A man from South Carolina finally found his long lost daughter, kidnapped19 years ago when she was just 10 months old. Born Savanna Catherine Todd in South Carolina, she's been living life as Samantha Geldenhuys all the way across the world in Australia!

Imagine suddenly finding out you were the victim of a crime you can't actually remember? Samantha, or rather Savanna, was kidnapped in 1994, during what was supposed to be a supervised visit with her mom, Dorothy Lee Barnett, who was engaged in a custody battle with the girl's father, Harris Todd.

Dorothy, who allegedly lived in Australia under the aliases Alexandria Maria Canton and Alexandria Maria Geldenhuys, is expected to be extradited to the United States to face charges for the alleged kidnapping of her own daughter. Her daughter, who is now 20, appeared at her side in court.

Can you blame her? Cops specifically stated that Samantha/Savanna was leading a "normal life" in Australia when they found her. She may have been kidnapped and torn away from her dad, but in that sense her story is markedly different from the horrible kidnapping stories we're used to hearing: stories like Amanda Berry's or Jaycee Dugard's.

As far as we know, she wasn't tortured or locked away. Thank goodness.

But I certainly don't envy the confusion of having the life that she's always known turned upside down. Her mom is facing serious charges, and all of a sudden she has this dad she has never known. Not to mention her entire life is predicated on a lie.

Legally, ethically, cops owed it to her dad to let Savanna know who she really was and to arrest her mom for the alleged crime. But this case certainly lends credence to that old saying "ignorance is bliss." Her normal life is gone, and now she has to try to find a new normal.

If you were a victim of a crime you don't remember, would you want to know? Why or why not?

Image via Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Growing up, Breeanna "Bree" Speicher didn't tell many people her biological father was an anonymous sperm donor. She was too afraid of what people would think. But now the high schooler is about to share that and  whole lot more with the world as star of MTV's new docu-drama Generation Cryo, which airs tonight in the 10 p.m. time slot that used to be taken up by Teen Mom.

Coming on the heels of the release of Dreamworks' Delivery Man, a movie about a (fictional) man who finds out he's the father of some 533 kids because of some donations he made to a sperm bank, the show is a more serious look at what it means to have a child thanks to donor sperm. With IVF and IUI rates climbing rapidly in the United States, the network has partnered with the Donor Sibling Registry, a site where kids born from donor sperm, egg, or embryo can meet up to find relatives, to bring the story of Bree and her half-siblings scattered 'round the country to the masses. 

The Stir took time to chat with 17-year-old Bree about what it's like being a "sperm kid," as she jokingly calls herself and what it is parents really need to know before they decide to go the donor route.

On finding out her biological father was an anonymous sperm donor:

As a little kid, I grew up with both my moms and they had friends who were lesbians as well, so I grew up with three other kids. Two were boys from the same mom, and one was an older girl from a different mom. All of us were donor inseminated kids, so it was kind of the norm when I was growing up.

We all had different donors, but it was sort of just normal. There was never a time when I can think I was sat down and told that I was a donor inseminated kid, well, I don't know how to say it ... a sperm kid? [laughs] I don't know!

I grew up around other kids who were in the same situation, but I was young. It's not like we ever talked about it or anything. 

On why she hid the truth for so long:

My biological mom, Debbie, always told me never to tell anyone, never to talk about it because I grew up in a Christian school and they weren't that open to the whole kids being raised by lesbians. It was kind of rough, so I just came to the understanding that that's just how it was: you don't talk about it. I felt like it was something to be ashamed about for awhile.

I remember I first told my best friend -- maybe in seventh or eighth grade -- for the first time. She was like, "Oh, cool dude, let's go get something to eat." That was her exact response!

Anybody else that I've ever told ... I've never experienced a negative response. People either think it's really cool or just kind of like "oh, awesome, you know, whatever."

On why she decided to sign on with MTV and the Donor Sibling Registry to star in Generation Cryo:

It was really an offer that I couldn't refuse because I wanted to my siblings, and this was the perfect opportunity.

And then on top of that, honestly, from beginning to end I genuinely believe in what we were trying to get across with this show. I think it's very educational. Of course there are going to be people who just don't understand, just people who are going to be rude about it or ignorant toward it, but I think that's something all of us can handle. we all have each other and we're there for each other. We can support each other. It's so worth it just to have those other kids who feel alone and feel different and don't know how to express themselves or go about just what they're feeling. I think this can really help a lot of people out there -- both kids and parents.

On the donor she's seeking (with permission from her moms):

My whole life I think I've kind of, not really idolized, but ... I've never known who the donor was, but I've always been very interested. He could be anybody, but you kind of make up things in your mind.

For awhile he didn't even seem human to me, as weird as that must sound. I felt like I was Dorothy trying to figure something out. I was going on this big journey, but I knew it was just going to be just a regular guy. It's not some crazy wizard who is going to give me all those powers or something. It's just a regular guy, but I'm still willing to go on that journey and figure it out for myself.

On what she thinks of the media focus on anonymous donors:

I think it's absolutely awesome any time that things that aren't the norm or aren't the usual get touched upon publicly. When people don't know a lot about a certain subject, then a lot of times they just deem it as weird or strange or gross just because you don't understand. I think it's awesome that it really is just educating the public.

More From The Stir: 'Generation Cryo' Replaces 'Teen Mom' With a Whole New Twist on Parenting

It would be awesome to see people -- even just a small amount of people -- with their minds a little bit more open and to be able to accept. I think that's the coolest part about the show. There are all these different families and everybody feels a different way and everybody is in a different predicament, but we all come together because of the fact that we are related. No one person and no one parent is right or wrong in the way that they're feeling. Everybody's dealing with it their own way. In that sense, it kind of just will open people's minds a lot more.

Hopefully the cryobanks -- it would be really really awesome if they kind of took a look at everything and started doing more to keep records. At the end of the day I never really will know how many half siblings I have; I just won't, you know? Because records aren't really kept very well.

Bree's message to parents considering the donor route:

Look at all the different resources you have, and go with your heart on it. I think that the main thing that parents have to remember is that regardless of how your child is coming to life or whatever -- if you have a kid that you adopt or you have a kid through donor insemination -- however they come to this world, you are their parent, period. That's your child; that's your baby. That's something very important to know coming into it. It doesn't make it any less your child at all.

On parents dealing with "donor kids" who want to seek out their donor:

All parents want to protect their children from anybody who may want to hurt them. I think the best possible thing you can do to protect your child is talk to them, let them know they are perfect they way they are. Let them know they are not alone and if they ever feel a certain way or feel alone in this world that they always will have their parents. That's something my parents have definitely done with me. 

It's so important -- I feel like -- to be able to talk to your children and let them know that they're are loved and they are not alone in this world. Even if they are in a different upbringing, like I am and all of my half siblings are, let them know that.

I think especially at this point in my life, after meeting all my half-siblings, I'm not even very religious, but I am for sure blessed by whatever is out there. This is awesome, and I don't really like to think too much into things like that anyway -- it's not like I could change it. You've gotta work with what you got, but I truly do have such an ideal life -- I feel like. I have a great relationship  with all my parents. Now I have a great relationship with all of my siblings and it's just awesome.

I'm super happy with the position I have in life and the cards that were dealt to me.

***

Generation Cryo's first episode airs tonight, Monday, on MTV at 10 p.m. ET. Next week, Donor Sibling Registry creator Wendy Kramer, whose own son was born of donor sperm, will release her book, Finding our Families: A First-of-a-Kind Book for Donor Conceived People and Their Families.

If you're considering using donor sperm (or egg or embryo), the Donor Sibling Registry has a list of resources to get you started. The site also has resources for parents and kids created by donation.

Did you use donor sperm/egg/embryo? How have you talked to your kids about it? 

Image via MTV

In a scene that seems like it would fit right into a Billy Bob Thornton movie, a Massachusetts mall Santa has been arrested after being charged with groping a teenager playing an elf.

Not exactly the kind of news anyone wants to hear as they go into the holiday season, is it? We're supposed to be thinking the twinkle in Santa's eye comes from the joy of giving -- or at the very least too many candy canes -- not pervy thoughts about girls more than 40 years his junior.

That's right!

Herbert Jones is 62, and his alleged victim is just 18! The teenager claims Jones pinched her butt cheek and told her, "I wish you were a few years older and I was younger."

Ewwwwww.

I mean, I guess at least he didn't say "a few years younger," but still. This claim indicates he knew she was young, and, well, ewwww!

Right now Jones is innocent until proven guilty, folks, but I think I know what you're all thinking. It can't be far off from what I'm thinking!

If this is true, and he looked at an 18-year-old that way, what would he be thinking about the girls slightly younger than her? The girls who were voluntarily sitting on his lap, thinking he was just a nice old man with a real white beard?

What does any mall Santa think of the kids when he signs up for the gig? Or, more to the point, what are his motives for picking a job that can't pay that much and forces you to deal with whining kids all day?

I hate being this cynical, folks.

I want to believe that most mall Santas are like the man who dresses up as the jolly old guy every year in my town, who I know I can trust not to be thinking naughty thoughts when my kid is perched on his lap.

But then I go to the news, and guys like Herbert Jones pop up. Maybe he didn't do it. I hope not. But then again, there are just too many sickos out there. We read about them every single day.

'Tis the season, huh?

Jones is facing an indecent assault and battery charge, and no matter what happens with his court case, a judge has banned him from dressing up as Santa in any capacity this holiday season.

Does this put a damper on the holidays for you? What do you think of mall Santas as a whole?

Image via police

Kailyn Lowry isn't getting much sleep these days what with her new baby boy Lincoln Marshall Marroquin keeping her awake. But at least the little guy will have a nice place to rest his head!

The Teen Mom 2 star has been slowly but surely letting fans into her new home in Dover, Delaware, showing off her self-confessed obsession with home improvement. The latest addition is, well, for her latest addition. Are you ready for a look at baby Lincoln's nursery?

More From The Stir: 'Teen Mom' Star Posts Dangerous Family Photo

Check out the tweet from one of Kail's pals that she retweeted this week:

Love the nursery mirror and the Texas sign � so cute guys @KailLowry&@JaviM9pic.twitter.com/gDbNG4Afmn

First off, her friend is right, that mirror is striking. And would you get a load of all those owls? Owls are so hot for nursery decor right now -- try finding a onesie that doesn't have either an owl or a giraffe! Owls were a perfect pick for the Marroquins, especially considering they didn't know their baby's gender until he actually arrived in the world.

Designing a gender-neutral baby room can be a lot harder than you'd think. So much of what's on the market these days is either very pink or very blue. But Kail did it up with a lot of yellows and grays. Check out the crib bedding:

And crafty Kail even hit up Pinterest for ideas on the decor. Here's what she did with cards she got at her shower!

Nicely done, mama!

Which touches are your favorite? What does your baby's nursery look like?

Images via Instagram; Instagram; Instagram

I'm a sucker for military homecomings. Really, who isn't? But when you throw a kid into the mix, you might as well just leave me in a corner with a box of tissues because I'm in for a good, long cry. You get where this is going, don't you? Just in time for the holidays, I offer you a look at what happens when the soldier dad a teenager thinks is FaceTiming with her from Afghanistan really isn't.

Isn't doing it from Afghanistan, that is. Because Lyla was definitely caught on video FaceTiming with dear old dad, Adam, telling him all about her battle with the flu while staring at his face on her computer screen. Little did she know she could be telling her tale straight to his actual face.

Grab the tissues, folks, you're going to need 'em!

See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.

Sniff.

Sniff.

Bawl!

According to a post over on the Welcome Home Blog (seriously, I hope you're an Extreme Couponer if you're going to head over there, because you're going to need about 30 BOXES of tissues if you do), this soldier who came home from a stint overseas was hiding in the family garage the whole time!

That moment when she started realizing Dad was home was when I started to cry, but it's when Lyla went tearing across the floor to throw herself at him that I really lost it.

How about you?

If you were going to surprise your kids, how would YOU do it?

Image by Jeanne Sager

We don't hear much from Leah Calvert. With three kiddos at home, the Teen Mom 2 star's hands are surely too full to spare some time for the antics of some of her more scandalous co-stars. But the West Virginia native has something big cooking, and she's turned to her Teen Mom fans with a big request. Leah needs help, and she needs it now!

So what's going down with Leah and Jeremy?

More From The Stir: 'Teen Mom' Mackenzie Douthit Uses Shocking Confession to Sell Books

It turns out Leah is using her fame, as well as the attention the reality show has given to daughter Ali, who has a range of health issues, to start a foundation. She hasn't released what exactly its mission will be, but as it will be called the Aliannah Hope Foundation, it's safe to guess it will deal with sick kids in some way.

But any good foundation needs a t-shirt, and that's where the fans come in. Leah wants the folks who follow her on Teen Mom to step up and offer their design skills to the cause.

As she said on her official Facebook page this week:

I’m looking for some t-shirt design ideas for the foundation which is going to be the Aliannah Hope foundation. I’ll be online checking out any ideas that y’all may have so comment them or send a message to the page.

It's nice to see one of these stars using their fame for something positive ... and hopefully she'll get an equally positive response from the fans!

What do you think Leah should do with the foundation?

Image via Instagram

Oh, my heart hurts, y'all! We've been hearing such great news about Amber Portwood since she left prison. The Teen Mom really seemed to be turning things around. But now there's a rumor (and I should say RUMOR) that Amber wants to go the full Farrah Abraham ... right down to the sex tape.

If there were ever a rumor I was hoping were fake, well ... you got it!

The report comes out of Star magazine, so you know, big margarita glass rim-sized grains of salt right there. Not to mention it comes not from an interview with Amber but with an anonymous source. Still, there are bits of it that have some truth to them. The source reportedly said:

[Amber] is dead broke and incredibly envious of Farrah. [She] brags that she can make a sex tape actually worth watching.

Remember Ms. Nothing Is My Fault Amber of the pre-prison days? Do I dare say this sounds like her?

More From The Stir: Amber Portwood Out of Prison & Headed for TV Already

Not to mention girlfriend is living in Anderson, Indiana -- a town that doesn't have a whole lot of choices for employment, even for folks who DON'T have a prison record. The national unemployment rate is around 7.1, but in Anderson it's at 9.2!!

But man oh Manischewitz, I'm hoping it isn't true! She has done so much for herself! She got her GED! She got out of prison several YEARS early for good behavior. She's even talking about starting a drug rehab center to HELP people like her.

A sex tape is pretty much the last thing she needs. It will only take her back down dark roads. Not to mention all those places Farrah went to promote the video generally served alcohol ... the LAST thing a recovering addict needs to be around.

Be honest: if Amber did a sex tape, would YOU watch?

Image via MTV

Happy Thanksgiving! It's that one day of the year when everyone -- even the crankiest of the bunch -- should be sitting down to take stock of the good in life and say thank you. If it were a perfect world, we'd all express our gratitude daily. But it's not always easy to know what to say.

Still trying to figure out how you'll express your thanks over Thanksgiving dinner? Hopefully this will help. We've gathered our favorite quotes and sayings about gratitude and being thankful. They

Who gets to say the blessing over your family's Thanksgiving meal? Will they say something short and sweet like number 9?

Image by Jeanne Sager

In case the massive hype over the XBox One and the Playstation 4 both being released just in time for the 2013 holiday season haven't clued you in, this is going to be a hot year for video games. More than half the population now cops to playing some sort of video game -- be it on a console or on their computer. So where do you even start this Black Friday to get everyone on your list squared away?

Here's a look at some of the hottest games for everyone in the family -- from Call of Duty Ghosts for the adults to Skylanders Swap Force for the kids -- so you can grab the best deals.

Would you let the kids play number four? What games are on YOUR list? 

Image via oskay/Flickr

I can't be the only one who loves holiday shopping. The smell of pine boughs. The joy of finding something my loved ones are destined to love. The entertainment of watching normally sane and level-headed parents fight over the hot holiday toys on Black Friday like they're the last bar of chocolate on earth.

Parents take the warnings that such and such toy is going to be hot and hard to find very SERIOUSLY, and for good reason. I was once that mom trying to find the very last doll in the store way too close to Christmas. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

But how do you know that it's really worth throwing on your battle gear and actually going to war for an XBox One or an InnoTab? What will the kids actually play with for years to come?

We decided to ask -- who else -- real kids to test the "hot" toys of the 2013 holiday season.

We wanted to know: what's boring, what falls apart in seconds, what gets cast aside in seconds? And for that matter, what do the kids say they absolutely must have for Hanukkah or Christmas? So we gathered one 4-year-old boy, one 6-year-old boy, two 8-year-old girls, one 8-year-old boy, and a teenager to help us.

The products were all procured as samples from the manufacturers (with the exception of the XBox One, which was purchased by the writer), and presented to the kids as is. The parents and teen helped only in getting them out of boxes and/or with any set-up that required an adult's touch.

We asked the kids to be honest, and to make sure they were, we didn't tell them they'd get to keep their favorites until after the test was over. 

Are you surprised by what they had to say about #12? What's on your kids' holiday list this year?

Image by Jeanne Sager

If I'm being totally honest, I never meant to take my kid Black Friday shopping. It wasn't like I said "gee, let's take my 7-year-old out to the mall on the cray-cray-craaaziest day of the year because we really need a cheap TV." But when I realized I had no sitter for the Friday after Thanksgiving, I pondered: what was the worst that could happen? I'd drive to the mall, realize I was out of my ever-loving mind, and end up turning the car around and driving home?

My husband was at work. I wasn't. So I decided to risk it.

Folks, I survived Black Friday shopping with a child! And it really wasn't that bad. So if you're stuck in the same boat this holiday season, allow me to offer a few tips on making it manageable!

1. Sleep in. I know, you might miss out on a few of those doorbuster deals. But you'll also miss out on the worst of the crowds. People tend to hit the stores early on Black Friday, and then the place clears out by 10 or 11 a.m.

2. Bring a partner. Ironically, the reason I didn't have a sitter last year on Black Friday is because one of my teenage sitters is usually my shopping partner! This worked out perfectly because I had someone to divert her attention when I was grabbing presents for her, or just to take her outside the store to sit on a bench when the lines were taking too long.

3. Bring snacks. This may be obvious to parents of toddlers, but I have really fallen out of the habit since my daughter started elementary school. But on Black Friday, the stores aren't the only places that are mobbed -- the restaurants are too. Unless you want a cranky kid waiting two hours for a table, bring food!

4. Give them the list. OK, so maybe you don't give them the list that says "Buy Little Johnny a Nerf Gun, and Little Susie a My Little Pony," but anything you can do to include them in the whole experience means less whiny about being boooored that you have to hear. So make a "safe" list that they can check off as you go through the day.

5. Let them buy stuff. See above regarding less "I'm booooored." Whether you're just letting them help you pick out slippers for Granny or books for cousin Fred, or you actually let them go up to the register and figure out how to count out change, you can sneak some teachable moments about being a good giver and math in while in all honesty you're really just trying to keep them from whining.

6. Bribe them. Not stellar parenting? Um, says who? The Mom (or Dad) who is Black Friday shopping with their kid? I hated shopping with my mom when I was a kid, so I really tried to look at this from my daughter's perspective: she was being a real trooper going along with me. The very least she deserved was a small token of my appreciation (and when I say small, I mean I probably spent all of $4 on her, but it was the thought that counted).

What do you do with the kids on Black Friday?

Image via R.Niall.Bradshaw/Flickr

It might be a holiday, but as they say in the business, the show must go on. And Glee certainly put on a show for its Thanksgiving night episode. There were puppets. Foxes. Adam Lambert. And ... a pregnancy scare.

That's right Gleeks, another one!

As a whole, the Puppet Master episode -- called that because Kurt accused bossy Blaine of acting like one as he tried to control the Glee club -- was a little trippy. Thanks to a gas leak in the choir room, we got to see Sue Sylvester dancing "cheek to cheek" with Mr. Schue (and more importantly liking it!) and Blaine saw all the members of the New Directions as actual puppets dancing around him.

Then there was Adam Lambert covering Madonna with Kurt's band Pamela Lansbury plus a "What Does the Fox Say" cover thrown in for good measure. If you weren't too stuffed to focus on the TV, the writers stuffed a lot of fun in there.

But between all the kookiness was a truly serious moment. Jake Puckerman has been sowing his wild oats now that he and Marley are totally broken up, and it came back to bite him in the behind. Bree, the Cheerio he first cheated on Marley with, hadn't gotten her period, and she wanted Jake to come along to the clinic so she could have it "taken care of."

Fortunately when Jake showed up at her locker later for the trip, Bree said she's gotten her period. Crisis averted. The whole thing was quickly turned into a teachable moment for Jake, whose manwhoring is out of control.

He wouldn't be the first teenager scared straight by a pregnancy scare.

But did the writers just forget the entire first season of the show? When cheerleader Quinn Fabray ended up pregnant thanks to one manwhoring Puck, aka Noah Puckerman, aka Jake's big brother?

This is not Glee's first pregnancy scare (or second for that matter ... remember Rachel?), and not the first for the Puckerman fam. Maybe it just didn't click because it was never his pregnant girlfriend before, but I always thought he was afraid of turning into Puck. That's why he cleaned up his act in the first place, wasn't it? Well, that and because he liked Marley?

It doesn't look like he got a good enough scare the first time around. Soooooo ... maybe what we really need is for MarkSalling to make a visit to Lima to straighten his little brother out?

Hey, we can dream, right Gleeks?

What did you think of Jake's sudden wake-up call? Should he and Marley get back together?

Image via Adam Rose/FOX

Reality TV's cutest couple is coming home! The last time we saw Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra, they were starring on Couples Therapy over on VH1. But it was MTV that made the Teen Mom duo famous, so guess who has claimed their next appearance on television?

You got it! Cate and Ty are MTV-bound again! Are we finally getting the spin-off fans have wanted ever since Teen Mom got the axe?

More From The Stir: 'Teen Mom 3' Stars' 15 Minutes of Fame Is Almost Up

Well, not exactly. Dawn Baker, the adoption counselor who helped Cate and Ty place little Carly with parents Brandon and Teresa Davis, is the one who spilled the beans about the couple's return to reality television, and the way she's talking, it sounds more like a one-off special:

An exciting week ahead! MTV coming to film a "Where are they Now" with @CatelynnLowell&@TylerBaltierra& speaking at Oakland Univ! Whoot!

"A" where are they now? That means just one, folks.

But hey, all it takes is one show with mega ratings to go through the roof, right? And then MTV will cotton on to just how much fans love Catelynn and Tyler?

Cate, at least, seems like she's game to spend more time on MTV. She not only retweeted Baker's comments, but she shared this with fans:

Excited to show people what's going on in my life right now ð��� it's crazy here like always lol.. But you gotta love it â�¤ï¸ï¿½#lovelife#beunique

In addition to filming, Catelynn and Tyler are doing their thing as motivational speakers on the "I'm Pregnant" tour. Their next stop, where fans can see them speak for free, is at the Oakland Center on the Oakland University campus in Rochester, Michigan on Friday night. Who knows, show up and you might even be on MTV!

What do you want to see from a Catelynn and Tyler special on MTV? Should it be a regular thing?

Image via Instagram

A tragic plane crash has earned a mom from Alaska accolades for being a "hero" this week, but the honor is more than a little bittersweet. Melanie Coffee was trying to perform CPR on her dying baby after the Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 turboprop crash, but after calling for help, she realized help wasn't going to make it unless she did something. Coffee left her little boy and the eight other passengers and struck out in the Alaskan winter to get help.

Her decision would force her to walk nearly a mile (one way) in fog and freezing cold to get to rescue workers. Because the area wasn't reachable by snowmobile, Coffee then had to walk back with the rescuers to lead them to the crash site.

So what is it that makes Coffee a hero?

Is it that she struck out, alone and injured, to help others? Yes, of course.

But it's more than that.

Coffee was forced to make the decision of whether she stay with her dying baby or leave. Neither option was really a good one ... not for her. But she had to chance it. She had to take the risk that by leaving she might save her son, Wyatt, herself, and as many as eight other people. 

She had to measure whether she was worth more to her child if she was there with him or away from him.

In many ways her decision goes against a parent's instinct to leave. When our babies cry, it is us who can comfort them best. When they are hurt, it is us they want. And when faced with the choice of fight or flight, for our kids, we are inclined to choose fight.

But sometimes, fighting for our kids means backing off, walking away, finding someone else who can help us. Sometimes being your child's best advocate means knowing you can't do it all.

Melanie Coffee made the brave choice here.

Sadly, it only helped so much. In the end, six passengers -- including Melanie Coffee and a 14-year-old child -- were rescued. Four perished, including 5-month-old Wyatt Coffee.

Have you ever had to make the hard decision to walk away from your child in order to get them the help they needed? What happened?

Image via Alaska State Troopers

The moment a little girl from Holland climbs on the lap of Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street and Kris Kringle starts speaking to her in Dutch may be one of the top five best holiday movie scenes of all time. The moment the girl realizes Santa can relate to her is pure magic, and I can't help but wonder: is that what it's like for the kids with autism who are going to see "Quiet Santa" at malls across the US this holiday season? Pure magic?

Somehow I think it would make me cry harder to see these kids getting their Santa cuddles than that movie ever did.

Now it's not because I have pity for kids with autism or some ridiculous old notion about what it means to be on the spectrum. Being autistic isn't a bad thing, folks. But it does mean these kids may have different needs from their neurotypical peers, and that means they sometimes miss out some of the simple pleasures of childhood. Like climbing on Santa's lap and telling him what you want for the holiday.

For many kids on the spectrum, the noise and long lines that many moms and dads accept as part and parcel of the Santa experience just prove too overwhelming. Quiet Santa gives these kids what they want -- the one-on-one time with the big guy -- without all that. It's a special time for special kids.

As a mom, the whole Santa thing is so fraught with issues -- the lies, the stress over expensive requests -- but everything goes by the wayside that one day in December when I see my daughter's face as she climbs onto Kris Kringle's lap and snuggles into his beard for a hug.

It's a bit of magic kids only get to experience for a short period in their lives. Nothing should keep it away from them ... surely not autism.

Do you have an autistic child in your life? How do you handle the big Santa visit?

Image by Jeanne Sager

It's December, and soon we will mark the one-year anniversary of the tragic school shooting at Newtown, Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School. But first we must deal with another school on lockdown, another school shooter situation. Scott High School in Toledo, Ohio has been closed for the day after a 14-year-old student with a gun was taken into custody by police.

No one was hurt. A young boy is under arrest. The "gun," it seems, was "just" a pellet gun.

In 2013, less than two weeks away from the anniversary of the Newtown tragedy, this is what we consider a win in America?

I'm relieved no one was hurt, but I'd much prefer nothing had happened at all. The words "gun" and "school" being used in the same sentence still send a chill down my spine. I'm a mother. I have a child in a school.

But incidents like that at Scott today are becoming increasingly commonplace. I looked at the front page of Google News shortly after reports started coming out of Toledo, and news that a student had barricaded himself in a room with a gun hadn't been able to kick the train derailment in New York out of the top spot. It's news, but "student gunman" has become a word used so often that it no longer has quite the same impact on us as it once did.

We're sad, frustrated, angry, scared, and yet ... it has become a piece of the American landscape.

There is no exact count of how many school shootings or school gun incidents there have been since Newtown, but here are some startling statistics for you:

1. In January 2013, alone, there were 45 incidents in American schools in which schoolchildren were found to be in possession of guns.

2. According to CDC's School Associated Violent Death Study, between 14 and 34 school-aged children are victims of homicide on school grounds on their way to and from school -- every year.

3. In 80 percent of school-associated firearm-related homicides and suicides, the weapons used were obtained from the home or from a friend or relative.

When will it end?

What is the first thing that goes through your mind when you hear school and gun?

Image via alamosbasement/Flickr

Like any good mother, I think my daughter is beautiful. Wait. Strike that. I know my daughter is beautiful. But like any woman who has survived the big hair of the '80s and the '90s scrunchie, I also know that one day even this effervescent creature before me will reach that phase of life known as "the awkward years." Or, as some people call it, your teens.

Just as her body is rebelling against her, she will be desperate to assert her dominance over clothes, accessories, and that famously fickle friend, her hair. I hate that this is part of growing up for kids, but thanks to a clever site called The Awkward Years Project, a little help is on the way.

Created by a woman named MerileeAllred who was the self-described "queen of the nerds" up until the eighth grade, the site has become a space for survivors of the trauma that is teenagehood to share photos of themselves now and then, along with stories of who they were and who they have become. Their tales are a solace to the soul of fellow sufferers of the female mullet (or, as my husband refers to a style from one of my particularly bad elementary school photos, "the fe-mullet") and wearers of glasses that may have actually been larger than one's hands.

But they're also a message for the kids out there who are actually in the zit-encrusted trenches: "Kid, you ain't seen nothing yet."

As she says on the site:

I want youth, especially those who are currently going through a rough time, to know that they are great people in the making. I want to show them that their lives are only just beginning, to see their potential, and to not let bullies get to them. It’s the differences that set us apart from everyone else and we should celebrate that.

Put that way, The Awkward Years Project and its photos are like an "It Gets Better" project for all teens -- regardless of their sexuality. And it might be the perfect answer for parents trying to help their ugly duckling see the swan beneath.

Is your kid going through an "awkward" phase? What's your best advice for talking to them when they get upset?

Image by Jeanne Sager

When Angela Palmer's biological mother found her on Facebook and told her she'd been kidnapped by her father as a little girl, the California woman thought it was just another Internet scam. So she did what most of us do when we think we're being scammed. She blocked her.

"I called my friend Charlene, saying this crazy person friend requested me, saying she's my mom," Palmer confessed to The Stir with a laugh. But then Charlene looked at the photos on the mystery woman's Facebook wall and noticed a striking resemblance. Maybe the woman wasn't so crazy after all?

As it turns out, she wasn't. After 44 years without a mother, Angela Palmer learned on the Friday before Thanksgiving that she's had one all along ... and Helga Simecki has been looking for her daughter this whole time.

In an interview with The Stir, Palmer, who lives in San Diego today but was born Angela Hostnik in Germany, explained that it took a day for Helga to convince her that she was really her long-lost daughter.

"You can get so many things off the Internet these days; I wanted serious proof that only family would know," Palmer explained.

What would follow were copies of Palmer's original birth certificate, stories about her appendix, baby pictures that she'd never seen, paperwork showing the various people hired to find her, and the story of how her parents divorced when Palmer was just a baby. Helga was awarded full custody, Palmer said, because her father was physically abusive. But Klaus Hostnik's parents had reportedly told him they would only financially support him if he had custody of his daughter. 

"One day, under the guise of taking me to a doctor appointment -- because my mother couldn't afford it -- he took me and never came back," Palmer explained.

It's a story she's only just learned -- her father always told her vague stories about a mother who wasn't very kind. In one he accused the woman of dropping off a baby Angela at an orphanage. In another she was a prostitute.

None, it seems, were true. Helga had tried going through the courts to get her baby back, but she was stymied as Klaus moved constantly, first throughout Germany and then into France. By the time Angela was a teenager, she herself was ready to split from her father and took off for the states, unaware that it would make it even more difficult for her mother to find her.

When it finally happened, right before Thanksgiving, Palmer said it took her breath away.

"I still haven't wrapped my head around it," she admitted. "It's not something you can literally comprehend in a week. I've had 44 years of thinking one way, but then you find out your life was not true.

"It's sinking in that I actually have someone I can spend holidays with, and I have a mother I can call, not just friends," she continued. "I have a stepdad and half-brothers."

Now Angela's biggest holiday wish is to meet her mom in person for the first time in 44 years. Helga lives in Croatia -- she moved there from Germany about seven years ago with her husband, who is Croatian -- but Angela would like to bring her to the states for a visit so she can also meet Angela's 20-year-old son, Helga's grandson, who lives in Pennsylvania.

Her best hope? A fundraising website set up to raise the money it will cost for plane tickets. It's only natural that she'd turn to the Internet to make it happen. After all, it was the Internet that brought daughter back to mother in the first place.

What is the strangest Facebook friend request you've gotten?

Image via Angela Palmer

The producers of Fifty Shades of Grey may have tortured us with news that they were delaying the movie's release to 2015, but at least they're making good use of their extra time. They've cast another major role! So who's the lucky actress to play alongside Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson? Only Rita Ora, aka Rob Kardashian's ex-girlfriend!

The British singer confirmed on her website that she has nabbed a coveted role as part of Christian Grey's family. She'll play Mia, Christian's adopted younger sister.

So how does the girl who broke Rob K's heart fit the role?

Well, for starters, Fifty Shades readers will remember Mia is the light in the Grey family. She's bubbly and happy.

Considering Rita's biggest hit is called "How Do We (Party)," she should fit nicely in that role!

More from The Stir:  Major '50 Shades' Casting News: Anastasia Steele's Roommate Revealed!

Then there's the look. Mia is supposed to be a babe like everyone else in the Grey family, and the Kosovar-Albanian born singer certainly fits that bill. In addition to singing, she's done her fair share of modeling, including being named the face of Madonna and daughter Lourdes' Material Girl Collection and the face of the DKNY Resort 2014 collection.

As for how a girl once linked to theKardashians (hey, she dumped Rob!) will actually do at acting, there's good news here too! Rita has real acting chops. A graduate of theatre school in her native England, she appeared in a British film, Spivs, back in 2004, and more recently she's done an episode of 90210, as well as starred in the latest The Fast and the Furious movie, Fast Six.

In short? She sounds pretty perfect ... at least once she dyes that blond hair. Wasn't Mia a brunette?

What do you think of this casting choice? Who did you see as Mia when you read the books?

Image via Pacific Coast News

It's happening! It's really happening! Rumor has it that the much anticipated fifth season of Teen Mom 2 finally has an air date on MTV.

Get your remote controls ready, folks! It shouldn't be long now!

The season we have all been waiting for could be here as soon as January 20! That's the word from The Ashley's Reality Roundup (which also reported that Teen Mom 3 is done-zo recently).

So, could it be true? Well, the schedule is looking likely. For starters, Generation Cryo, the reality series about a teenager looking for her sperm donor dad, is slated for just a six-week run in the Teen Mom slot on Monday nights. Considering it began on Monday, November 25, that leaves things open come January.

More From The Stir: Catelynn Lowell & Tyler Baltierra Are Finally Coming Back to TV

Typically MTV has aired a 16 & Pregnant season directly following a Teen Mom season, so Generation Cryo was a surprise to begin with. When we asked MTV about the series just last month, a spokesperson told us "we have not confirmed or announced" a new season of 16 & Pregnant.

Then again, they also told us they had not "confirmed or announced" a fifth season of Teen Mom 2! But we've seen plenty of evidence that the show is coming back. We're holding out hope for January. It's been too long without Jenelle, Kailyn, Chelsea, and Leah on our TV screens!

So what do you think? Are you setting the DVR?

Image via MTV