Everyday Live Happy

It seems like we go straight from Halloween to Christmas, but we miss something very important when we do.  We miss Thanksgiving.  An entire day dedicated to being thankful.  These days it seems like people really aren't very grateful for what they have.  Everyone wants more.  Bigger.  Better.  Newer.  Things that are "essential" to our lives.  Everyone feels entitled to everything.  Kids are really bad at that.  They expect things.  When we say "no" we are being mean and unfair to what they "need" to have.  Let's think about that for a minute.  What do we really need.  Shelter, food, and love are the only things that I consider essentials. We don't have to have much more. My son has been living in Africa for about 2 years.  It has made him see how very materialistic that we are.  In Ethiopia people are grateful for everything that they have.  He sent me a picture of the happiest boy who was running up and down a dirt street with a stick and a

Now I know that we still have a little while before Christmas.  We barely had Halloween and still have a few weeks until Thanksgiving.  I don't usually skip over holidays before moving on to the next one.  But shopping for a present isn't skipping over any holiday.  It is planning ahead.  That's a  good thing right?  My mother-in-law usually has all of her shopping done by October.  I will never be that prepared, but I do set things aside throughout the year if I find something I like on sale.  Usually the last person on our list each year is my mother-in-law.  She is very hard to buy for.  And let's face it after 20+ years it is hard to come up with something original.  This year though, I have been very excited.  I've known since summer what we were going to give her.  There is this awesome Etsy company that is in my hometown.  It is called Stampressions. They make unique, handmade, stamped jewelry.  It is not regular jewelry.  It is memory type jewelry.  I actual

I love that Halloween was on a Saturday this year.  We were able to do so much!  We decorated sugar cookies.  We made monster cookies with Oreos and Nutterbutters, frosting and candy eyes.  We took treats to neighbors.  We carved pumpkins.  We all dressed up and took pictures.  We went trick or treating and ended the night with a "scary" kids movie.  It really was a full, fun day.  Usually the idea in my head is very different from reality.  But this time it was pretty close and that makes me happy!