Elf yourself. We did.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

and so did Oprah and Gayle:

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

My Favorite Christmas Memory!

I am sitting here this Christmas eve feeling a bit nostalgic. I am sitting here remembering Christmases past, and I am fortunate enougth to have some amazing memories. But there is one night that really stands out, and it all involved the game Kerplunk!

You see, we had a rule, we weren't supposed to go downstairs to the Christmas tree until Mom and Dad led the way downstairs. It was sort of a tradition. They didn't want us to get an early glimpse of any of the stash Santa left for us. So, we would get up at like two O'clock in the morning, check our stockings at the end of the bed to see if Santa had come, and then we would wait, and wait. You know how hard that is for a kid. Waiting for an hour can seem like 8 hours!

Well, this one particular morning my brother and sisters decided we weren't going to wait anymore. We were tired of waiting, and the toys were calling. So there we were, tippy toeing down the stairs, hoping mom wouldn't hear us. We got to the bottom of the stairs and there it was, all the rage.

The Kerplunk game was sitting under the tree, not wrapped, just teasing us, callng us to play a game...



Now, for those of you who don't know what kerplunk is, it's a tube like game, where you have sticks and marbles.

You put in the sticks so they criss cross the tube, and then you put the marbles on top. One by one you pull out the sticks, hoping you don't cause any of the marbles to drop. The person with the fewest marbles at the end wins!

So, here we were at like 2 in the morning, deciding to play kerplunk. In our muddled minds, we somehow convinced ourselves we could play this game quietly!So, there are the four of us, pulling out the sticks, one by one, and prayng the marbles don't drop, and mom doesn't come downstairs.

We were doing a pretty good job, keeping quiet, and laughing behind our hands. But, then it happened, KERPLUNK! My sister pulled the wrong stick, and down came the marbles. I have never heard anything so loud! Bang, Bang, Bang as they slammed against the plastic. I just remember shushing my brothers and sisters, thinking that would somehow make the Kerplunks quieter!

As we shushed each other, we heard it, the sound of mom coming down the stairs. She got to the bottom, and there we all sat, looking like a bunch of deer in the headlights. How in the world did we think we could get away with this! The next thing I know, Mom is yelling at us to get back upstairs before Santa changes his mind and takes everything back. Well, you have never seen four kids move so fast. We had had a taste of kerplunk, and the idea that Santa might take it back was enough to light a fire under our butts, and drive us upstairs back to bed.

I remember lying on top of the covers, waiting until the sun started to shine through the window, knowing we were getting closer to the time when we could officially play Kerplunk!
Sue, Tempe

Merry Christmas to All: Do one thing for nature

Do one thing for nature.

Be a part of what makes the world a good place

I'm already counting my blessings this season, thankful for the many, many people who have seen the good in me and made it their business to point it out; who have done nothing but offer encouragement through what has been one of the more tumultuous ordeals of my life; who've pushed me to see beyond my immediate environment and into the world at large -- a world that isn't mostly stifling, blameful or mean.



I was crossing a road last night, and a car came speeding my way. Just then, a little girl broke from her mom's grasp. I dashed in front of the girl, and the car stopped. I'll trade 100 of the ultimately irrelevant moments, I'll step out of the role that others try to get me to play, for just such an instant -- to be a part of what makes the world a good place.

Then again, I'm also thankful for moments like these:

Sammy is roughly 2 1/2 now -- old enough to produce sentences and to understand certain concepts.

But it seems he's already learned sarcasm....



As Lisa put him down Saturday night, he asked her, "Can I please have a sheet?"

"How about a blanket?" Lisa asked.

"How about a sheet?" he shot back.

Li'l B is becoming Li'l Wiseass.

Jerry, West New York, New Jersey

Freaked out by Santa

And they were so excited about seeing Santa.



Oh how these scary kid moments can be Perfect Moments for parents.. especially when the pics are shown to friends when the kid is 16.



What are your memories of Ole St. Nick?

More Santa pics.

Robin, Tempe, Arizona

Not too late to send presents to OUR TROOPS

Well. It's getting a little late for the Christmas deadline, but it's never too late. Go out and find some goodies this weekend and they will reach members of the military overseas before New Year's Eve.

And it's really not too late to give money for postage to get goodies gathered by others in the mail.

Check out this fine group of elves. eMail Our Military

Here are some guidelines for Holiday Love.


Here's a handy Q&A to tell you how they work. Support Our Troops - eMail Our Military

Trish Forant, founder of eMailOurMilitary (www.emailourmilitary.com) was on blog talk radio today to discuss her organization's holiday program to send cards and packages to the deployed military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Listen in to learn how you can help.

Holiday and troops talk radio show.

Do just one good thing for someone this holiday

One good thing is all you need.

That's the message in this blog I stumbled on today. Thank you, Mata H. Simple stories. Huge message.

Read Mata H.'s story about a Perfect Moment that stopped her from feeling sorry for herself and helped her realize that if she had the ability to help, she had an abundance.

As she says:

Imagine -- let's say 1,000 people read this post eventually. And let's imagine that everyone does one thing because of it. That means that we can all be part of A Thousand Good Things.

I will share this with you. She told a story about her sister-in-law, Nancy.

At her work site, Salvation Army puts up an "Angel Tree". Each angel is a paper card with the details of someone's needs on it. You pick a card, and "adopt" a stranger for the holiday. My sister-in-law chose a single father of four children. When asked what he needed, he said "Socks".
I asked why she had chosen him. She said "Well, I figure that for Salvation Army to be dealing with him as a single father, he has to be really poor, beaten down by life so low that he could only ask for socks. I'll bet he is all focussed on what his kids need." I asked what she got him.
"I didn't know anything but his sock size, so I got him 30 pairs of socks -- wool socks, dress socks, athletic socks, argyle socks, fuzzy socks, warm socks, cotton socks. I couldn't really know what else he needed, because I didn't know what size he is -- so I did this to help him Dream Big. The man needs to Dream Big.I wanted to make his socks splendid."

Want more from Mata H.? Check her out.

Robin, Tempe, Arizona

'Home for the Holidays' ... the perfect kickoff to the season

I originally posted this two years ago. It's still very true. We watched Home for the Holidays tonight. The Christmas season has begun.





Home for the Holidays.
Just watched it. The holidays have begun.
Love this scene cause it's a first date ... and what a first date.

This movie is about the holidays, but it really is a wonderful love story.

At our house, the holidays have not begun until ...

Home for the Holidays has been played.





Robin, Tempe