Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts

Sunday, December 15, 2024

"Positive Christmas Ideas"

 

Although I've been a bit "under the weather" this past week, and I'm running a little late with my blog post, I'm just thankful to be feeling a lot better, and that I'm gradually catching up on everything.

I wanted to make sure that I got to share with you some positive Christmas ideas that I have since Christmas is right around the corner.

~"There's something about Christmas time, Something about Christmas time, That makes you wish it was Christmas every day" -From "Christmas Time," a song by Bryan Adams

Christmas songs and carols are a big part of Christmas, of course.

A couple of my favorite groups, especially for Christmas are these-

~Home Free is an American country a cappella group with beautiful harmony. I was amazed when I found out that they sing with no musical accompaniment. They do an especially nice job with "O Holy Night." (And so does Josh Groban.)

Greg and I really love the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Our favorite song of theirs is "Christmas Canon."

Also, another idea for Christmas music is to go caroling yourself, along with some other people. 

At the Welcome Center in Abingdon, Virginia 

While out, enjoy the decorations, like at the welcome center (above) and at the-

Abingdon Commons (above) which houses a health food store, a coffee shop with goodies, and a brick oven pizza shop, as well as other businesses.

While in Abingdon, you might want to check out-

the Barter Theatre that is now featuring professional live performances of "A Christmas Carol."

Also, there have already been Christmas parades, "The Nutcracker" ballet, and Christmas craft shows, as well as others, but there are still other places to go, other things to see and do, like going to the Appalachian Caverns for their Christmas tour to see the underground caverns beautifully decorated with Christmas lights, as well as other decorations. You can view the caverns through the end of December, with the exception of Christmas Day.

Also, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville are all celebrating Winterfest with beautiful displays of lights now through mid-February.

Here are some positive, unique Christmas gift suggestions-

~Give someone something you have made yourself, to someone who would really appreciate it.

(Not all gifts need, or have to be wrapped, however.) For example-

~Give someone who needs one, a smile. (I feel such a positive connection with humanity when I'm out, in a store, for example, and someone smiles at me.)

~Volunteer your time for a good cause.

~Donate food. supplies. or money to your local animal shelter. 

~Even better, adopt one or more animals to take home with you.


We adopted our Mitzi and Kallie at the same time. They have brought real joy into our lives.

Also...


 our Kit-Cat came to us as a stray, a feral cat. She is our outdoor cat, and she seems to love it that way.

Pets can make a really positive difference in our lives. We help them, and they help us.

Besides the above ideas, you might want to check out this website, not only for this Christmas, but even for next year, etc, as well-

https://www.minted.com/lp/christmas-traditions

On the above website, they had a really interesting  article, "25+ Christmas Traditions in the US and Around the World." One of the Christmas traditions was "Spread Joy With Random Acts of Christmas Kindness." A couple of their suggestions are to pay "for a stranger's coffee," and to tape "dollar bills to items in a dollar store." Fun ideas, fun reading!

"During this season of religious services, majestic music, festive gatherings with family and friends, and sharing with souls in need, living from the heart is especially evident." -www.matthewbooks.com

~Positive thought -"Money doesn't bring happiness, but happiness brings money!" "...if you want to attract money to you, the fastest way to do that is to be happy first." -Rhonda Byrne

Thanks for visiting! Until around Saturday, January 4, 2025, Becky






























































Sunday, March 3, 2019

A Celebration in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee



Welcome!

In February, Greg and I met some family members in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to celebrate Cousin Bruce's birthday, as well as mine. It was a fun time for us all to get together. And who wouldn't have fun in Pigeon Forge!

We met at The Pottery House Cafe and Grille which is a wonderful place to eat. In fact, it's the number two restaurant out of 109 in Pigeon Forge according to TripAdvsor! And, it's reasonably priced!


The food was great! It was served on pottery dishes.


From The Pottery House Website

After the main meal, we all indulged in what else, birthday cake! They let you BYOC (bring your own cake) to celebrate birthdays.



Cutting the Cake

Gifts were opened-



Pictures were taken-


And, a good time was had by all!


FYI
www.old-mill.com/info/cafe

Positive thought: "Time spent with family is worth every second."-amazon.co.uk
Thanks for visiting! Until Sunday, April 7, 2019, Becky





Sunday, September 2, 2018

Celebrating Twice!


Welcome!

One can never have too many celebrations, and this blog post will prove it!

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated my husband Greg's birthday with our sister-in-law and her husband (Greg's brother) since Greg's and Betty's birthdays are just days apart.

We met them at a restaurant in Canton, North Carolina, "Southern Porch." We'd never before been there, and we loved it!


This unique restaurant used to be a hotel; it was named "The Imperial Hotel."

Come on in, y'all! The celebration is about to begin!


Inside, the decor is very attractive...


And the food is very tasty...


You can even BYOC. (Bring Your Own [birthday] Cake)


Betty and Mike brought this yummy one for Greg. (Thankfully, he shared!)


Betty got a gift, as well!


Photo by One of the Staff, Heidi 

We had a wonderful time, and we plan to return!

FYI
Southern Porch
117 Main Street
Canton, NC 28716
www.southern-porch.com

A few days ago, we had another great celebration, this time with my side of the family in East Tennessee at Bruce's ice cream parlor.


We all pitched in and brought food, etc.

Greg celebrated his birthday twice, this time with Nick and Julie.


They blew out all of the candles on the pretty cake! Guess their wishes will come true!


No birthday cake is complete without Bruce's ice cream sundaes! And this was a really good one!


There was no shortage of gifts here!


Nick always likes to get a group photo of everyone.


And here it is!

We'd just like to say that a good time was had by all!

Happy celebrating!

Happy Labor Day!

Positive thought: "Life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated."-Osho
Thanks for visiting! Until Sunday, October 7, 2018, Becky