Archive for the ‘family’ Category
Do you have people on your list that are very hard to shop for?
My sister-in-law and I feel that way about gift shopping for a lot of people, including for each other. This year we decided to put our brain’s together and come up with a different, but meaningful gift.
Earlier this year she and her family moved to the mid-west and we have no idea when our schedules will line up to see each other again. But we know that with the cost of travel and managing our different schedules it’s not going to happen anytime soon.
So after a lot of thinking, we came up with an interesting idea.
Instead of buying more things, things we don’t even need. We have started a family vacation fund.
This is the plan, for every holiday where we exchange gifts, typically Christmas and birthdays, we’re going to put cash into the vacation fund for every family member. We each have three family members, so the fund will grow at the same rate.
When we pick our vacation destinatation we’ll figure out how much it will cost us, and we plan to use our fammily vacation fund to cover half of the trip and then pay the other half as we would for a normal vacation.
If we just pick somewhere between here and there, say Denver, Colorado, we could have the money saved up in 2 years and have a family vacation to look forward to very shortly with no extra clutter in our houses between now and then. Depending on how much you normally spend on each other, or how much you want to invest in this kind of trip you could start making special family memories in no time flat!
What interesting approach do you take for people that are hard to shop for?
One morning last week my daughter was up early, but didn’t have to run off to class or her volunteer position, so she joined my husband and I as we made our lunches.
Almost every work morning, my husband and I make our lunches. We have the dance down, always managing to be in step with each other at the refrigerator or getting something from the cabinet. It’s one of my favorite times of the day. It’s this little piece of home where work hasn’t encroached and the sleep inertia has been lifted. It’s a time where we get to talk about what we have planned for the day, or to start making plans for the coming weekend, or some crazy thing one of us saw on Twitter or Facebook.
This routine could easily be completed in 10 minutes, but often we drag it out lingering for as many as 30 minutes spending this special time together. On this occasion, we were discussing how we could honor my husband’s father on the one year anniversary of his passing, and I’d had an email from my dad announcing the marriage of their friends which gave us a wide spectrum to discuss.
Our daughter wasn’t making lunch, and I don’t think she’d even intended to stay up after she’d answered nature’s call. She sat at the breakfast counter while we prepared our lunches and shared in our discussions with us.
There is something special about starting the morning with people you love most, talking about the people you’ve loved and lost, and brainstorming exciting plans for dear friends. It’s too easy to get caught up in the task lists, the job duties, the homework and commitments, the bills and the chores.
A family dinner used to serve this role of connecting family members, but these days there aren’t many family dinners being hosted. I carried an uncommonly light heart with me to work after starting the day in this way. It reminds me to take the opportunity, whenever you’re presented with it, to connect with your loved ones, build on the relationships, in whatever small ways you can, and do it regularly.
My daughter is not normally a part of this bonding. I have been motivated to reintroduce some element of this through a regular family dinner, breakfast, or lunch. I can see us sitting with no distractions or interruptions, just being together, building memories and connecting to cement the strong bond that we’ve built over the years.
I encourage you to take note when you see this happening in your own family. Look for places to make it happen.
Do you commute, or drop your kids off at school, or sports practice or lessons? How do you spend that time right now? Could you be connecting with your family instead?
Do you find yourself eating out at fast food, or even sit down restaurants more often than you want? Do you treat that time as though it was Sunday family dinner? Why not?
Find time. You won’t regret it.
National Moment of Remembrance
Posted on: May 26, 2014
National Moment of Remembrance
Memorial Day is a day that has come to symbolize many things as the decades have passed since it’s creation. End of school year. Unofficial start of Summer. Wearing white. BBQ. Short trips. A day off work.
Memorial Day was created to honor the memories of our fallen soldiers. Men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Soldiers stationed across so many lands, in so many wars, so many lives gone, and so many families still being touched this year. The holiday originated after the American Civil War to commemorate both the Union and the Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.
I am fortunate in knowing many, many soldiers, and to this day I have never lost a single one in service. My Dad, Uncle, my three cousins, my sister-in-law, my brother-in-law, colleagues too numerous to count, my life has been enriched by knowing these heroes and I have been blessed in never having to say goodbye. Too many people cannot say the same, so today I want to encourage you to take time out of your holiday weekend and remember the reason for this day.
In 2000, President Clinton shared this memorandum regarding the National Moment of Rememberance. In it he encourages the nation to take a moment of silence to remember and reflect. The memo states:
- Encouraging individual department and agency personnel, and Americans everywhere, to pause for one minute at 3:00 p.m. (local time) on Memorial Day, to remember and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to provide freedom for all.
- Recognizing, in conjunction with Memorial Day, department and agency personnel whose family members have made the ultimate sacrifice for this Nation
There are numerous tributes to men and women that have fallen in battle, I’d like to share this one with you and then ask will you join me in this moment of silence to remember and reflect on the sacrifices of those men and women we honor today?
The Dread Crew of Oddwood
Raise your cups to comrades gone
To friends and heroes past
With heavy hearts and solemn vows
Your memory forever lasts
Though now is not the time to mourn
For battle-brothers lost
We’ll raise our cups and drink the mead
’Til gates of hell we’ve crossed
From time to time our memories eye
Sees shades of mournful black
When crew and friends meet grizzly ends
With bodies torn, all stabbed and hacked
Why don’t we cease this fighting life
For one without this death?
Hell with our souls, we’ll steal our gold
’Til we’ve drawn our last breath!
Raise your cups to comrades gone
To friends and heroes past
With heavy hearts and solemn vows
Your memory forever lasts
Though now is not the time to mourn
For battle-brothers lost
We’ll raise our cups and drink the mead
‘Til gates of hell we’ve crossed
Will you join me in this moment of silence to remember and reflect on the sacrifices of those men and women we honor today?
Make the world go round 