I hope you ALL have a wonderful, safe, healthy, happy, (and of course) Cozy 2015! 

I just heard the first fire crackers going off in our neighborhood, which is our sign that the New Year’s Eve countdown has begun.

Happy New Year to ALL! 

I hope ALL of you are having a safe, happy, and Merry Christmas. We are spending Christmas right here at home with both of our children. It will be a quiet day for us.

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!“

Oh, the weather outside is frightful…

Well, maybe not! We have finally hit 50° here in San Antonio, so at least we need to wear jackets! Not quite frightful, but at least getting closer to what it should be at this time of year.

As Christmas nears, I have been thinking back to when I was young and my family would go to my grandmother’s house in Northwood, Iowa. Christmas at my grandmother’s house was everything a Christmas should be. The snow falling gently to the ground (I didn’t have to shovel!), the cookie tins full of her delicious treats that magically appeared every year, getting to sleep in the same room as my older sister, visiting the town’s library with my grandmother; those are the types of memories I cherish.

This is a nostalgic time of year for all of us. It’s a time when a lot of us reflect on the people who have been sprinkled throughout our lives, some of them no longer with us, but all of them still in our hearts. I try hard not to miss those people who were so dear to me, and instead, I try to focus on the memories I still have of them, and enjoy the memories I’m making today.

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL of you! And, by “ALL” I mean everyone – both in and out of the United States. 

When our son and daughter were both young, every evening we would go over the best things that happened during the day. The best things didn’t have to be big events. As a matter of fact, I am sort of remembering back to our best lists, and a lot of the time they included things like “Someone said they thought my shirt was nice.” or “I  wasn’t picked last for dodge ball.” All four of us participated in these best things, not just the children.

So, I guess what I am saying is this: it should be easy to find little things to be thankful for – and enough good little things can add up to something big. 

So, again, I wish you ALL a Happy Thanksgiving!