After Hurricane Sandy devastated our coast in the fall, it has been very difficult to “enjoy” the holidays, especially when so many were still homeless, rebuilding and financially drained throughout the entire holiday season.  This storm was described as the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season and many are still recovering from it.  I ended up sponsoring more children than I initially planned; I made some local donations and to the American Red Cross, but I still felt like I should be doing more.  I know that I am very grateful that my home was left unharmed after the storm and my family was safe.  A few days without power was okay until it started getting cold, but just at that time, God answered my prayers and our service was restored.  We had so much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving and throughout the year.  I suspect there will be many more devastating storms; we will all be helpers and we will all need help at different times, so we need to be in a position to help as much as we can, and keep the spirit of CHRISTmas in our hearts all year long.  These are very trying times and our character is being tested; whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.  I believe that all of us are stronger than we know.  And I believe in Jesus Christ.  I believe that we all have the power to brighten someone’s life and to make this world a better place.  Sometimes we think that the small things don’t count, but they do and we need to keep doing as much as we can for ourselves, for our family, our friends and neighbors … we need to do our part.  And I believe that if you love Christmas, you have goodness in your soul and throughout the year I find more reasons to love Christmas and that gives me the reason to believe in greatness.  My faith is constantly renewed.

One of the things that I enjoy about sponsoring families at Christmas is shopping for toys… it brings out the inner-child.  When one of my daughters was young, I remember searching high and low for that Cabbage Patch doll.  One of the most sought after Christmas gifts for kids this past year was the popular Furby doll!  They come in all colors and are so cute!

Another thing I enjoy year round is shopping for ornaments.   I found these beautiful custom ornaments with personalization or branding.  Coton Colors designs  are inspired by the celebrations of life, with collectible pieces fit for every occasion – and they do so much more than ornaments.

Like most of you, I do lots of shopping on line and I found some great gifts through My Habit [founded by Amazon.com]; which offers free membership; fast, free shipping and free return shipping in the U.S., plus international shipping to over 50 countries. The site also offers shoppers a complete fashion experience including 360-video shot on models; you can get 60% off sales and insider access to designer brands for women, men, kids and home.

Most of us are going a bit overboard with Christmas trees.  I actually have ten trees in my house… one for every room!  Trees are beautiful and with all the complementary decorations, you can make each one unique in every color, if you want.  Here are some cool finds:

The Modern Christmas Tree is a remarkable piece of art decor and the definitive spin on the traditional holiday tree.  Limited editions are available in 3 sizes, prices, and colors. Easy to put up and take down. Collapses flat for space saving storage.  It’s innovative, unique, rare, and are great for home or office… check out their video on their site … another bonus is that 5% of Modern Christmas Tree purchases go back to charity.

Unfortunately, I am allergic to pine, so I use an artificial tree.  But for the “real” tree lover, there are new tree service options to choose from.  Where I live in New Jersey, if you want a real tree you can either drive out to a tree farm or cut one down, or you can buy one from the many tree vendors who line up the main road.  The average tree costs about $100.00.  Experts suggest that the tree should only be indoors for 2-3 weeks for the Christmas season and should not be kept close to a heat vent or fireplace (another reason it wouldn’t work for me, I need mine up a long time!) There are companies like A Tree For Christmas, that provide real trees direct from the farm.  These are great especially since after Christmas the tree should be stored in a cool place until it is ready to plant, weather permitting of course.

I was watching Shark Tank and was so happy to see that the sharks invested in Scotty Claus at The Living Christmas Co…. His company rents out trees!  They are real trees brought to you from the farm and returned to the farm after Christmas where it can continue to grow for future generations!  Definitely good for waste management; check out their site, he has an eco-holiday store too.   Watch The Living Christmas’ Scotty Claus on Shark Tank.   For now, they are only servicing the west coast but with the Shark Tank connection I am hopeful that he will expand nationwide.

Whether we’re shopping, picking out new ornaments, trees, or donating to charities and helping others, as long as we keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts and never lose sight of what the real reason for the season is… we will all continue to have reasons to believe.

Follow me on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter … and please continue to celebrate with me all year long.

Stay blessed, stay safe and warm… and  #STAYMERRY

I can’t believe there are only eight more Saturdays until fall… less than 100 days until Halloween, 147 days until Christmas… and the stores are starting to put holiday decorations on the shelves. I don’t countdown to Christmas, I countdown to the “season”… so for me, the season is nearly here – I can feel fall in the air!

Michael’s started bringing in the Lemax villages for Halloween and some Christmas crafts already.  And Hobby Lobby displays started going up in June and then really went up July 7-8.  There were some awesome Christmas Classic’s on the Hallmark Channel July 14-15.  Many stores were having Christmas in July celebrations… one mall near me even had Santa on a beach chair!  Here in New Jersey there was a Christmas Boat parade sponsored by Coors Light, prizes were awarded for the two best decorated boats. http://njbeachbuzz.com/christmas-in-july-boat-parade-in-the-wildwood-nj/.  I even found a Christmas in July song,  “Sufjan Stevens – Christmas in July ” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L7XcjR4JW4   QVC had a Christmas in July sale and they had tons of adorable decorations at great prices during the weekend of July 21-22.

As I am reading my Facebook feed I am instantly reminded by Countdown to Christmas that we are 208 days away from Christmas and so I am going to keep this short and sweet.. I am so excited and overwhelmed at the same time!

It has been very hot and humid here on the East Coast so it the worst month for focusing on Christmas… I have had to really move into the “spirit”.  I’ve been organizing my decorations (getting more of those Martha Stewart organizing labels), watching Christmas movies, chatting with my friends on Facebook that love Christmas as much as I do, and listening to Christmas music.  I am excited though, I just got another coupon mailer from the Hallmark Store for Father’s Day and I KNOW that the next one will be for the Hallmark Ornament Premiere in July.   I also just finished going through the Hallmark Ornament Dreambook for 2012;  I picked out  some adorable ornaments; some will be released in July but most won’t be available until the unveiling in October; here is the link for the book so you can pick yours!

This weekend, I noticed that it was Feb 25^th which means that in ten short months Christmas will be here again!  I celebrated by listening to Christmas music (more than usual).   This is the time when I begin to feel overwhelmed… wondering if I have all my planning done, but the truth is that I haven’t even finished packing away all the ornaments and other fragile décor.   All throughout January I was purchasing those nifty storage containers (in red and green of course) that were 75% off at Lowe’s.   Then I would print storage labels, reorganize my basement (this time adding craft tables around the entire basement so that I don’t have to freak out of we get any flooding), and then stack all the boxes strategically.

As I mentioned in my post ” Christmas in January“, I have finally put up my winter tree.   As I was putting away ornaments from the family tree, the foyer tree, the tree in my son’s room (yes we have ten trees), I collected some of the blue, silver, white pieces along with a few embellishments, including blue snowflakes to make the winter tree.  This tree is only 3 ft; if I had decorated a larger tree (which I may do next year) I would add some snowmen and perhaps decorate the base with artificial snow, or even flock the tree with snow.  Does anyone else have a winter tree up?  Are you putting one up?

In keeping the Christmas spirit we also mark the 25th of each month on the calendar and celebrate by watching a movie, do some holiday planning and listen to Christmas music.  I listen to Christmas music all year.  How do you keep the Christmas spirit throughout the year?  Please share your thoughts, ideas and photos of your tree(s).

Stay merry!

I love my Father in Heaven, the Lord, Jesus Christ.  I love church.   I love gold, silver, green and red (are my favorite colors) and I love everything shiny.  I love the fall weather; maybe because I was born in October.  I love shopping and wrapping gifts; and I am drawn to my local Hallmark store because I adore the Christmas scent that lingers throughout the year.  I love making big dinners and I LOVE cookies.  I love the smell of Christmas; the pine, cinnamon and spice.  I am prone to listening to Christmas music all year long and if you ask me what color sweater or bathing suit I want, I say “red”!  I have to admit that I will definitely be playing that new Michael Buble Christmas CD all year long for sure.  I love the trees and Oh my goodness — I LOVE decorating and sparkling lights.   But is all that I love the spirit of Christmas?  One friend recently said the SPIRIT is Jesus.  Christmas is a blessed holiday and the season is full of love and miracles… that MUST be what it is.

I am so excited!   Less than 150 days until Christmas Eve.  I start to get overwhelmed with ideas as soon as I see July approaching because for me this is the half-way mark.  And if you don’t pick your decorations, and make major gift selections now, you will be out of the loop for the “most wonderful time of the year”.

I have a storage box labeled “Christmas in July”, stored with goodies (notes, catalogs, Christmas mugs, t-Shirts, etc.) to have a brainstorming meeting with the family; that’s when we talk about how we will magically decorate each part of the house, incorporating our treasures with new items… so that each year has that “traditional look” with something timely for the season.   We plan the gift baskets and that includes the cookies that my daughter will decorate; so we look at what we loved from previous years and all her new designs … she makes most of her own cutters and designs them all by hand; she’s such an elf!  My other daughter (the fashionista) tells us what we need to be wearing in September, October, and November… as we add more glitz and glam getting closer to December; good gosh, if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have my red coat with the shiny gold buttons and my sequin lined cardigans; she is such an elf too… she wears a huge button that says “Santa’s Helper” when she’s shopping with me!