TAKING A LITTLE HOLIDAY BREAK

taking a little time off to enjoy the Christmas break with family

IT'S CHRISTMAS AND TIME FOR A LITTLE BREAK

I hope everyone is having a wonderful time with family and friends over the Christmas Holiday Break.

I'm enjoying my family (and my precious grandbaby) so I'm taking this week off and will return in the New Year.

My first week back is all about choosing a word for 2017. Have you given it any thought?

I hope your Christmas was merry and bright and I wish you a fantabulous 2017!


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THE REASON FOR CHRISTMAS

In between the tinsel, sparkle, food and family - lets remember the reason for Christmas - Jesus birth

We get so caught up in the tinsel and sparkle of Christmas, or we hear so much about the consumerism of Christmas, or we get sidetracked by the Santas in every store, or we think it's all about food and family - but what about the real meaning of Christma? The birth of a Saviour, sent to us by God because He loves us?

ANTICIPATION VS REALITY

looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them

ANTICIPATION

"Anticipation is often better than the gift itself" is a saying in our household (maybe because we never have a lot of money so our gifts are never overwhelming). It seems to be a constant in my life that I get more pleasure out of anticipating a gift or an event than I do out of the actual event itself.

250,000!!! - THAT'S A QUARTER OF A MILLION!

who'd have thought you could reach quarter of a million page views? certainly not me! so thank you all so much!

MY HAPPY DANCE

I'm doing a happy dance at the moment because I have 250,000! No, that's not how much I won on Saturday Night Lotto or last week's Power Ball - That will never happen because I don't even buy those kind of tickets anymore - because I never win! 

MY 5 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

this is what my five days of Christmas will look like this year - bliss!

With Christmas rapidly approaching, and my empty nest about to be filled to bursting point, here are my Five Days Of Christmas - who could possibly ask for more?


ON OUR FIVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS MY EMPTY NEST WILL GIVE TO ME:


LIFE DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT

Annette Funicello — 'Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.'

REALITY

I read an interesting blog post by Kathy Gottberg the other day that was titled "the truth behind 'you create your own reality'" and it made me stop and think about my First World perceptions of life. In her final paragraph she says:

"What if creating our reality is less about making ourselves feel safe, protected and in control and more about trusting that we can be happy and at peace with the uncertainty of life no matter what occurs? Maybe it’s less to do with making sure everything works perfectly in our favor, to instead seeing everything as it unfolds as already perfect."

RE-DEFINING CHRISTMAS IN MIDLIFE

When your ideas about Christmas get turned on their head - it's time to re-define Christmas in Midlife. #midlife #Christmas

CHRISTMAS IN THE EARLY DAYS

Christmas has always been one of those occasions that I looked forward to for weeks/months beforehand and planned, organized, and micro-managed. I used to have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, the Christmas Carols pumping, the tree colour co-ordinated and the day ruthlessly scheduled. I think there was a little bit of 1950's housewife that poked her nose out whenever Christmas got mentioned.

5 BLOG COMMENT REQUESTS

5 requests for blog commenters and some commenting etiquette

MY LOVE FOR COMMENTS

I absolutely love getting comments on my blog. When I first started blogging I turned the comments off but I was missing out on so much. Once I took the plunge and opened up to the two way conversation I found I loved the connections with other people. I love the engagement, I love the affirmation, I love that people take the time to "talk" to me and share their response. But there are things I don't like about blog comments too - the snarky comment, the holier than thou comment, the token gesture comment, and the Wham, Bam, thank you Maam comment.

WHY ALL THE HATE?

Why all the hate? Can't we choose kindness and not be so quick to criticize?
Really??? I mean Really???

SWEEPING STATEMENTS

A while ago a friend of mine sent me a link to the "Your Tattoos make you a Horrible Mother" facebook page. Really??? I mean Really??? It had over 17,000 likes - I'm not even sure how this kind of hating on people gets to be so popular. Apparently it was taken down not long afterwards, but another page has emerged to take its place.

CLEARING MY HEAD FROM THE CLUTTER

 when social media has become a monster - regaining control before it consumes me

OVERWHELMED

I've been feeling a bit out of sorts lately. I thought it was because Christmas was looming with all its inherent potholes that I can so easily fall into. But I realized it wasn't Christmas that was stressing me, it was being caused by the bombardment of social media. Blogging is a wonderful pastime, but it also clogs up my social media, fills my personal Facebook newsfeed with posts from people I have no idea about, and things I have no interest in - not to mention my email inbox was getting out of control. How did this happen??

5 SINGAPORE ADVENTURES

 Five fun things to do in Singapore

This week has been Singapore Week, so to finish it off here are five interesting things to do if you ever visit this amazing place. Some were active and some were scenic and some were all about the shopping - because you can't go to Singapore and not shop!