Tag Archives: peace

happiness

The last word

I come from a pretty competitive family – game nights were pretty serious events and although I hadn’t planned on it, this is a trait to have passed onto my children. And we can turn anything into a competition.

Tonight it was who has the last word with the boy and I. We were about to watch a tv show together and we ended up in a “game” of who has the last word.

It went on for over an hour. After several distractions and false promises I finally won (the boy insists he did, but it’s my blog so it ends my way).

These small moments of giggles make for big happiness

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The Last Jedi

We had our annual cousin Star Wars night this evening. Every year for the last few years my cousin and her family have given me and the kids tickets as our Christmas present and we all go together to IMAX. Our almost adult boys have been playing, enjoying, and loving Star Wars since they were in diapers.

I won’t spoil it, but I thought it was a really funny movie.

The take away line for me was this:

I’ve been working in that direction but it’s time to eradicate the evil force from our lives.

Cousin time. Star Wars time. Happiness time.

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Big moments in small moments

The boy came with me today to do some errands. There was nothing special or exciting about the trip to town except for the fact that my 16 year old willingly spent the day with me.

But the big moment came wrapped inside the small moment when on the way home he quietly said thank you for all you do to make our lives better. I can’t imagine where we would be without you.

Those words wiped out so much of the mom-doubt I’d been carrying. It’s really the most important part of who I am – their mom.

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The best day of the year

Boxing Day has long been my favorite day of the year. It’s usually a day where we have the leftover fun of Christmas without the stress.

So we stayed in our pjs until lunch, went tobogganing, visited with some very dear friends, ate leftovers, and generally did as little as possible. It was a success. It was happiness.

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Finding the magic

Christmas at the ranch has always been a magical day for me. The traditions that I enjoyed as a child are the same ones I enjoy sharing with my kids now and I consider myself so fortunate that we have had generations of giggles in the same yard doing the same things with the same people.

This morning I wasn’t feeling overly Christmasy – it’s been a weird year, a weird start to Christmas, and I was just feeling weird in general.  I had this sad feeling that I was going to miss the magic of Christmas this year.

After lunch I had a little nap (which, let’s face it makes everything better always) and the kids came and announced it was time to toboggan with their cousins. It was -25 with the windchill, but out we went.

And the magic came back. One of our traditions is having crazy toboggan fun, freezing, laughing, getting covered in snow, and getting out and doing that changed everything.

The magic stayed for the rest of the day. It was there as I went out and played with my pony. It shone through as one of my cousins stopped by with Grandma’s special sauce for us to enjoy with our dessert – I had decided not to make it this year and it felt weird going without so it certainly enhanced the meal.

This year we were truly blessed. This year because of a few different circumstances we had the opportunity to make sure the focus of Christmas was on our family and loved ones, not on the things we received. I think through my faith, walking this spiritual journey, it is becoming more and more clear that love is the answer to every question. Today we lived in love, and that is happiness.

Merry Christmas!!

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The sauce!! and the saucy kids!!

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Snowball fight in the parking lot

I took my kids and niece on our annual Christmas shopping much too close to Christmas run today. We were lucky and I managed to park the snow covered car in the underground garage so it could thaw.

As we got out of the car my niece grabbed snow from the top of the car and threw it at me. This erupted into a full out 4 person snowball fight in the parkade.

Silly, happy, crazy moments. Happiness.

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The tree of memories

We decorated the tree at my mom’s house this evening. The boxes of decorations don’t match and don’t have order. What they do have is memories.

There are ornaments from my childhood, from vacations, from crafting nights with family, and from the kids’ childhoods.

As we hung them up we shared memories and stories about some of our favorites. When the tree was done the boy looked at and called it the tree of memories And it is. All those ornaments hold memories of times with loved ones. That’s happiness.

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