Dreaming

Cue the music!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!

I guess I should have clarified 'light and fluffy' vs. 'wet and sloppy'.

At least our tree is Merry and Bright.

Today is a snow day. The kids had all sorts of play dates planned with the idea of snowmen, snow forts and hot chocolate. 

 The snow came. Then the rain. More snow is scheduled to follow. Right now they would be stuck making slush men, so they are hunkered down with books and crafts. 

Today I am thankful for a warm house, the beautiful snow and the love and safety of my gorgeous children.

12-12-12

Today is 12-12-12

In WI that means it's Aaron Rogers Day. (Packers #12)

In Las Vegas it means record wedding day (for luck)

In my house it means less than two weeks until Christmas and I don't have anything done!

Today is a day of cleaning, decorating, shopping and preparing for a few days of baking.

I had no warning that it was going to be a magical number day.

It doesn't feel magical.

I missed all the hype.

I've been too preoccupied with the numbers 12-21-12.

A flip of two numbers and the meaning is entirely changed.

From good luck

to

the end of the world.

All due to the order of two little digits.

I'm a bit more optimistic than that. 

I see 12-21-12 as the possibility of a new world.

With so many people focusing on the day being the possibility of the end of the world, even if they're not committed to believing it's really going to happen, the date has at least brought about an awareness of the possibility, which gets people thinking about what matters, what they want to change, how precious life is and how very fleeting. There is a movement of spiritual awakening happening across the globe and I believe there are many people focusing on the date as not the end of the world, but the end of the world as we know it. Raising an awareness of "we're all in it together" and "we are all connected". I believe with so much energy focused on one single day (and it has been focused there for some time) there is great potential that all the collected energy could mean big change. My hope it that it is a day of big positive change. The world won't end. Some will be laughing at the silliness of it all which will cover the globe in laughter. Some will be secretly relieved and relax filling the waves with calm happiness. Some will mark it as a day to make positive changes (like a second chance) putting more positive energy out there. It will be a day of Global Positivity and hopefully with enough love and positivity charging up the universe, it will be the first day of a new world. A world of people recognizing just how amazing the world actually is, how precious life is. How good happiness and love feel, and they will want to keep that feeling alive.

Inspiration and a Giggle

~Inspiration~

I vowed against New Year's Resolutions years ago,

instead choosing a word of the year for the past three years.

This year has changed me (already).

I wrote my word for the year on the bathroom mirror as a reminder.

I woke the next morning to this...

My darling eight year old daughter chose a resolution for the year and placed it next to my word.

How can I not adopt it as well?

Children are such wonderful teachers.

Word of the year...

Faith

Resolution...

Play By The Heart 

~Giggle~

This past December I attended my daughter's school Christmas concert. I stood in the back as the room was full. The kids were so much fun to watch. They oozed holiday cheer as if they had practiced with elves and sipped Christmas Kool-aid. Me? I knew their secret. He was standing to my left! Shhhhh...

Santa... er... Mr. School Janitor

Blessings

It may appear that we are alone on our journey through life,

but one need only to look to the left or the right

to see that we are not alone. We are walking side by side.

With deep gratitude I thank each one of you for being by my side.

~~~~~~

A wish, a kiss, a blessing

sent out onto the air

praying it reaches your doorstep

and finds you waiting there.

May your heart open wide and fill with love.

May your soul feel light and free.

May you find magic in the air this holiday season

and love filled gifts under your tree.

I thank you and love you for being here.

Your friendships and support touch my heart.

May God bless you this holiday season.

May the New Year bless you from finish to start.

What Kids Really Want

Warning: Jolly Elf discussion. Not for little eyes.

Second born is in middle school. His school shares a project with the local grade schools. All first graders wrote letters to Santa. The letters were distributed to the middle school where they had the students elves respond.

Second born elf received a letter in which the child told Santa he (the child) wanted to give him(Santa) a gift this year since Santa is always giving to everyone else. The only other request in his letter was to have a fun and happy Christmas.

Simple and sweet, right?

Second born elf's best friend elf received a letter from a boy requesting two small toys. The boy also stated that if he could have his true wish for Christmas, it would be that his daddy would play with him more.

Ouch.

For Christmas this year, in honor of the letters to Santa, I am doling out extra hugs and love. I am praying the little boy's wish for time with his daddy comes true.

I am sharing this story in the hopes that it inspires all who are reading to slow down, sit in silence and feel the real Christmas spirit. Don't listen to the noisy media-bot and reach for your wallet to spread false holiday cheer. Dig deeper. Reach into your heart. Share fistfuls of love, armloads of hugs, mouthfuls of praise and compliments.

I wish all of  you a Heart Overflowing Holiday Season. Hugs all around.

This ornament has been on my tree for many years. When my oldest was just a wee lad we went to visit an old family friend. He spotted this Santa on her tree and plucked it off. He was fascinated by it. He grinned from ear to ear and would not take his eyes off of it. Diane, always full of love and generosity, insisted he keep the ornament as it obviously made him very happy. She passed away several years later, in her early 50's, of diabetes complications. Every year I hang Santa on the tree. With that ornament I hang memories of Diane, of her love, her generosity, her spirit. She resides in my tree every Christmas.

Honesty

Do you ever hear a word, a normal word, a word you use all the time,

and suddenly it sounds different and you think

"That is the strangest sounding word."

Then you write it down and realize it even looks strange.

No?

Maybe it's just me.

Okay, check this.

I'm really trying to be more honest with myself.

Remember my post about preparing for a party and wanting to be real?

I have been faced with another challenge.

Due to my extended families schedules, I am forced to hold Christmas this Sunday.

Not my choice. I'm not ready. I cannot afford a tree until the following weekend.

I thought about putting one on a charge card but that seems ludicrous.

Instead, I have decided to be honest. I put up this...

Yes, friends. It is a Charlie Brown Christmas tree!

I love it!

It was given to me by a friend.

It is fitting for our upcoming gathering.

We are all struggling in this economy.

We have all agreed to forgo gifts.

Once again, in the spirit of honesty, I thought about saying, 

"Screw the house too. I'm not cleaning one lick."

Yup. That's honesty.

I do say screw.

And I don't like to clean for others.

That's when the word hit me funny.

Honesty.

 I wrote it down.

Not only did it sound funny but it looked funny too. 

I went a step further and looked up the definition.

Honesty

1. the quality or fact of being honest; uprightness and fairness. 

2. truthfulness, sincerity, or frankness. 

3. freedom from deceit or fraud. 

I thought, "It kind of looks like 'hone' and 'sty'.

So I looked them up as well.

Hone

to make more acute or effective; improve; perfect

Sty

1. a pen in which pigs are housed and fed. 2. any filthy or corrupt place

 Ha!

Busted.

I was trying to use honesty as an excuse to be lazy and not clean at all.

Cop out.

I like a clean house, just not an anal retentive white glove house.

It looks like I better get honest with my bad self and hone my sty for Christmas!

Bah Humbug!

Reverb - Photo (a no go)

Reverb prompt:

Photo – a present to yourself

Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.   It's Christmas!!! As a gift to myself I am skipping today's prompt. Rarely are there photos take of me as I am always the one behind the camera and it sounds quite treacherous to me to search for photos today. Instead, I will take this opportunity to wish all of you the happiest of holiday seasons no matter how or what you celebrate! The new year is quickly approaching and I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you for your friendships, the memories, the connections made over the miles. I feel truly blessed to have shared in the lives of every one of you. Love and peace to all.

 Darling husband and I went to bed after midnight. Youngest son woke at 1a.m.!!!

He could not fall back asleep and came in waking us regularly

until he finally proceeded to get the whole house out to the tree.

All presents were opened by 6:30 a.m. Can you believe?!?!?!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and yours
a very Merry Christmas.

May your hearts be filled with love
as you create warm and loving memories this holiday season.

Peace to all.