Be nice to your kids, please.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We had a great time being with family and soaking everything in as much as possible between gatherings and presents and crowds and cookie baking. I'm formulating what has become my annual special needs Christmas gift rundown, which I'll be sharing in the next few days! Christian got some good stuff! Lola can attest to that!

The holidays can bring out the best in us and the worst in us.

I'd rather talk about the best, but I feel I have to talk about the worst.

Holidays are a stressful time for everyone. They shouldn't be, but they are. People drive slow. People are in a hurry. Kids are wired on sugar and jumbled schedules and parents are just trying to create any sort of magic they can muster.

I see a lot of spirit and a lot of "nice," but I also see a lot "not nice."

Now I'm going to get all judgy and talk about parenting and I might even pull the "I would give anything..." card. I don't pull it a lot, but I feel it's appropriate.

I see a lot of parents being not so nice to their kids. You're right, I have no idea what's going on. I don't know what happened earlier in the day for you to get to that point.

And if I'm totally honest, I've probably been that parent. I lost patience. I might not have been so nice. Maybe someone thought I wasn't being a very nice mommy.

So I have to check myself.

There is a lot of talk about being kind and spreading kindness. Especially in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown. And when we think about being kind, we often think about spreading it to strangers. But I urge you to spread kindness in your own home. Be kind to each other. Be nice to your husbands and your wives. Be nice to your kids.

And I would give just about anything to have a rambunctious four year old boy that I had to yell at so he would settle down. Really, just about anything. Yeah, I pulled that card. I understand we all get frustrated. Trust me, I've been there. But I'm sure those parents in Newtown with unopened presents under the tree would give just about anything, too.

So watch your tongue. Watch your actions. Show love. Be kind. I promise to practice what I preach.

Be nice to your kids. Maybe if we're nicer to our kids, they'll become nicer adults and things like what happened in Newtown will be avoided.