Kids and Christmas

Are you experiencing the holiday season in the same way your kids are?? Who said that you can't bounce off the walls in excitement just because you aren't a kid any longer?? For the rest of the day, I want you to pretend that you are six years old again and I want you to get excited! Hey... it's almost Christmas!!

Life is tooo short NOT to get excited!!

Sweet Love Quotes

"When you are in Love you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams."
Dr Seuss

We can not do great things. We can only do little things with great love.
Mother Teresa

Once in awhile,
Right in the middle of an ordinary life,
Love gives us a fairy tale.
Unknown

When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out.
Elizabeth Bowen

Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep... wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you' re just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky he is to have YOU... The one who turns to his friends and says, thats her...
unknown

Other People's Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See

Nature Report: Magical Foggy Mornings : News : KGBT 4

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I have to admit that I never thought of a foggy morning as magical... but I'm definitely going to pay closer attention the next time we have one. Not sure when that's going to be in our area... we have a ton of snow! I wonder if we can have fog in the winter?? Spring maybe, but I don't think we get fog when it's this cold!

Looking forward to an early spring so I can check out a magical foggy morning lol...

Nature Report: Magical Foggy Mornings : News : KGBT 4

Quotes about Winter

"To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring. ~W.J. Vogel"

Is there anything nicer than curling up in front of a fire (especially a roaring fire) and sipping eggnog?

That will definitely work. Spring will arrive in no time flat!

Waiting for Christmas or waiting for us? Lessons from Charlie Brown - AnnArbor.com

Oh, I needed to read this so badly. Last year I let myself miss out on Christmas because of sudden Root Canals that I had to endure... and they weren't going to go smoothly either. That kind of put the finishing touches to my getting excited. There was always next year I told myself. But, next year is here and I'm still not excited and as hard as I try, I still can't seem to get that holiday spirit that I tell everyone I'm enjoying... I'm lying!

And then I read this article... I only wish I could turn the clock back so that it was December the 1st. Read the article and it will all make sense!

Waiting for Christmas or waiting for us? Lessons from Charlie Brown

Santa Claus is anyone who loves another
and seeks to make them happy; who gives
himself by thought or word or deed in every gift
that he bestows; who shares his joys with those
who are sad; whose hand is never closed against
the needy; whose arm is ever outstretched to aid
the week; whose sympathy is quick and genuine
in time of trouble; who recognizes a comrade
and brother in every man he meets upon life's
common road; who lives his life throughout
the entire year in the Christmas spirit.

EDWIN OSGOOD GROVER

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus: The Classic Edition

Christmas Thoughts and Quotes

Image via Wikipedia

More often than not, we are scurrying around this month trying to get everything done. It's sad... not to enjoy the season. For that very reason, I put together this collection of thoughts and quotes about one of my favorite times of the year!

Keep doing good deeds long enough and you'll probably turn out a good man in spite of yourself. Louis Auchincloss

Peace on earth will come to stay, When we live Christmas every day.
Helen Steiner Rice



Christmas Thoughts and Quotes

Thinking About Christmas Dinner??

I guess it's about that time... the morning when you start thinking about whether or not you want to host Christmas Dinner. If you haven't quite decided, I have prepared a list... this ought to make up your mind. ;)

1. Let someone else host it. All you have to do is show up with a bottle of wine! Okay, chances are you won't get off quite that easily. Christmas dinner usually means the best china and silver, so there will be some hand washing and drying of dishes. But it is still a fun girl time around the sink!

2. If you have to cook it... you get to choose the menu. So there is a perk to hosting Christmas Dinner. And there's always the old potluck idea if you need a little help!

3. Try to sneak in as many veggies as possible. We always try to have lots of fresh, chopped up veggies to offer for snacking about an hour before dinner is served.

4. Dinner conversation... reminisce about past Christmases. People love to chat about Christmases that they remember from when they were kids. Just start the ball rolling and you won't have to say another word.

5. If lots of people are coming... you don't have to do all the work! Let people bring some goodies. I mentioned this earlier, but it is worth repeating. Everyone has a specific dish that the are proud of. Ask if they could bring it with them. They will love the fact that you asked. It will make them feel so special!

6. Have quiet Christmas music playing in the back ground. The sing song can come later if your crowd loves that sort of thing.

7. Have a Christmas movie playing in another room. Give people a choice as to what they can do.

8. If you have an extra table, put out a Christmas puzzle. People will get hooked quickly! This is especially effective if teenagers are invited. They don't really want to leave the room, but they aren't all that excited about joining the conversation either!

9... I'm sure that there are oodles and oodles of ways to create the perfect Christmas Dinner, but I want to hear from you. What are your special little tricks. A girl can use as many as she can get her hands on!

Sending Your Kids to School With a Lunch They Will Love!

Could there be anything worse than opening a lunch box only to find that everything inside looks kind of boring? How would you feel if you took the same lunch day after day. I would think that you would get pretty tired of it too.

1.Kids love those pre-packed lunches that you see at the supermarkets. And have you noticed that they are always featured at a level that is in keeping with those little eyes.There's no doubt in my mind that the stores want to make sure that the kids see them. The only problem is that most of the time, they aren't very healthy and they are very costly. So why not just make your own. You can pretty much copy everything in the pre-packed lunch, but with a few more veggies tossed in for good measure and it will cost you a whole lot less.

2. Head to the library or the bookstore and check out cookbooks for kid's lunches. I did just that when my daughter was in grade two and together we went through the suggestions and she picked out everything that appealed to her. It certainly made life easier for me when it came time to pack her lunch.


3. If you are into paper lunch sacs, let your kids decorate their bags for the week. Stickers are available almost everywhere and can be seasonable as well. It makes lunch seem just a wee bit more special.


4. Mondays are blah days for kids too, so maybe add a small surprise on that particular day. The anticipation in amazing.

5. Write little notes on the fruit... but make sure that it doesn't backfire. I did that on bananas for my daughter and she didn't tell me until she was in high school that my messages made her homesick! That wasn't my intention. Maybe a word search puzzle instead would have been better?

Quotes about Being Mean

AS long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might.
Marian Anderson

Being mean about other people isn't on my radar.
Geri Halliwell

Stop Being Mean to Yourself (a book)

The object of this competition is not to be mean to the losers but to find a winner. The process makes you mean because you get frustrated. Kids turn up unrehearsed, wearing the wrong clothes, singing out of tune and you can either say, "Good job" and patronize them or tell them the truth, and sometimes the truth is perceived as mean.
Simon Cowell

Do you ever wonder if you could have been nicer to a few people in your past? Something you could have said or done, but for some reason didn't. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to go back in time and change things. *my personal thoughts

 A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing or the other, and we then know how to meet him. 
Aesop

There is something different in being mean and being blunt...  (heard someone say on the train)

Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.  Eric Hoffer

It's Not Easy Being Mean (Clique Series)

*More Thoughts for an Early Morning