Ah..... Home for the Holidays

I remember when I was a kid that waking up on Christmas morning had to be the absolute best day ever every year! All the gifts under the tree, candy in the stockings and smells of delicious food coming from the kitchen. My brothers and sisters and I would wait patiently for Dad to get up. Mom and Gramma (who lived with us) would be up for hours cooking and getting ready (now that I'm older I wonder if they ever went to bed!). Dad would finally get up, have his coffee and then we could tear into the stockings and the presents! We ate breakfast and had fun all day with the new toys and everyone being there. As we got older we all "came home" for the holidays - all of them - Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas - all of them. As we all started having our own families we would still all gather at Mom and Dads with all the grandchildren in tow and celebrate the same way we did when we were kids. Now that our parents have passed away we are all finding it difficult to gather all in one place for the holidays - even just one of them. I never wondered when I was a kid why my Aunts and Uncles weren' there at our house- they were at their own house with their own kids. Now that I am "the Aunt" with my own house and my own kids - it feels weird. I see my children all grown up now in different parts of the country and they are starting their own "Home for the Holidays" - this time of year makes me think of when we were all together, now we aren't - and it feels weird to me but not my kids. I'm sure it must have felt weird to my Mom when she didn't have all her brothers and sisters around on Christmas Day anymore either..... funny how life sure looks different when you are the oldest generation of your family. I hope I am here on this Earth for many holidays with my kids and grandchildren (expecting my first one in April!! YEA)but I wonder where "home for the holidays" will be. It will be an adventure!

Speaking of holidays - the crazy crazy days of shopping will soon be upon us as we all race through malls and stores looking for that perfect gift. We will spend way too much money and get stressed out like we do every year. Every year we say "next year I am going to be better prepared" - Right, hmm, it is next year folks! :) This year do yourself a favor - save your precious time to spend with those kids, grandkids and PARENTS (I miss mine)- shop online and save some money and save your sanity. This year you can EARN money too if you shop through my website. I pay you 2% cash back on your qualified purchases, beginning mid November... check it out --- http://brendasabin.com - check the HOTDEALS tab at the top of my page for last minute savings and FREE shipping! :) Happy Holidays wherever your home may be!

Wow - where has the time gone?

Why is it that we all have 24 hours in a day - yet when you are young those 24 hours last a lifetime - now they go by so fast it feels like there is only 3 or 4 hours each day! When you were a kid summers were so long and FUN..... now summers come (sometimes - not this year) and go - its the end of October for petes sake! 2009 for petes sake! (who is pete anyway? why do we say that? does anyone know?) Doesn't it seem like we were just worried about a thing called the Y2K bug? Didn't we just see 2001 - where did 2002 go, and did I sleep for the past 6 years? Even worse why can't I remember all those years? Good grief - maybe it's me. Does anyone else feel like this?

How can the clock move faster the older we get? How can morning become noon, become evening and bed time before we feel like we have woke up? Why is it that our calendars are so full of things to do - yet we never get anything accomplished.

I'm going to bed - it will most likely be 2010 when I wake up - and I'll be wondering where these last few months have gone. I can't believe the holidays will be here in less than 2 months - What were you doing in late August? Doesn't it seem like last week? Where did September go?..... whew I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
G'nite.