Saturday, November 29, 2008

Deck Them Halls, Ya'll!

The Thanksgiving break so far has been great! But before I get into details about that, I want to remind everyone of something I'm sure your mom said to you at some point in your life - "It's better to give than it is to receive.". And since the holiday's are upon us, I want to share with you some ways you can give if you are so inclined.

1) We have some good friends who have a 19 year-old son who was recently diagnosed with cancer. I can't remember the exact type, but it's a rare one. They have a caringbridge site, so if you are so inclined to go over and leave a nice message, I'm sure they would appreciate it. We've known the family (three generations worth) for a long time and they are wonderful people. www.caringbridge.org/visit/corymonzingo

2) And if you like helping out those with cancer, head on over to this site and enter a chance to win something for yourself while helping two families with kids going through transplants. Marey has a daughter who has fought cancer and is doing well, but not all families have the same outcome. Having a transplant is a huge deal physically as well as financially. Every year Marey helps out families who need it by hosting fundraisers, so if you want to help, head on over.
3) Another way to help kid's that have cancer is to head over to Host An Elf . While there, you can buy one of "Catie's Elves" for yourself or donate it so that a child with cancer will receive it this Christmas. Or, if you want to help out the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), then when you buy a regular elf, as you are checking out, you can click on the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the LLS.


Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'll just say that the Thanksgiving break so far has been great! I've been able to "sleep in" three days in a row and still get in a morning workout. Today I even got in a 7 mile run outside which felt great!!!
The best thing is that, following holiday tradition, we've gotten the Christmas decorations up both outside and inside, we've spent some time with family and good friends, we've watched some football, and we've even done a little Christmas shopping. It doesn't get any better than that.
I'll leave you with a few pictures of our holiday decorating. And for those of you who are curious, we put up three trees. One in the living room with all the traditional ornaments and the ones that have meaning (like ones we buy from our vacation spots, etc); a Disney themed tree in the office where it can be seen from the road; and a small, puny tree (that was the first tree my husband and I ever had) in the dining room which can also be seen from the road. Enjoy!!!


















Being Silly!




putting the ornaments on
the finished tree in the living room
a handmade ornament
they were so cute when they were little :)
the stockings
Santa's plates (these were bought last year from Marey when she did the fundraiser)
the finished Disney tree
our puny little tree (I can't find the tree skirt, so I'll probably have to get a new one)

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my! Three trees. I have such a small place I wasn't going to put one up, but I found 7 1/2 ft artificial one that was only 3 ft around at Target so I got it. It has 500 lights on it so I just put the ornaments I have that are memorable (which is another word for hand made by kids) and gifts over the years. It's not bad afterall.

Thank you for mentioning Marey's fundraiser. She is so generous every year.

I will visit your friends son's CB site. They will certainly be in my prayers. The whole cancer thing with kids takes a toll on the family like nothing else can.

Missy said...

Holy cow, that's some trees you got going on! Wow. I'm sure they look beautiful. I need to get busy.

Missy said...

Oh Boxer Rescue!!! Boxers are the greatest but I'm biased.

Trigirlorlando said...

Thanks for checking out my blog!! LOVE YOUR TREE!! :) Have a wonderful holiday :)

Busy Bee Suz said...

All the trees are so pretty, and the kids just so cute. Sounds like you have got a lot of stuff accomplished...I better get moving!! All our stuff is in the "big" attic and I need hubby here to help get it out, or I could really hurt myself!!
Thanks for your comments, you are to funny. All my blog friends really do think like me.
Let us know how it goes w/ the boxer rescue. We sure do love our 2babies. I have started brushing our new boys teeth, because his breath was just deadly. So funny. He likes it and even our girl Cocoa sits and waits for me to get done w/ him so I can brush hers too. Can you imagine? Your hand in a 60lb dogs mouth and they never flinch. They are the best. I will video it soon for my blog.
take care,
suz

Busy Bee Suz said...

I almost forgot, I already visited most of the sites you were mentioning...good stuff. I will put your friends Son in my daily prayers...I wish the best for him.
Suz