Aftermath...

So Sandy's Surprise is almost gone. For the fortunate, the storm brought power outages and downed trees. For the less fortunate, for the totally devastated, life will never be the same. And no...if you've never been in that situation, you can not possibly understand.

What can you do? If you live far away, donate to the charity of your choice. Don't have much? That's okay. Every penny helps. We're going into winter, folks. A lot of people don't have anything except what they're wearing. Think about that. Think about INDIVIDUAL people with nothing to their names except the clothes they have on.

That's a different picture than downed ferris wheels and sandy roads. How would you cope?

And think about this--in many cases extended families all live in a close-knit area. What affects one, affects many. Frequently, there are no family members to turn to because they all are dealing with the same disaster.

When you're sitting in your warm houses, preparing for the various festivities over the next couple months, think about the folks who won't be doing that this year. They don't have to be Sandy's victims. They might be victims of a tornado, a blizzard, an earthquake, a tsunami. Too often, once the pictures are no longer shown on television, we forget.

This year? Let's remember and share our blessings. Take part in supporting your neighbors.

anny

Friday's Last Look

Wow! Thanksgiving Day is over. Leftovers are packed away. Children have trailed off to bed. And at a few minutes after midnight I'm the last of the holdouts, still awake. Tomorrow, on Black Friday, I will venture out to go Christmas shopping with my daughter.

So how was your Thursday? Football heaven? Not here. After all two little girls aren't all that crazy about football. What's that you say? What did they do?

Well, first they played dress-up with Nanna's old work wardrobe. We won't discuss how many times Nanna's top was wound around the little one. Nope, won't even go there.

Had a lot of Gummi Bears with Poppy. That seems to be his number one bribe of choice. They considered watching a movie, but couldn't seem to settle down long enough to do that.

Then after dinner we hit upon an entirely new mode of entertainment. I found some gourds in my "workroom" that had been waiting for me to decide what I was going to do with them. We hauled out the paints and brushes. Borrow some of Poppy's discarded t-shirts for paint smocks and settled in for a contest to see who could come up with the most colorful gourd.

I'll let you be the judge. We're just on the first phase now. Later today, we'll finish up the gourd decorating. And no telling what else. I believe there was also some discussion about decorating Nanna's house for Christmas.

If you're on the road, I'll wish for safe traveling for you. And good weather. If you're out shopping, enjoy the season.

As I listened to my little ones saying Grace at dinner, it was "Thank you for letting us be together and be a family." Out of the mouths of babes...

Anny

Ah, my goodness. Check out what Amarinda has done to the Saga. I believe she's done it again. Go to www.amarindajones.blogspot.com And then stop by Kelly's blog where she'll have another new author at www.kkirch.blogspot.com And then? Blessings on your day!

PS: Thank you to all of you for your lovely Birthday thoughts. I appreciated them!