Merry Christmas

I hope everyone who celebrates it had a very Merry Christmas! 

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe night!

Family time

We were finally able to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with some family of ours tonight. We had a wonderful time and we miss them already. I think it's the most wonderful thing to have family that you also consider friends.

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas

One of my favorites! We heard it last night on the way home from celebrating Thanksgiving with family! My husband and kids know I love this song and actually they do, too. However, my kids started asking questions about the meaning and we explained to them the charitable reasons behind the song. We explained what the conditions were like in Africa in 1984 and the suffering that was (and still is in some ways) happening there. It made us all sad to think of the suffering but it also helped to know the there are good people - regular, everyday people and celebrities - who care and want to make a positive difference in this world. So a great song, turned into a history lesson and a great conversation as a family. It's something to definitely be thankful for.

Valentines every day

My family- my husband and our children - are my Valentines every day of every year! My husband has a commitment tomorrow night so we celebrated Valentines Day today. Though to be honest, we believe in showing one another - and our children - love every day. My husband and daughter went grocery shopping today and brought home flowers. Then he made an incredibly delicious salmon dinner. We sat down and ate all together while we talked and laughed and shared about our day. It made me so happy to spend our evening this way.

I hope everyone enjoys their Valentines - tomorrow and every day through the year. 

Happy 4th of July

Have a happy and safe day and night. 

Happy 4th of July

 

Have fun and stay safe while you celebrate!

Happy Easter

 

Happy Easter to all who celebrate the holiday. I hope everyone had a wonderful day.

 

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2014 was wonderful for you all and that 2015 will be even better!

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of those in the United States. And to everyone blessing and happiness always. Enjoy your weekend, where ever you are.

Thankful for Vacation

I have to say that my family is very much in need of a vacation. My kids are off of school for a week in celebration of Thanksgiving. My husband has a short work week coming up. I am so happy and so thankful for both of these things. For one thing, I love, love, LOVE when we all get to spend unhurried and relaxing time together. It feels like so much of our time is spent rushing from one thing that we need to do to another. So, we have some vacation together this week and we are not going anywhere. Well, we are going house and family hopping on Thanksgiving but other than that we are having a vacation at home. There will be no homework, no rehearsals, no long term school projects to work on.

What we will do this week (other than Thanksgiving, of course) is relax, read, go to the park, see some friends and quite likely watch some movies together. And, most exciting of all (at least to the kids and I) is that we will decorate for Christmas! In fact, if all goes well we will begin this fun activity in just a few short hours.

Do you have plans for this coming week that you are looking forward to?

Thankful

One of our local radio stations started playing Christmas music today. This is not a bad thing. In fact, my family and I love this time of year and that includes the Christmas music. And since my children have been asking me when the Christmas music was going to start since before Halloween – I was extra thrilled to be able to let them hear it today. Hearing White Christmas (my favorite), Do They Know It’s Christmas (another favorite), Sleigh Bells and Frosty the Snowman got me to wondering about something.

What about Thanksgiving?

Why do we basically finish Halloween and jump straight into Christmas? And honestly, around here, Christmas is making its appearance even before Halloween. As I’ve stated, my family and I love Christmas. However, I think people in general need to slow down and enjoy this entire season. Thanksgiving is important in our family and not just because of the food. Although, hello delicious food. It’s just that I grew up – and fortunately, so did my husband – being taught to be thankful for the little things as well as the big all through the year. Yes, we put some extra emphasis on Thanksgiving Day but that was (and is) part of the fun. So in our house, with our children, my husband and I are going to take the time to be thankful.

At the beginning of October I found an awesome tutorial on creating a ThankfulGarland. I bookmarked it with the intention of having it ready to go at the beginning of November. Then the end of October arrived and with it Halloween and prepping for National Novel Writing Month. I’m sad to say that I forgot about prepping the Thankful Garland. Well, I found my bookmarked activity today. At first I was a little bummed because we are late getting started with it. Then I decided late wasn’t going to be an issue. I am going to make a Thankful Garland for my family. Then, for the two weeks until Thanksgiving (and the day of) we are going to write something we are thankful for. Also, in the same vain, I am going to post a little something that I am thankful for each day.

So, beginning right now: I am extremely Thankful for my husband and our daughters. I love them with all of my heart and love being a family.

Will you join me in making a Thankful Garland for your family? Or even blogging about what you are thankful for?

Happy Halloween

 

Happy Halloween everyone! Have fun and stay safe tonight!

Happy Easter

However you celebrate - I hope you have a very peaceful and special day!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone (in the United States) has a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving day spent with family and possibly friends, too.  I hope everyone else has a happy day leading into the final weekend of November; the holidays are right around the corner! I know I am super thankful for my family, friends and the connections I've made with wonderful people through blogging! I am so grateful for the wonderful people I am fortunate enough to have in my life.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to everyone! Whatever you are doing tonight - have fun and stay safe!

Happy 2011

The new year has begun and I hope everyone has the best and happiest year ever! I hope you accomplish your goals and read nothing but great books.  If you write, may that go smoothly all year through.  Happy New Year, everyone!

Free Holiday Cards

I love the word 'free' and I also love a good deal.  Shutterfly is promoting what I consider a really fabulous opportunity.  They are offering their 2010 Holiday Card Collection to bloggers.  All you have to do is create a post about the promotion and earn 50 5 x 7 Holiday Cards.  Of course, you are responsible for the tax and the shipping and handling but this is a deal not to be passed by.  The offer expires December 31, 2010.

This is where to go in order to fill out the application and to learn more.