Christmas Treat Ideas

I know most of you are out shopping for those great Black Friday Deals so I am going to make this one short.

Who doesn't love Christmas cookies? Here is a link for 50 recipes to make for church, school, friends, and family; or just because!


50 Cookie recipes

Here is a link for 59 more Christmas Treats

59 Christmas Treats

And one more to thumb through to see if anything good catches your eye.

Christmas Recipes

Have Fun!!!

Thanksgiving is For Showing Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Thanksgiving seems to be a time we want to skip over quickly. In the stores we go from Halloween to Christmas in the blink of an eye, seeming to pass right over Thanksgiving but this holiday should be one that we focus on.

We need Thanksgiving, it's a prelude to Christmas. We focus on gratitude in our lives then show that gratitude during the Christmas season by giving to others.

Every year I have much to be thankful for. I try to reflect on those things, and this year is no exception. In May, we found out that my youngest daughter needs a new kidney. We learned that she has a genetic disease that affects the spleen, which she already had removed, her kidneys and liver.

She seems to be in  good spirits and as healthy as she can be. She is continuing to progress in her life and doesn't sit around feeling sorry for herself, so I am grateful for that.

We went from needing a new kidney in May to waiting for her kidney match, which is my sister, (God bless her), to be tested to see if she is healthy enough to be the donor in the new year. It just all came together so fast. There are so many that have to wait such a long time.

We have a lot of other things to be grateful for but this is the big one. Even if things had not turned out as they have we still can be grateful its not worse. There is always someone worse off than we are; and we pray for them.

So today, take sometime to really reflect on your life and all that you have been given, because all the blessings come from God . Be sure to thank Him for all those blessings and to help you to share those many blessings with others throughout your life. May God bless you always!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Leftover Ideas After Thanksgiving

So...we like to have a big turkey just so we can have leftovers. We eat turkey sandwiches mostly with leftovers but this year I want to see what else we can do with the leftovers.

Here is a recipe for Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole, looks good.
Casserole

How about Turkey Soup?
Creamy Afer-Thanksgiving Turkey Soup

This one I have to try, it sounds so good (may as well finish up the week with fattening stuff).
Thanksgiving Leftover Stuffed Shells

There are so many ideas on the Internet for leftovers, I just didn't know where to begin. You will have to do further research if you don't like these ideas. Here a couple of places that might be helpful.

Taste of Home

The Food Network has some great ideas to try, take a look.
Thanksgiving Leftovers

Now is the time to start planning to enjoy those leftovers!!!

Christmas Shoebox Project

When we lived in Utah I had the great opportunity to work on Hill AFB, at the chapel, where I learned a lot about different religions. I loved participating in a few of their activities like the one I am going to tell you about today. This program is called Operation Christmas Child.

My family loved this one. As I was searching today for good ideas for family service projects this came up as an option, then I remembered how much we enjoyed doing this and asked my family if they wanted to do it again, they did.

So for family home evening, Monday night, we will be going shopping and filling shoe boxes with gift items for these children, who otherwise might not have a Christmas. It's a fun project and easy to do, especially for younger children, but your teenagers will love it too.

The only catch is the collection date runs from Nov 18th - Nov 25th so it has to be done like now. Here is the link to show you where the closest drop off place is and some great ideas to fill the boxes:

Operation Christmas Child

Thanksgiving Traditional Foods

Thanksgiving seems to be a holiday that everyone wants to forget and get out of the way. If it weren't for the food we would probably skip it. So in order to keep it we have to focus on the food. You have probably already planned your menu for Thanksgiving but I found some good recipes that might be worth trying.

I love Thanksgiving but at m y house we seem to eat the same old things every year.  Don't get me wrong, I do love those things but maybe a little change in the menu or taste in the recipes could make a little more excitement about the holiday.

I never really cared much for sweet potatoes but after I tried this recipe I looked forward to having this dish every year. I don't like pecans so I don't add that in my recipe.

Sweet Potato Casserole

This website had lots of new ideas to try; take a look.
Thanksgiving Recipes

I love pumpkin bread at Thanksgiving time, here is a sweet website with a good recipe to try.

Pumpkin Bread

Here are some recipes for breakfast on Thanksgiving day, some look pretty yummy.
Breakfast

Well, I hope you enjoy trying and creating some new recipes for Thanksgiving. Now, I think I'm starting to get excited about Thanksgiving!!!

Veterans Day, Show Them We Care

Many wars and battles have happened throughout the history for mankind. Many wars and battles have been fought over minor things. Many wars and battles have been fought for one of the most important gifts we can have and that is freedom.

What is freedom? Freedom is defined as: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

It's defined as POWER. We have power when we think of accomplishing goals in our life because we have been given the gift of freedom. We live in the most wonderful place in the world, the United States of America. The history of our country is so powerful when you think of its short span of time as a country. Good people have fought to give us this freedom to pursue true happiness in our lives. Our Declaration of Independence says:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

This gives everyone the opportunity to pursue these things that so many have fought and some have died so that we can have these gifts.

Monday, November 11

Veterans Day 2013

Today is Veterans Day, its not just another holiday on our calendar. It is a day to remember all those who have fought for freedom from tyrants and evil. Today is the day we should thank every current member of the military and all those who have ever served in the military, whether they fought in wars or not. A soldiers life is not an easy one. They are gone from their families a lot. They are put in dangerous situations a lot. They suffer through unmentionable things that we can never understand. 

We must support them and show them gratitude for giving their life to give us the freedom to live our lives. I am so grateful to the many who have the courage to be a part of the military and stand firm in their beliefs in God, Country, and Freedom for all mankind!!! 

Homemade Costumes

My youngest son was always so creative with costume ideas for Halloween. He almost had to because I never really had the money to buy the costumes that he would have wanted. But every year he would ask for a certain costume, knowing the answer was going to be that I could not afford it so he started getting creative.

Here a couple of his costume ideas from the past. I'm looking for the pictures, once I find them I will add them to the post. Sorry about that.

Super Mario

Mega Man

So I thought that maybe there might be a few people out there that would be interested in ideas for homemade costumes. I have provided links with a picture of one from the link. Have fun and let the creative juices flow.

Spoonful.com

 

Brit & Co

DIY

 

parenting

These are just a few of the fun ideas you can make.  If you put your mind to it you can come up with many more. 

Plan a contest with your kids and their friends to see who can come up with the most creative costume from things found around the house. You will be surprised at what they will do. I certainly was with my youngest. See, Halloween can be lots of fun!!!

It's Halloween Already?!

You know, I have never been much into Halloween. When my kids were young we would get dressed up and go trick or treating but that was about the most of it. I wasn't big in decorating or even baking treats for this holiday. However, as I was searching through Pinterest I found so many fun Halloween things that it got me a little excited about the day.

My daughter has already started Halloween fun with her boys and they are loving it. So this week I decided to get with it and find some fun Halloween things to share with you.

Crafting Chicks Halloween

Rantin' and Ravin' Halloween

Its Written on the Wall Halloween Games

Better Homes and Gardens Halloween

Pillsbury Halloween treats

It's a Small, Small World

Yesterday, I went to the temple in Orlando, Florida. I like to go once a month, usually the Saturday before Fast Sunday. I also like to go early in the morning so that I can get back home about the time my kids are getting up so I don't miss much time with them.

I went yesterday, early, and was in an endowment session and noticed a brother who looked familiar to me. I thought for a moment on who I thought he was but it wasn't until I saw the face of his beautiful wife that I knew it was friends that I have lost touch with over the years.

In the late 1980's we became friends but it was only for a short time because they moved. We lost touch and wondered from time to time how they were doing. In fact, it was just a few months ago that they crossed my mind as I came across some old photos of them. Anyway, I approached my friend, Ruth, and reintroduced myself to her. There was so much joy, and hugging and tears. I was so glad to see her again and to hear about her family. She commented that it is good to know that we are both still strong in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a great experience.

I pondered about that experience on my way home and thought that this must be what it will be like when we die and meet those family and friends on the other side of the vale. There will be so much joy and hugging and tears in being reunited with them again. I will never forget how I felt being so exciting to see them again.

Well, the story doesn't end here, today I found out that one of my favorite families has moved to another ward. I text the wife, Sarah, who I used to serve with in the Relief Society in our ward. She surprised me with the news about who her new Relief Society President was, it was my friend Ruth! It must be a small small world.

Ruth had bore her testimony today and mentioned that she ran into me at the temple yesterday and Sarah spoke to her sharing that they had a common friendship with me. I am so glad they are in the same ward together to look after one another. I hope they will be able to establish good friendships with each other like I have with them.

It truly amazes me sometime how things work out. My friend Ruth said yesterday that our meeting was not by chance that there must be some kind of purpose for running into one another again. I agreed, perhaps it has something to do with my friend Sarah, who knows. All I know is it's a small world after all.

Celebration of Life Day

Hello,

I don't celebrate birthdays any more due to the age that I would be if I did celebrate them. It's nice though, when people acknowledge this day but where did this idea of the celebration begin? I have found some interesting things that I want to share today.

Some say that celebration of birthdays began as a pagan ritual. They felt like evil spirits would visit on this special day so the gathering of family and friends would protect them from those spirits. Even blowing out candles was believed to be related to the pagan celebration.

Some said that only royalty has big celebrated birthdays that is why when you do genealogy research you can see a lot of records for royalty. Also, that is where the idea of birthday crowns came in.

It has been said that the Germans started birthday celebrations for kids in the 1700's. I also read that Christians didn't actually celebrate birthdays because they were a pagan celebration. There aren't too many records in the scriptures mentioning birthday celebrations so I'm not sure when it became a thing for everyone, but it's all pretty interesting.

http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/birthday-history.html

Celebrations are good for people. We like to celebrate holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc, face it, people like to party.  We feel good when we celebrate great occasions. We surround ourselves with those we love and that helps us feel the joy of the celebration.

As you probably guessed today is the day I was born. I use to think America celebrated my birthday because there would be a big celebration in DC, I finally figured out that it was for the Presidential Inauguration...bummer.

Oh well, a few years ago I decided to not have any more birthdays so I would lose track of how old I was getting. Unfortunately, everyone else remembered. This past Friday, my colleagues at work celebrated by serving a cake and bringing me my favorite flower, the Tulip. It was all very nice and I appreciated their kindness. I shared with them that I do not celebrate my birthday any longer. One team member said well then its your celebration of life. I liked that!

I started reflecting on that idea. I thought of the Savior and how we love to celebrate His life and all that he did for us. I also thought  that I could learn to love this celebration if  I could look at all the good that we do in this world. Our acts of service and words of kindness throughout that year can be a good reason to celebrate life. So that is what I will be celebrating from now on as I reflect in all the good that I have done and all that I can do the next year.

Celebration of life, I like it...just as long as we don't put a number with it. :)