Tag: #makelifefun

The Good Stuff

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I am looking at my drafts folder each day.

As writer’s we start writing and lose our train of thought. When I saw this one in drafts, I knew what I was going to write. This picture, and title was all there was, but that was enough.

My daughter and I bought this Snowman hat last Christmas. It started out to be funny, because the store we were shopping in was freezing!!! My head was bald from Chemo, so when she saw this hat, she said, “That would keep your head warm!”

I put it on in the store, and passerby’s look highly amused when they saw me wearing it. I plunked down $5.00 at the cash register, and wore it home. We got more than $5.00 worth of enjoyment out of it.

It wound up being a part of our Christmas card photo, and my daughter would leave it laying in obvious places with a note. The picture above is when she left it on my laptop.

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The little things in life, add up to the big things!

There’s a coffee shop I stop at called Mojo.

A group of young people work there, and I am nice to them all. Some will come over to the window, and visit with me while my drink is being made.

I love on them, and am genuinely interested in their day. The last time I stopped there, the girl handed me my drink, and I sat it down in my cup holder, smiled and drove away.

It wasn’t until after I stopped my truck, and looked at the cup, that I saw what she did. She had drawn a heart on it before she handed it to me.

 

It’s easy today to lose touch with the good stuff.

 

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One Step Further

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My daughter was having an emotional day yesterday, so I decided to give her one of her Christmas presents early. It’s a full length, body pillow, encased in faux fur.

She squealed with delight, and hugged it all day. She gives everything dear to her a name, so lastnight I asked her, “What did you name it?” She said, “I might call it Donny.” I said, “Oh! Like Donny Osmond?” She gave me a puzzled look, and said, “Who?!?” She knows who he is now.

Having her late in life, there is always a gap to be filled in. Thanks to those gaps, she appreciates the Beatles, and John Lennon. She went one step further, and found a vinyl by Julian Lennon. I wasn’t aware Julian had recorded an album, so we get to learn from each other.

Living life together, we do things for one another everyday. It’s not something we think about, it just naturally happens. If I’m washing my clothes, and have room for some of hers, I go get them and wash them too. If she has been driving us around in her car all week, I ask her on the way home to stop for gas. I pay for her gas, so she doesn’t have that worry. We just go one step further, and my hope is, every relationship we have is like that.

There is nothing I wouldn’t do for my daughter, and this year proved that. For years, she has wanted to make a Christmas card, with a photo of our life together. My daughter is creative, and she can get some wild ideas. Like lining up all of our animals to be in the picture, like literally herding cats! This year, I was able to finally make her wish come true.

She wanted our shirts to match, but still wanted it to look Christmasy. We opted for an indoor photo, and included our dog, Mochee. She sat up her camera, and we tried to pose before it started automatically taking pictures. It got to be pretty ridiculous fast, and after trying for a while, we both gave up.

It was a fun experience, but she didn’t expect anything further. She was content that we tried. She even velcroed a necktie on our dog.

When she went to visit her Dad over the weekend, I found a picture from the shoot, and took it by Walgreens. I had written a Blog about our new tradition with the snowman hat entitled, Make Life Fun. During the photo shoot, I had put on the hat to lighten the mood.

You may have already guessed, it was the best picture of all of them. Would it have been my choice of photos? No, but it was the one photo we were both smiling, and the dog was being still. She was filled with glee when she returned home, and discovered a stack of Christmas cards waiting for her to send out.

She sent one to all her friends she had addresses for. This small act brought her so much joy, and now it’s a new Christmas tradition.

Her wish for the past three years had become a reality.

It didn’t take a lot of money to make her wish come true. It just took some time, and I will happily spend my time on the ones I love. Give your time to the ones you hold dear. They will cherish the memories, and you will have a full heart. The time you give is more valuable than all the money in the world.

Go one step further.

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Make Life Fun

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I was pressing coffee this morning, thinking of how fun life is. Waking up each morning, and viewing the day as a blank canvas. I get to do whatever I want, within reason of course.

My daughter has started a new tradition. She likes the concept behind that little ‘Elf On A Shelf‘, but he doesn’t excite me. We went shopping earlier this week for tree lights, and she spotted this crazy snowman hat. It is getting colder in Texas, and my hair is growing, but it’s still quite short. Knowing my head was probably chilled, she placed it on my head.

She looked at me and burst out laughing! It felt like everyone stopped and looked at what was so funny. We both started laughing so hard we could barely breathe. The hat felt soft, and warm to my head, so I continued wearing it as we finished our shopping.

It was $5.00, so I paid for it, and enjoyed watching my daughter laugh all the way out of the store.

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She has started placing it in different locations before she goes to bed. One morning I strolled to the coffee maker, and he was sitting on top of it. This morning, he was sitting on top of my bag. Now, it’s my turn to move him for her to find him. You can make life fun.

There is a lot of pressure we put on ourselves this time of year. Buying presents for people we normally see only a few times a year can be stressful. Throughout my life, I have given things away, so maybe this idea will work for you too. God wants us to give our very best, and that doesn’t mean expensive. It means to give away something that brings you joy.

When shopping for holiday gifts, or browsing online, I usually see things that I want. Now come on…You know this happens to you too. I have to restrain myself from coming home with things for me! So, when I see these things that bring me joy, I think to myself, “Who can I give it to?” If it brings you joy, the person you give it to can see it’s from your heart.

The holiday season is not about gift giving at all. It’s when our Savior was born, and a time for celebrating that with the ones we love. The world creates chaos with Black Friday sales, and gets us all in a frenzy about buying big gifts on sale. Life should be fun! Giving should bring joy to the giver and receiver. Give from your heart!

Something was brought to my attention after posting my last Blog entitled, Make It Pretty.

I talked about this massive tree my daughter picked out at Elgin Christmas Tree Farm. What I failed to do was post a picture of it, so here it is. For the past three years, my daughter has had a vision of how each tree should be decorated. They are never the same. We use the same ornaments, but the lights are different, and this year was her first year to do garland.

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If your life is not fun, it’s time to stop long enough to enjoy what is happening right in front of you. Thanks to my daughter, and her idea of fun, we get to enjoy this guys presence all day. She even gave the tree a name. We love The Gilmore Girls, so she named it Paul Anka, after Lorelei’s dog. She has made this tree part of our family, at least for a little while.

Before leaving the house yesterday to go into town, we left the tree lights on, along with the porch light. When we got home after dark, Paul Anka was beaming so brightly, you could see him from the street. Walking up to the front door, she peered through the window and grinned. He was shining light all over the den, and in both our hearts.

Make life fun.