Picked with Love

First dandelion bouquet of the season - handpicked with love from my little 6-year-old.  Is there anything sweeter?

Earth Day

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, 

we borrow it from our children." 

- Native American quote

Holiday Decorating

I may have mentioned this before, but when I was growing up, no one in my house put much effort into decorating for the holidays. For Christmas, we had a macramé Santa face that my dad had made hanging on the front door, a Christmas needlepoint on the wall (again, made by Dad!), a wreath over the fireplace and a tree in the family room -- that was it for the holiday decor... With the birth of my first child, came the birth of a holiday-decorating fiend!! I started out small at first and I have been growing and growing ever since! I absolutely love decorating for the holidays – ALL of them! I have tubs in the basement with Easter, St. Pat’s, 4^th of July (which I actually leave up from Memorial Day in May until Sept 11^th), Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations. After Christmas I take down my Santa-related Christmas decorations and my nativity scene (and the trees - we put up two) and I switch over to snowmen for the rest of January. I have a few things for Valentine’s Day, but I really need to put a little more effort into that holiday! Since having my daughters, I really enjoy making a cozy home for my family and I love to make each holiday special with decorations. I was never sure if anyone appreciated the effort (although I don’t mind – I would do it now, regardless!) until my 12-year-old told me several times that she loved how I had decorated the house for Easter. 

And my 6-year-old has obviously developed an appreciation too!  The week before Easter, I was tucking her into bed and she told me that she felt bad because she didn’t have a lot of things to decorate her room for Easter. I looked around as she said, “I only have my bunny books, my bunny rabbits, and my Easter bonnet!” And sure enough, she had pulled out any books that had bunnies on them, she had pulled out all of her stuffed rabbits, and she had put a big hat on her big, stuffed Tigger! She had placed the books and the bunnies around the room – carefully decorating for Easter! I was so tickled – she obviously got that from Mommy! Children are such little sponges – they absorb everything around them! Holiday decorating may not seem like the most important thing to do with how busy we all get, but I think it’s so important to do what you can to make your house a home for your family – to show them that they are worth the effort, and to give your children positive, happy energy to absorb!

We finally took the Easter stuff down this week and I immediately tried to think of the next holiday that I should be decorating for...  I think Memorial Day!  I'll have to put a few Spring decorations up to bridge until I bring the patriotic decorations out...