga Springs tradition with the whole family.
4) Doing holiday cards? It can’t be done easier than at Paper Dolls, which recently moved to a bigger Broadway location. They have tons of styles and options to choose from, including photo cards, at prices that will make it seem like you spent a lot more, and the special personal attention you get when shopping there makes a big difference in quality. Then bring your holiday cards downtown during the Victorian Street Walk to get the Special Victorian Streetwalk postal cancellations at the Broadway Post Office, one of my favorite local holiday traditions.
5) Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas in my house without lots of holiday cookies. This is another activity to plan ahead, and also one that can be done with the kids. Exchanging recipes with friends is a great way to try new cookie varieties, and we always do some of our old favorites each year. This is a great way to use up any leftover Halloween candy you have, too. Sprinkle cookies with M&Ms, or chop up leftover candy bar minis to put on cookies or in brownies to make these treats extra sweet.
6) Remember that sometimes all the great holiday activities going on can take its toll on little ones. With staying up late, making cookies and helping decorate the tree, sometimes they need some downtime. This goes for Christmas day, too. Try to work in as many family traditions as you can, but don’t be disappointed. I’ve learned to plan most of the fun stuff in the morning in case the steam runs out, so they don’t feel like they’ve missed out. Plus, it gives you time to just sit back and relax.
7)Don’t be discouraged if your visions of perfect holiday pictures don’t turn out exactly how you expect. You can dress them up in their sweetest holiday outfits, make sure their hair is perfect and be smiling adorable little smiles all the way to the moment of meeting Santa, and then, boom: meltdown time. The first year I took my daughter, Leven, to meet Santa, she was thrilled; she smiled and looked up at him, and the picture was perfect. The next year you would have thought I replaced Santa with Godzilla. But the resulting picture (yes, I still went ahead with the picture) still makes me smile a little bit.
8) Don’t over-think Christmas gifts. Sometimes we spend way too much time trying to come up with the “perfect gift” and lose sight of the whole “It’s the thought that counts” philosophy.
9) Make it easy on yourself when getting your Christmas tree this year. Saratoga Reads has a tree and wreath sale every year. You simply email them your order and pick up your tree on Dec. 3. We do it every year, and we always wind up with a fabulous tree. I love that the proceeds from the sale go toward helping this great local organization provide their events free of charge.
10.) Helping the local community is the most important part of the holiday season in my family. One way you can help out as a family is to “adopt” a local family during the holiday season through the Franklin Community Center. The center provides a list with specific gift requests, and you help make their Christmas that much more special by providing gifts they otherwise wouldn’t have on Christmas morning.

Julie:
1) I absolutely love the holidays and agree that preparation is the key to keeping the stress levels down throughout the next two months. After Halloween, my husband and I sit down and plan out our holiday season as best we can. Anticipating bumps in the road is part of the process and puts us in the right frame of mind. The first thing we do is plan where and with which family we are spending Thanksgiving and Christmas. Get in touch with relatives early, and decide who is doing what and where. This alleviates hurt feelings and family stressors that seem to be as much a part of the holiday season as figgy pudding.
2) Another item we review together is gift giving and buying. We set a budget and a number of gifts for the kids. Last year, we bought each of them seven gifts. They are too young to recognize the difference in monetary items, but can certainly count the number of gifts under the tree for themselves and their siblings. Keeping it even keeps it fair.
3) Try to stay away from impulse buying. We set a date to do our shopping and get most things on our list. As we all know, the credit card bill seems to come as soon as you put down your eggnog. Try to avoid the snowball effect of impulse buying with a gift here and a gift there. It all adds up. Setting a budget beforehand can save you from buyers regret.
4) Bill and I also plan one weekend before Thanksgiving that we will spend decorating the house inside and out. We grab everything from the crawl space and pick up some necessary new items, such as poinsettias, garland and wreaths. We have the girls help us pick out great places to put some of my favorite family seasonal decorations. We have Christmas music playing, a fire roaring in the fireplace and cinnamon or spruce candles burning. This tradition has been wonderful and gets our family geared up for the season.
5) One of our favorite family traditions is the week after Thanksgiving. All of us go and pick out our Christmas tree. If you are in the mood to search the woods and cut down your own tree, we like Ellms Family Farm in Charlton. After riding the tractor to the field, you can weave your way through plenty of mature trees until you have found the perfect one.
6) Remember what worked last year and what didn’t. Sometimes the best traditions come from a mistake, and it makes for a great story.

About Mamatoga:
Mamatoga is written by two Saratoga Springs moms with five kids (and one on the way), three Labradors and years of experience and lesson learning mistakes between them. The blog aims to inform “where to eat, where to play, where to learn for moms and kids in Saratoga.”
Written by Witte and Nolan, Mamatoga is a user-friendly website in popping colors of violet and lime green that’s a comprehensive listing for area moms (and everyone, really.) The site lists places to eat, categorized by type of cuisine, places to shop, places to learn, including day cares, preschools, library programs, museums and much more.
The site’s marketplace lists items for sale, including baby clothing, strollers and Fisher Price toys. There’s also a list of local moms groups for socializing babies and their mothers.
For the moms, there are lists called “Places to Pamper,” including hair salons, spas, places for massage and manicures. For parents unable to spend a night out, there’s also an online book club with space to post comments about the book of the month.
“Preggotoga,” list of doctors, pediatricians and links to other helpful educational sites, as well as how to stay stylish during pregnancy and tips for healthy eating and slimming down after the baby arrives.
The newest feature, Sittertoga, matches families with experienced babysitters, all of whom have been pre-screened.