by Cheri Chesley
12 days. Shopping wise, anyway. Can we panic yet?
Most of my shopping is done, thankfully, which is a far cry from last year (and, to be honest, all previous years). I await one more delivery, and then I can call it good.
The thing is, there's more to Christmas than shopping. Some years ago, during one of those leaner Christmas seasons, I purchased a doll pattern. I was going to make my daughter her own doll. I don't even know how long ago I did that. I have 2 daughters now, and have never used the pattern. In my overactive imagination, I envisioned this sweet moment when the girls opened their boxes to reveal something I was able to lovingly hand craft for them. Something that will remind them of my love for them every day.
Over the weekend, I made new stockings for my twin sons. They turned out pretty awesome, and as one of them talked about how it will be cool to have these forever, I realized I had another opportunity to make the dolls for my girls. They have great stockings with fun family stories attached to them already. One was made by a beloved aunt; the other my daughter picked out for herself at 6 months old. I'm not going to cheapen those memories by making them new stockings.
When you think about it, the homemade doll is something of a pioneer tradition. That makes it special. Of course, I'm terrified I will mess up. I can't figure out the instructions for putting on the yarn hair to save my life. Wish me luck. I know I'll need it.
Good luck to all of you with your holiday plans. And have a very Merry Christmas.
Showing posts with label family history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family history. Show all posts
Monday, December 12, 2011
It's HOW Many Shopping Days till Christmas?
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Make it a Memorable Memorial Day this year!
By Trina Boice
For most Americans, Memorial Day is a chance to sleep in and get the day off of work or school. If you have children, it’s a terrific opportunity to teach them about our country, respect, honor, reverence, history, and more.
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day set aside for remembrance of those who have died in our nation’s service. Memorial Day was first proclaimed on 5 May 1868 when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers. The South, at first, refused to acknowledge Memorial Day, honoring their dead on separate days until after WWI. It is now observed in almost every state of the union on the last Monday of every May. Since the Civil War more than 1.1 million veterans, both women and men, have lost their lives in military service to America.
With four sons in my family, we’ve created a fun tradition with our Cub Scout pack where we place flags on the tombstones of fallen soldiers and then we present a special wreath at the cemetery’s ceremony on Memorial Day. The boys really get a kick out of reading the tombstones and imagining what the soldiers would have looked like. The parents go crazy with their cameras, taking incredibly patriotic photos of their own sons in uniform who are paying respect.
Memorial Day reminds us of our duties towards the wounded soldiers and the bereaved families, orphans and widows of the dead soldiers. In addition to the fun BBQ's and recreational activities next weekend, we should take a few minutes to show our gratitude to those who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. Here are a few ways you can honor their memory this year:
Placing flags, garlands or flowers on the grave sites.
Visiting cemeteries and memorials.
Furling the American Flag at half-mast until noon.
Furling the 'POW/MIA Flag'.
Keeping silence for a minute at 3 p.m., 'National Moment of Remembrance' and listening to Taps being played.
Taking a pledge to aid the disabled veterans, widows, widowers and orphans of the dead and keeping it.
Offering thanks to the veterans and appreciating the ultimate sacrifices of the soldiers to the bereaved families personally.
I live for freebies, and here are some that can help you celebrate Memorial Day:
Free Memorial Day quotes, poems, songs, tributes, reflections, presidential declarations and facts: http://www.thememorialdaytribute.com/observe-memorial-day.html
Free Memorial Day essays, speeches, and prayers: http://www.usmemorialday.org/write.html
Free Memorial Day clip art images: http://www.designedtoat.com/memorial_day.shtml
Free Memorial Day ecards:www.memorialsday.com http://www.123greetings.com/ http://www.bluemountain.com/
Free Memorial Day coloring pages: http://hubpages.com/hub/FREE-Coloring-Pages---American-Memorial-Day---Colouring-Sheets-Free-Downloads
Ok, now I can’t ignore the fact that Memorial Day also means the end of school and the beginning of summer vacation for many families in America, so here are a few more fun freebies as you get prepared for some serious fun in the sun!
Free Orlando Vacation Planning Kit: http://www.orlandoinfo.com/vacationkit/
Free Gift Bag from PacSun (5/29) - PacSun on Memorial Day Weekend 5/29: "First 50 in the door when the store opens score a gift bag stuffed with a piece of monster schwag. We're talking music, headphones, clothes, or even trips. BIG trips. How big? Check 'em out..." http://shop.pacsun.com/content.jsp?pageName=summer
Free Limeade at Taco Bell valid through 7/11/2010 or until 500,000 free Limeade Sparkler online coupons are redeemed, whichever occurs first. http://www.tacobell.com/promo/limeade-coupon
Free One-Year Subscription to ELLE Elle reports on emerging trends in fashion, beauty and style. Its visual core is surrounded by features, news and analysis of the larger world. Its articles feature information on culture, health, politics, art and relationships. http://www.freebizmag.com/emailelle02welcome.htm
Chick-fil-A Free Spicy Chicken Sandwiches 5/21 Chick-fil-A is giving a limited number of FREE Spicy Chicken Sandwiches to customers who make a reservation. To make your reservation, visit this offer beginning Friday, May 21 and choose your preferred Chick-fil-A Restaurant location and time. http://www.getspicychicken.com/
Dice: Hundreds of the Latest Technology Magazines Hundreds of the latest technology magazines offered by Dice technology magazine center in association with Mercury Magazines. Tell them about yourself, choose up to three magazines and complete subscription forms. http://www.mercurymagazines.com/pr1/111/111158
Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend next week!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Writing for generations yet unborn
By Trina Boice
Want to put your writing skills to REALLY good use? How about writing an autobiography for your grandchildren to read? What...they're not even born yet? Great! That'll give you even more time to work on it! How about writing your grandmother's autobiography or one for Uncle Alvin? While your fiction manuscript may be brilliant, your family history is priceless.
Here on our blog we don't usually endorse products, but this is a good one and it's FREE, so I thought I'd share it with you! Here's the link: http://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&tab=wm#inbox/12753f4643888d73
Roots Magic is offering a free download for their genealogy software! Here's a description of what their program can help you do (and no, I get absolutely no kickback for recommending their product):
Unlimited capacity: Enter an unlimited number of facts, notes, sources, and multimedia items to each person and family.
Flexibility: RootsMagic Essentials makes it easy to track multiple relationships such as adoptions, foster parents, and more.
Find People Quickly: Easily find and edit anyone in your file. The RootsMagic Explorer lets you type a person's name to quickly jump to the person, or find people with an easy-to-use criteria search screen.
Multimedia Support: Add photographs, sound bites, and video clips to bring your family history to life. Then have RootsMagic Essentials include your photographs in your printed reports.
Reports Galore: RootsMagic Essentials makes it easy to publish and share your family history. Create and print dozens of reports, charts, and lists.
Professional Looking Sources: Our unique SourceWizard writes and manages sources and citations for you. Built-in templates based on Evidence Explained make citing your sources as easy as "filling in the blanks".
Power Tools: RootsMagic Essentials includes tools which make it a snap to clean up your data. Potential problem lists, sophisticated merge techniques, date and soundex calculators are just the start.
Unicode Support: Don't limit yourself to a genealogy program that can't handle international character sets. RootsMagic Essentials' Unicode support means you aren't limited in the characters you can enter.
Compatibility: Import directly from Family Tree Maker, PAF, Legacy, Family Origins. Plus RootsMagic Essentials has full GEDCOM 5.5 support for both import and export.
FamilySearch Certified: RootsMagic Essentials bridges the gap between your personal family history data and the New FamilySearch internet site. RootsMagic is also the first software certified to reserve and request LDS temple ordinances. You can find, reserve, and track needed ordinances from the comfort of your own home.
Enjoy!
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