December 15th ~ Elf Day

This is the sign that greeted us as we arrived to pick out our Christmas tree this past Sunday.  We had to wait until Kelsey was back in the fold so all of us could go out together and bring home the chosen one. The Christmas tree blog too will have to wait, for it sits in it's stand with the lights and ribbon on but no other adornments. Midterms are this week and again by orders of the kids, no ornaments can be hung unless they are all involved. So on that note...we shifted gears and had Elf Day today. 

No, we are not doing what you are thinking. Since Cameron is 12, he is past the point of falling hook, line and sinker for Elf on the Shelf. I do believe from what I have seen on Facebook that Mr. Elf is going strong, and some parts of me wish that my crew were young enough to follow his every move...other parts are very thankful that I do not have to remember to change his position every night and think up creative spots in which he would appear. Trust me, after being the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa for the last 22 years, poor Cameron (the youngest)  heard some bizarre excuses for waking up in the am to find that the tooth fairy had forgotten about his newly lost tooth...yet again. Add it up, five kids times approximately 20 teeth lost a piece equals one hundred nights of remembering, finding the dollar, spraying it with hairspray so the "fairy dust" would stick and then sneaking into the room to find the itty bitty tooth in the dark, under their pillow without waking them. Another one of those thankless jobs we as parents do, for we give all the credit to someone else! When they are old enough to realize that they have been mislead, they are usually too cool for school and would never think of thanking you for those many dollars nor the lost sleep. It will all come back to them when they have kids.  Did you know that the tooth fairy flies by the seat of her pants? That she cannot fly on windy nights, nor nights with snow, rain or the lack of moonlight?  She is scared of cats, dogs and mice. She also frequently runs out of fairy dust and she cannot possibly fly without it. If you need excuses as to why she did not come at your house...call me. 

Being a stationery lover and and a lover of writing notes, I WOULD fall for this beautiful little book of letters that I found and ordered for the Barn Sale. 

It will take you through three years

of your child communicating with his/her own family elf...aka...you. There are some wonderful activities in the book and I love all of Sugar Boo Designs stationery products. 

Love this large notebook pad of paper with beautiful thoughts printed on the bottom. We also have 100 Thoughts for my Child pads as well. 

I am a sucker for handwritten calendars, lists, notebooks and journals and especially ones with a vintage feel! Sorry to have digressed...where was I? Oh yes, Elf Day. Since I just announced that we do not do Elf on a Shelf or write notes back and forth to our family elf, what activity do we do that brings elves into our house that is appropriate for the age of our kids?

We pick names out of a hat and you are an elf for the person that you pick. You secretly do nice things for that person and try to not let them know who is their elf. The kids have thought up all sorts of things, from making the bed to leaving candy on that same bed to doing the chore of their selected person. It is a simple activity but adds a little Christmas joy to each day.

In joyful merriment~

Meg

Designing 4 Hope

 When a child is struck with a major illness it rocks the world of the entire family. Where normalcy once reigned, fear and uncertainty set in. At our past Spring Barn Sale, a shopper told me about an organization that he has worked with called Designing 4 Hope. As the name suggests, this organization redesigns the child's bedroom creating a place for them to" rest, recover, heal and dream." They create an environment designed around the child that helps them to forget about needles, hospitals and their treatments. Once they accomplish this, they take on the rooms of the siblings, who are often lost in the shuffle of the care that is required for their brother or sister.

When I heard about this organization, it really struck a chord. For as many of you know who follow this little blog, our son Shane has been dealing with an obscure syndrome that took him from being a healthy athletic teenager who competed on his school's football and wrestling teams his Freshman year to a teenager who could no longer compete athletically let alone stay up for more that a few hours at a time. When he was diagnosed with POTs (Postural orthostatic tachycardia) it was a relief to hear a name to what was causing his health problems. Now that we had a name and knew what we were dealing with, we could tackle it. Three years later, he is still dealing with it and even though we hear that there is an end...it is not in sight and it might be a couple more years until he can regain any sense of normalcy.

After the sale was over, I had time to look up Designing 4 hope and I felt an immediate connection to what they do. Shane's illness does not make him critically ill, it has not required numerous surgeries with prolonged hospital stays. It is a life altering illness and one that causes Shane to be on numerous medications and to spend inordinate amounts of time in his bedroom, either sleeping or just laying down because he feels a heck of lot better when he is in the "postural" position due to the poor circulation issues. I immediately thought of the kids whose lives were being altered and who were coming home from a long hospital stay and were confined to their beds for days and sometimes weeks on end. How great would it be to make a place that was beautiful for them to rest, relax and heal in? A place that if they were confined there, was a place of optimism, light and beauty. Often times a critically ill child causes hardships in the financial arena as well as all the other areas that it affects and there are no funds to put towards creating that space. This is where Designing 4 Hope comes in. 

I reached out to Lori McHale who started Designing 4 Hope and after meeting with her and her husband, how could one not be inspired by what they do there? We are looking forward to partnering with them for our Summer Sale to try and raise both awareness and funds to continue their mission of Hope. Stay tuned to the details but we will be having a kick off party to benefit Designing 4 Hope on June 13th. Put it on your calendar so you can join us in making their mission fruitful!

Thanks for listening!

Meg

One Good Egg

This past weekend I helped style a Fundraiser at my oldest son's former school. The school is for children who learn differently and they do an incredible job with helping each child to reach his or her potential. Just like no two eggs are exactly alike, they recognize the beauty of each of these individual children and they do it with dedication, love and talent. When Christopher attended the school, I always helped out where I could with their benefits, auctions and fundraisers to help them help the kids and I was honored when this year they asked me to help style the event which was entitled Snowflakes and Bubbles. What a great theme for this time of year! I could picture lots of snowflakes, white and silver, lots of glitter, candle light and of course champagne...thus the bubbles. 

My first purchase from the New York Home and Gift Show were these beautiful hand painted blown out eggs. They were so sparkly on the Christmas trees and I had many left so I decided to use them as the favor for the benefit. I printed up a little tag that read, "Nurture a new life of Hope and Promise in every student." I then punched a hole in the tag and attached it to the silky ribbon from the egg. I added a touch of glitter and then stacked them in a crystal bowl for the guests to take as a remembrance of the positive impact they were making on each and every one of the students by attending this event.

Thank you to those of you who make a difference each and every day in the life of a child!