Pocketful of Memory Cards

Early in December I followed the instructions on Day 8 of the Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar and made a Wishing Tree in a corner of my front yard.  It might surprise you, but I gave it some serious thought before I did it.  In the past, doing things that are outside the mainstream have brought me mocking comments or eye rolling from some of the people I know.  Then there was the fact that in the past our car had been vandalized with an obscenity, requiring  a new paint job.  Some of the moonlights in the front yard had been stolen or broken, and there are a few fences and stop signs in the neighbourhood with graffiti on them.  I was concerned that I'd be constantly replacing stolen pens and markers and that some people would write rude comments on the wish tags, or use the markers for more graffiti.  I decided to ignore the imagined mockers, and since I had committed to the Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar, I was committed to following throug...

Last Saturday, when I read the instructions on Day 8 of the Act of Kindness Advent Calendar , I knew it was something I had to do. It put me in mind of the Faerie Tree on the Mission Greenway and as luck would have it, I live in the perfect location for a Wishing Tree . Our house sits on a corner lot and there's a bus stop practically in the front yard.  We get a lot of pedestrian traffic with young people on their way to the nearby high school, lots of dog walkers and stroller pushers, and I was quite excited to see what the wishing tree would reveal. It's been a thrill to go out each morning and see the numbers of new wishes grow exponentially each day. It's shown me that I'm surrounded by some very kind, caring people, and some of them could really use a hug.  I'd like to thank them for sharing their thoughts with me and the rest of their neighbours.  I'd also like to encourage you, dear reader,  to do this yourself.  As yo...

Though I've been too sick to haul out the Christmas decorations yet, I couldn't go without putting up the beautiful Advent Santa my sister-in-law made for me.   I really treasure it and it's always the first thing to go up each year. There are so many different kinds of advent calendars out there.  I came across one a few days ago - probably on Pinterest - that piqued my interest.  I thought I'd share it with you incase you wanted to use it yourself.  It's an Advent Calendar with a twist, a daily Random Act of Kindness.  Check it out  here .   I subscribed in order to receive a daily reminder in my Yahoo mailbox.  The calendar is filled with creative, simple suggestions that anyone can do and it's a great way to keep the true meaning of Christmas alive as we go about preparing for this joyful holiday.

For me, today is the second best day of the Christmas season.  We have a family birthday on the 30th of November so in respect to the birthday celebrations so close to the festive season we hold off decorating, playing Christmas music or doing anything Christmasy until the first of December.  I actually got in trouble for buying the Christmas Issue of Canadian Living on the 29th, though the person who caught me happened to be wearing Christmas socks at the time. The first order of business this morning was to take down the Aztec Calendar (turns out it's only good for one more year anyway), and replace it with the beautiful Advent Santa my talented sister-in-law made for me many years ago.  It's hard to get a photo that will do it justice since you have to stand far away to get it all in the shot.  As strange as it seems, when the kids were young, it was a treat to hear them argue over whose turn it was to put the next little red wooden heart on the nail. ...