Good morning Everyone and welcome. First of all I want to thank all of you who visited last week for author Samantha Jacobey‘s blog blast. This week I’d like to reflect upon this year’s holiday season.
I just love this time of the year. We had an awesome Thanksgiving Day party and am feeling tons of gratitude. This year we stayed home for Christmas and had a few friends visit. We decorated the house with our tree. I usually put up the tree the day before Thanksgiving and throughout the season, I listen to Christmas music on the radio.
This summer we had to say good bye to one of our fur baby – Gila. I adopted Gila and her sister Pima, back in Jan 2004 when they were 7 months old. Both of them are polydactyl and have the cute hues of orange. Gila had a pale color and a triangular face. She would do all sorts of things such as give love bites on the nose. She will always carry a special place within our hearts.
For me, this time of year is really special. I feel different and am able to really embrace the concept of thanksgiving. I’m more in the giving mode. At my church each year they have a charity event where you pick cards off of the Christmas tree. It is for a child in need and I feel really good about buying them presents. This year we picked a young boy’s card. We plan to give to another child next year.
Another thing I did this year was buy blankets to distribute to the homeless. It gets really cold at night and I can’t imagine being outside without protection. It feels good knowing that several people are going to be warm.
This Christmas we went down to San Diego to visit the family. We had our party at a home that my brother-in-law was house-sitting. It was so nice to see everyone. A few members were not able to attend, but hopefully soon I’ll catch up with them.
I love buying the family presents because they are so fun to shop for. This year we gave them pretty blankets, t-shirts, and gift cards, which they all loved. We showed up with bags full of wrapped gifts for everyone. I played Santa and distributed all of them. It was fun watching everyone unwrap their gifts. Like usual, I wore my Santa hat and Christmas boots.
The house had a hot-tub, so I of course, took a dip. Where else but in SoCal can you sit in a hot tub outside in late December. I want to thank the owners of the house for allowing us to use their house for our party. This meant a lot to me.
What I like about our family is that everyone respects each other and we always have happy gatherings. I am so grateful for that because I’ve heard horror stories about not so pleasant family gatherings. Since our family lives in different places in SoCal, we only get to see each other a few times a year. Thanks to social media I get to catch up with my niece who is always posting pictures.
Last Christmas, we went to Michigan to visit my family. I remember all the good times as a child going over to my aunt’s house and how warm it felt there. I wished I could see them more often, but we live over 3,000 miles away. It was a lot of fun and I got to see two of my cousins whom I haven’t seen since they were kids. I feel like I made two new friends that day. We have talked about another visit in 2018.
We are planning on ringing in the New Year at home. At 9:00 p.m. we will call my mom in Michigan and wish her a Happy New Year. I am setting personal goals to help me grow spiritually in 2018. I am focusing on gratitude.
How about you?
Stay tuned for next week when I will be reviewing a book from Author Amy Dunne.
Until next time,
Lynn
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Lynn Lawler's Creative Artists' Blog 