Merry Christmas to All: Remembering to Give Thanks

I just wanted to share some thoughts today on giving thanks for all the blessings that have come my way.  You can't package these things and tie them up with a bow and set them under the tree to be opened.  No - these are the wonderful heartfelt things that I sometimes forget and I take for granted. 

I am so blessed to be with my loving husband, Richard and his four children (my beautiful step children - Ryan, Dennis, Timmy and Megan -  who are more like my own now after over 10 years of marriage).  I am so happy that I found Richard (and I found him thanks to the Internet!) because my life was a bit too lonely and unstable beforehand.  I was happy - but I didn't know exactly how happy and fulfilled I could be until I met and married him.  He gave me the freedom to express myself as I never did before (with art, music and design) and he let my creativity run wild in his home that I moved into.  It never looked the same again - it is now unrecognizable to anyone who knew the house beforehand. Thank you for giving up your home as my laboratory.

Richard and I visiting my daughter in San Francisco

I give thanks to our growing family - we have two grandchildren and two more on the way.  I am so very happy that my little baby (my youngest daughter, Jessica) will be giving birth to a baby girl in April.  I can't wait to see this little bundle of joy - I know that she will be beautiful, like her Mommy. And Richard's son's wife, Kristen, will be giving birth to their second child in July.

My daughter, Jessica, and I in Sonoma...visiting some wineries

I am so thankful and proud of my oldest daughter, Krista, for raising my granddaughter, Meghan. She is such a talented and accomplished young woman. It was not an easy task - raising a child on your own.  My daughter Krista overcame so much adversity - I don't know how she did it.  Meghan is now on a 4 year scholarship to Stony Brook University.  I was looking at her chemistry homework the other night - my eyes glazed over this in compete ignorance - yet she understood it.  She's going into the pre-med program.  So proud and so thankful. She already has ideas that she wants to implement someday to cure cancer.  The world is a better place...and will be more so, because Meghan is in the world.

The cutest little girl...Meghan at around 3 1/2

My daughter, Krista...and Meghan

My daughter and Meghan at her HS graduation

These are gifts that I get to have and hold everyday.  "You can't get any better than that!" to quote an oft-repeated phrase of my mother-in-law, Jean - another gift that I am thankful for.  A wonderful mother-in-law!

Thank you to my entire family for being yourselves and giving me joy every day.

I also want to give thanks to all my blogging friends that I have met over the years.  Thank you for commenting and always encouraging me.  I would have never met any of you...had it not been for the Internet.  Amazing in itself.

I hope that we all have a beautiful Christmas and a joyous New Year.  Remember to think about the gifts that you get every day - the ones that don't cost anything.

Linda

This was My Weekend in Snowy Westchester!

While most of Long Island just got some wet snow, Westchester County - where we were all weekend minding our grandson Sean - got 7 inches of wet, heavy snow.  Trees and branches were falling all around.  You'd hear these huge cracks and then "thud" and you knew that something landed on the ground (and hopefully not on the roof or on a car).

My husband Richard and I drove back to Long Island on Sunday morning and we were very happy not to see this kind of snowfall on our driveway.  The snowy weather was fun for a weekend when we had no place to go.  Glad to leave it though. Not looking forward to a storm like this - but we all know it will happen in the next few months.

I hope all my friends and relatives in CT, NJ and PA fared well during the storm.