Motivational Monday - Hope

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Going Christmas Shopping

Authored by Raymond Whitney

One of the best parts about the holiday season is getting to go shopping for people I care about. While I try to let them know how much they mean to me every day, the holiday season allows me an occasion to go out and buy them something I know they will like.

I usually go holiday shopping with my wife (except when buying gifts for her, of course). We've camped out for Black Friday before, but usually we wait for a couple of weeks after that to get our shopping done. Some of our favorite stores include Best Buy and Toys "R" Us for our sons, as well as Gap, Aeropostale and American Eagle for our daughter.

Unfortunately, the holiday season is also the time of year when many robberies and home invasions happen, due to people trying to take advantage of others and ruin their joyous time. Because of this, I make sure that I always set my security alarm () before I leave to go Christmas shopping. That way, I can focus on what's truly important, and not have to worry about the unfortunate parts of the holiday season.

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Christmas Eve is 2 Days Away

Hey there.  Are you guys ready?  Have all the gifts been bought?  Have all the cards been sent?  Are you done with all the madness that is Christmas shopping?  I'm glad to say that for the most part, the shopping is done and done.  Only a few gifts need to wrapped and it is done and done.

Aaaaahhhhh!!!  the chaos!!!!

As opposed to other years, we took a different approach to X Mas shopping and it actually worked out pretty well.  Kids always get gifts, that is a given.  They get gifts from mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and aunts and uncles.  You know who doesn't always get gifts?  The adults!  So this year it was changed up a bit with emphasis on getting the adults in the family gifts.  Don't get me wrong, the kids will still get theirs, but a gift for the couples were a good idea this time around.  It made shopping extremely easy, since you avoid those oh so popular toy heavy stores and the lines were more tolerable than those at toy stores.  I'm not saying that it is something that should be done every year, but after all the years the adults get all the kids in the family gifts, it will be nice for them to receive one that is not part of a secret Santa exchange.  Best of luck, for those procrastinators out there and to all, have a great holiday!  Later!

Sugar Cookie Christmas Trees

Guest post written by Lauren Wiles

Right now I'm planning our family's annual Christmas party where a bunch of our neighbors, friends and our kids' friends come over for a dinner and some fun. We don't exchange gifts because we never know who's really going to show up. We just ask people to bring something with them if they come. But even thought we do that and don't have to make as much food as a result, I still put a lot of time into what I'm making and how I decorate our house for it.

I was online with our Clearinternet trying to find some new recipes to fix for this year. I found all kinds fo stuff, a lot of which I could actually fix the day before, which will make that a lot easier for me. On my e-mail invites, I'm making sure to add a list of things I'm making so that people won't bring the same thing with them.

I never like to repeat centerpieces from year to year, so I was really excited when I found the idea for a sugar cookie Christmas tree. You can eat the cookies afterward and I thought that it was the cutest thing ever.

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