Thursday, December 4, 2014

Final Thoughts Month of November: Blog 5- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Dear Ellie,

Happy Thanksgiving month!  This is our last November entry even though we are now into December.  Remember it is important to always be thankful for all you have.

Final Thought:  Sharing ‘thankfuls’ is another way of “Paying It Forward.”  It is a heartfelt gift with no end.

Day 29:  Traditions!  Ellie, traditions are truly wonderful because they are part of each family’s heritage.  Continuing them and encouraging younger generations to follow suite makes for wonderful stories to pass on.  Here are a few of our traditions:  Turkey is a must on Thanksgiving Day and your Dad has now taken over the task of cooking and feeding our quirky, crazy and very fun family.  
And I must give him a compliment here El, because he does it to perfection with passed on family recipes!  Speaking of family recipes, and in preparation of the turkey, your Mommy now has you helping her make Gram Bubbles’ stuffing dish.  And you’ve proven to be quite good at it because it sure was yummy!  Something else we do yearly takes place when we sit down to eat the Thanksgiving feast.  Ellie, once everyone is seated, and dishes have been passed around, and each plate is filled… each person shares what they are thankful for before digging in.  It is important to give appreciation to all the good that God has placed in our lives.  We are also into our second year of continuing with a new tradition of gathering around a craft table to disguise some turkeys with artistic originality!  
This year you created a pretty female version of your Elf on the Shelf and named her Stella Griz!  And your Mommy makes sure to capture our disguised turkeys with the camera so that we can look back over the years and laugh at all the crazy costumes we came up with!  

Now it won’t be long till the next holiday (Christmas) pops up.  As soon as the Thanksgiving evening comes to an end, magically the atmosphere changes over and the Christmas spirit comes alive everywhere you look.  Why it is also one of our traditions to start Christmas shopping as early as we can with Black Friday sales!   Ellie, just like Thanksgiving, Christmas traditions both old and new will also be shared.  And the best part of it all is that there is nothing more wonderful than sharing them with the families you love most!

Day 30:  Life as it is.  Ellie, it seems befitting to end our ‘thankfuls’ with this one.  Being on the ‘older’ side of 50, I for one am thankful each and every morning to wake up to a new day.  I always give a wink and whisper thank you to the One Above.  And then I say a quick prayer for guidance to do my best.   I am also thankful that you and Will keep my mind on the ‘younger’ side of 50!  
Why just the other day I very much wanted to decorate Poppy’s and my Christmas tree.  But with the 3 bins of hodge-podge Christmas ornaments I have collected over the years it takes a few hours. No sooner did I get started when you, your Mommy, and Will came over for a visit, and with Will underfoot I knew it wasn’t going to happen at that moment.  You could see the wheels in Will’s mind turning at record speed and honestly you need roller skates to keep up with him!  After a yummy lunch of Mac-n-Cheese and putting Will down for a nap, your Mommy had asked Poppy to take a ride with her to the post office.  She thought that would give me time to focus on the Christmas tree again and dubbed you my official helper while Will slept.  Well…. no sooner did they leave when you said, “Mimi… would you rather just take a break right now?”  And my answer was of course my typical one… “Why yes Ellie, I would!”  So with only 4 additional ornaments added to the tree we stopped to play restaurant at Minnie’s Boutique with you being Stella the Waitress.  And let me tell you… that was way more fun!  When your Mommy and Poppy came home about an hour later, they looked at the tree, looked at you in your apron with pad and pencil in hand, looked at me sitting at a table set for 4 along with baby Stella in the highchair next to me (I think that is your favorite name at the moment), they shook their heads, giggled, and joined our fun!  And yes, the tree did get decorated Ellie but not until hours after you all left for home.

Life is a gift El, and each breath we take is truly a blessing.   I pray as you grow; you learn to make the best of yours.  So I will sign off with how your Great-great grandmother Mundy lived her daily life.  She lived it by applying the Golden Rule… Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.  Kindness and thankfuls Ellie are contagious.  You will catch on quickly that they are the gifts that will keep on giving!

I love you my little helper!  (And thank you for being ‘you’)

Mimi

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