Happy New Year’s Eve! Big plans or are you trying to decide what clothes you will wear while sitting on your couch? We usually stay home, friends come over sometimes and family and sometimes its just been us as we all clink our glasses at the stroke of midnight. Whether you go out or stay in, and whether you see in the New Year or just the back of your eyelids, have a special evening and may your New Year start off on the RIGHT foot!
from Pinterest
The starlit sky was bright, lighting up the night. Jane pulled her coat a little tighter against her, to fight off the chill of the frosty night air. Christmas was over, and Jane was enjoying the peacefulness of the night.
She often liked to take a walk in the woods, even when it was cold. She continued on, walking the same path that she did most nights. Jane quietly sang “Silent Night” as she walked through the quietness of the woods. Christmas may be over, but the songs still played in her heart.
What would the New Year bring she wondered. What dreams of hers may come true. She thought back to when she was a little girl and the special Christmas where she got her last doll baby. She still could feel the excitement that she had when she unwrapped her and hugged her tight. Her Mom had sewed such a pretty dress for her doll baby and her heart was full of love for it.
Oh, sweet memories. She remembered too when she got Lite-Bright for Christmas, oh the hours she spent making all kinds of pretty pictures with the different colored pegs.
How time changes things as you grow. As a child she opened the gifts with great anticipation. Now she still enjoys the gifts that are bought with love for her but even more special are the gifts that can’t be unwrapped.
The smiles on the faces of her family as they unwrapped their gifts. The laughter that rang through the house. The hugs freely given. Time spent together enjoying each others company. Time, a gift that can’t be bought and one that is so valuable! Time spent having fun with each other which makes the turkey get forgotten and put in the oven a little late, but no one minds having a late supper on a magical Christmas night.
Yes, so much more that she cherishes now that doesn’t come wrapped with a bow.
Just then something came shooting through the sky. She was seeing her first shooting star. She wished upon the star and her heart was warmed, as she smiled the rest of the way home. Thinking about her wish that couldn’t be wrapped with a bow but one that filled her with a deep, incomparable joy!
Advice to start 2020 off right!
Right before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st make sure you raise your left leg, that way you will start the year off on the RIGHT FOOT! 🙂
Are you ready for the New Year? Just a couple days away. We are getting together with dear friends this evening, they are on their way as I type. Always look forward to seeing them, good conversation and laughter is a guaranteed thing! Friendship is a blessing that I intend to carry on into the New Year!
I have a simple fun exercise for you all to do, to help prepare for 2020. It requires no physical exertion! Leave a word or a phrase below of cheer or wisdom to take into the New Year. Words that will help to start the year off with a SMILE, for that is one way of starting it off on the right foot! There is only one catch, which may make you think just a little bit harder. Let the word or the the phrase begin with the first letter of your first name.
I will start it off with a phrase that came to my mind right away that always brings me a smile.
CARPE DIEM!
Your turn now!
I know this isn’t a Christmas song, but there is a story behind it. I was chatting and laughing with a dear friend yesterday, and ended up getting in a “hole”, yes, I am sure some of you will be so shocked by that. Anyway, my friend assured me that if I was to post a Neil Diamond song that all would be well. So just for you, sweet Dee, here is your favorite song, and it took all my willpower to not post an Air Supply song too, but I was good! May all of you enjoy the song as well! Do you have a favorite Neil Diamond song?
2. Peace, joy, and love aren’t gifts to be unwrapped only at Christmas. Let them fill your heart 365 days of the year!
3. Did Santa make you happy, or are you wondering where your hippopotamus is? https://youtu.be/57vrqCENNPc
Its not looking like we will have a White Christmas, but that’s okay, I know there are several of you that live where its warm so you don’t get see snow on Christmas either. You also don’t have to bundle up in layers to do your Christmas shopping. I had mentioned to my daughter the other week on a cool, windy day when we were out, that Christmas should be in the summer! I thought I would share some more Christmas music with you today, as you read the quotes. Enjoy! May the meaning of Christmas warm your heart. Take a breath and enjoy a peaceful moment, for peace and love is what Christmas is all about.
🙂
Baking done
Gifts delivered by Santa’s sleigh, just waiting for one more delivery tomorrow.
Gift wrapping half done, (thanks to my hubby)
Stockings filled
Cards sent, though some got sent later than planned, but they will at least make it before the New Year!
Gingerbread houses made …. Nope! As I have said before I am not artistic in any way, so they don’t get made here, at least not by me. My kids did enjoy making them when they were little. Do you make gingerbread houses? Have yours looked like the following ones at all? The other weekend when we were in town for a parade, they were displaying gingerbread houses and these were some of the best.
Is this is an example of how you do Gingerbread houses or do you relate to the following one more?
No matter how creatively artistic you are or aren’t, I hope you are having a wonderful, not too stressful time leading up to Christmas! And that you aren’t sweating too much, worried about whether you are on Santa’s naughty or nice list.
Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!
Two days before Christmas and the shop was filled with people and the sounds of a “Holly Jolly Christmas” playing. The bell on the door kept jangling as people kept coming and leaving. Flossie the stuffed flamingo anxiously waited for a customer to pick her up, but with each hour that passed her hope faded a little more. Why would this Christmas be any different from all the ones before. No one wanted a flamingo, they went for the teddy bears and magical unicorns, the horses and the floppy eared dogs. Who wanted a rainbow colored flamingo.
Flossie sighed, she should just close her eyes. The sooner the night was over, the better, there would be silence. No more jangling of the bell making her heart skip a beat hoping that perhaps this time the person that walked through the door would want her!
“Hey Tricia, come over here, look at these adorable teddy bears!”
“Oh they are adorable!” Tricia replied, as she squeezed one. “They are so soft.”
Flossie tried not to let a tear slip out of her eye.
“We need something different though too, remember? We have lots of orders for teddy bears, but we also got a special order for something more unique for a special little girl.”
“You are right,” said Jessica. “But I don’t see anything except horses and dogs, the person before us just grabbed the last unicorn.”
Flossie took a deep breath, this may be her last chance, she had to try! She said softly to Henry the Horse, “I’m sorry”, as she bopped him out of the way., and off the shelf he fell.
Tricia bent down and picked up the horse, “Oh look, he has a little star on his head, perhaps he could be the gift for the special little girl ?”
Oh No! Had her efforts been in vain, Flossie thought.
“Oh wow! Look at that!” cried Jessica. “Its a rainbow colored flamingo! Have you ever seen one of them before?”
“Can’t say I have, but it is so pretty! I think she will be perfect!” and Tricia picked her up as Flossie’s heart soared, she was leaving, she was really leaving!”
The next day far, far away, Candy Cane picked up the mail.
“Santa, your rush delivery order came!” Candy Cane said as she walked into Santa’s house.
He was sitting in his overstuffed recliner drinking some Double Chocolate Hot Chocolate, and took the package when Candy Cane handed it to him.
She anxiously watched him unwrap it and they both smiled big when they saw the rainbow colored Flamingo.
“Look at how bright and pretty she is! She will definitely brighten up little Emily. ”
“Yes, she will, this is just perfect! Emily lives in Alaska, so she may not even know what flamingoes are. To her this will be a very special bird and hopefully help cheer her as she heals from her appendectomy.”
Flossie’s heart swelled up. Santa had called her a special bird! She was going to go make a little girl happy! She had no clue what a “appendectomy” was, but it didn’t matter, a little girl needed her and Flossie couldn’t wait to meet her! Flossie’s dream was finally coming true.
Santa handed her to Candy Cane. “Take her to Jinx and Jangle, tell them to get her ready to take a ride on my sleigh.”
Riding on Santa’s sleigh! Oooh this was going to be exciting, thought Flossie and he eyes shined as bright as the colors of the rainbow. One just never knew what could happen when one doesn’t stop dreaming! Every night in the toy shop Flossie had kept hoping for her dream to come true the next day. At last her tomorrow had come!
2. Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year, and so someone has dubbed it “National Short Girl Appreciation Day!” Sounds like a very important day to me! Thought I would spread the word so that now you know and can prepare for it, because I am kind like that! 🙂
3. Christmas lights shine bright, but let your heart light shine even brighter!
Does this title spark any recognition?
I spotted “The Little Red Hen” by Paul Galdone, at an Antique Market that my husband were browsing through this past weekend and I couldn’t resist buying the book for one dollar. I didn’t let myself think too long about how a book that I read in my childhood is now in an antique market, along with other things that I remembered from my childhood. Holly Hobby glasses, etc. Oh yes, time just keeps passing, doesn’t it!
Back to the book, it brought back memories of my Mom reading it to me and then how I was so proud when I could read it to myself! I remembered the story well and how I loved the ending.
For those of you who might not be familiar with the story, let me give you a little summary of it. I may be grown now, but I continue to love children’s stories and the lessons they can teach. Lessons that are good for adults as well.
A little red hen lives with a cat, a dog and a mouse. Its a wonder the mouse stayed alive, but I didn’t think about that as a child. The cat, dog and mouse were all very lazy. Kind of reminds me of a cat named Dewey that I know very well. The little red hen did all the housework and made all the meals.
One day she decided to plant some wheat and she asked who would help, “Not I”, said the cat, “Not I”, said the dog, “Not I”, said the mouse. So the little red hen planted it herself. She asked who would water it and pull the weeds from around it, “Not I”, said the cat, “Not I”, said the dog, “Not I”, said the mouse. And so she did it by herself. This pattern kept repeating itself as she asked for help cutting the wheat and taking it to the mill and grounding it into flour and making a cake from the flour. The cat,dog and mouse, were too busy soaking up the sun, or laying by the fireplace, they didn’t have time for work!
Then the dog smelled the delicious smell coming from the oven and the cat perked up its ears, (yes, that would be Dewey!) and they came into the kitchen just as the little red hen was pulling the beautiful looking cake out of the oven. Oh the faces of the cat, dog and mouse were shining with delight, as they started salivating!
The little red hen looked at them all with their eyes shining with eagerness to taste the cake. She once again asked a question, “Who will help me eat this cake?” “I will!”, said the cat, “I will!” said the dog, “I will!” said the mouse.
BUT … the little red hen said, ” All by myself I planted the wheat, cut the wheat, gathered the wheat.” ” All by myself, I gathered the sticks, built the fire, made the cake..” and “All by myself I am going to eat it!” and here is my favorite line. “and so she did, down to the very last crumb!”
Yes, I still laugh, and say, “Good for you! You show them!”
See the delight you can still get from children’s books and the important messages they pass along. Delighting in children’s books is why I had so much fun writing “The Odessa Chronicles” with Colin and I hope those who read it can pick up lessons from it as well, just like the lessons I learned from the books I enjoyed as a child.
What messages do you remember from some children’s stories?
Nuggets of Gold 