christmas gift ideas, giftwrap, creative

Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

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How to Make Time for Friends and Family

How To Make Time for Friends and Family Most of what we choose to do with our time is perfectly fine, when we look at it by itself. Work. Recreational sports. Hobbies. Pet projects. Our kids' games, lessons or performances. No inherent evils there. Even lesser, normalized uses of time--TV, video games, surfing the internet, texting--are harmless, right? The problem is most of us don't consciously set out to waste or mis-prioritize our time. We don't wake up thinking, "I want to ...

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Thanks to Reader Support, Donkey In the Living Room Makes Top Lists

PLEASE NOTE: Although this began as a simple self-publishing title, a new, fully illustrated and more widely distributed version of this book will soon be available through B&H Kids. Although the actual paper books won’t be released until 2014, during this 2013 holiday season, B&H Kids will unveil the e-book which you can buy here. Donkey in the Living Room Visits New Homes Thirteen days ago, we released my first children's book, the Donkey in the Living Room, which can be used ...

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It’s About People, Not Perfection: A Thanksgiving Sanity Pledge

I pledge to make Thanksgiving about people, not perfection. That means: I'm going to choose the least stressful, rather than the most impressive, way of organizing furniture and setting a table. Less to set-up and less to take-down make the day easier on everyone involved. I'm going to use dishes and silverware no one has to feel bad about breaking or bending. I'm going to set things up ahead of time, so guests can spend their time talking together rather than rushing to ...

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Should I Leave It To Others Or Try to Help?

Should I Leave It To Others or Try to Help? I remember once, when my husband and I were about to extend ourselves for someone with a criminal record, a person in our life cautioned us. "Maybe you should let someone else do that." But the problem with that mentality is obvious, right? Whenever life is messy or imperfect, every one of us could far too easily let ourselves off the hook by just deferring toall those other people. But the reality, of course, is the world is full of ...

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