Tag Archives: gratitude

oh; to define thanksgiving

November is one of my very favorite months of the entire year.  Halloween, with all of the adorable little ghosts and goblins, is behind us.  The craziness of the December holiday rush looms ahead. But November wraps us up in a warm, cozy blanket of giving thanks… of remembering what is important to us in our lives.  A time to reflect and count our many, many blessings.  I know that being in the retail world forces me to “jump the gun” on the Christmas season… and there is not much I can do about that.  I do, however, have control over the way that I look at, and approach, the ENTIRE holiday season.  You see, I have a little different perspective on everything.  I actually see Thanksgiving and Christmas as being two parts of one beautiful season.

For me, the entire season is about family, friends, peace, love and gratitude.  I know that a lot of people like to get a jump start on their Christmas decorations in November – but I still love to “decorate” my home for Thanksgiving – even though we don’t actually celebrate Thanksgiving Day here.   Again – it’s not a “day” in November and then another “day” in December… it’s an entire beautiful season. There has been so very much going on lately – globally, and in my very own little world.  Sometimes it reminds us to stop dead in our tracks and reflect on life… and what REALLY matters.  I pray for “peace on earth” as we begin this most blessed “holiday season”… 

(the above is an excerpt from my November newsletter… )

A couple of fun links for you to check out, as well as a few pics from “home”…

Tracy Porter napkin ring ideas

Thanksgiving tabletop ideas and inspiration

trash day

Today is Tuesday, and Tuesday is “trash day” at our house.  In our home, this is a day of scheduled acts of kindness… vs. “random”.  I have a story to share, but I have to admit that I was torn about whether to “put it out there”… or not.  I am a HUGE believer in “Acts of Kindness” that come from the heart in a spirit of love and generosity.  Not attention or recognition.  When I came across this quote (below), I knew that sharing my story was the way to go.  I realized that in the sharing of these “good deeds” – we are really sharing the “spirit” of these deeds, therefore making them contagious.

“A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.”

~Amelia Earhart

It all started about 20 years ago.  My twins were very young and absolutely fascinated with watching the trashmen in their big trucks. They would wait for trash day every single week, and then they would pull up their “Little Tikes” chairs to their second story bedroom window and wait… and wait… and wait… for the trashmen to arrive.  I cannot honestly tell you how the conversation originally began, but suffice it to say that we decided that the trashmen were probably quite thirsty in the middle of their long, hard day.  So we started taking cold sodas out to them when they would arrive.  Every week.  The problem would arise, however, if we were not there at the moment that they arrived.  So we started a new plan.  We bought a little cooler that was big enough to hold a few sodas and an ice pack.  If we were not going to be there, they knew that the cooler was for them.  This soon stretched into winter, and we knew how cold the trashmen must be on their long winter days.  So we started making hot chocolate and got a big thermos that we could fill in the morning.  The kids would make little “goodie bags” for them at Christmas time with snacks, McDonald’s gift certificates and homemade cookies.  This whole idea blossomed into taking sodas on a hot summer day to anyone who looked thirsty… even if it was roofers working on a house three doors down!  They had internalized this spirit of kindness and were thinking kind thoughts – independent of their mom – with their own little hearts.  Wow.

Fast forward twenty years.  Our kids are away at college, and their hearts will always be kind.  Tuesday is still trash day… a scheduled act of kindness day that has been so richly rewarded through the years in hugs and smiles and gratitude.  WE are blessed.  Pass it on…

live happy… laugh, love, dream, create