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There is nothing really significant about November 13th other than the fact that Christmas Day falls exactly 6 weeks after.  I came to this realization when my daughter was 6 weeks old on Christmas Day. So her birthday is my signal to start thinking about writing cards, buying gifts, making lists and checking them twice. Please note I use the word “thinking”. Hey, don’t we always say “it’s the thought that counts”!

I LOVE, LOVE LOVE the holiday season. The music, the decorations, the food and the memories.  Christmas memories are definitely firmly embedded in my mind from way back when, and yes, I do mean “way back”.  One of my favorite memories is from the mid 80’s.  I worked as a Kindergarten Aide for a couple of years at the elementary school my children attended.  We held the annual Christmas party for teachers at our home and I remember overhearing my 7 year old son tell his teacher: “This is our special family tree. It’s our tradition to make different ornaments to put on it every year.”  And we did; I had just never thought of it as a tradition, but it definitely was.  It still stands in our family room each Christmas decorated with the hodge podge of ornaments we’ve made and collected over the years.  There are shower curtain rings wrapped with ribbon, adorned with roses and a tiny bear; wax ornaments made from leftover candles; hand painted glass balls; toy soldiers and reindeer made from clothes pins and sand dollars dipped in clear glitter just to name a few.  We usually decorate our home Thanksgiving weekend, so I’ll be sure to post one or two photos after we put the tree up.

Next week is Thanksgiving.  It’s not a holiday we celebrate in England, but it has become a favorite. I love any reason for us to get together as a family to give thanks for each other and for the many blessings in our lives.  Happy Thanksgiving everybody!    May you always have bread for the table, a twinkle in your eye and a heart full of love.

It’s Veterans’ Day today, commonly known as Remembrance Day and “Poppy Day” in England. The armistice was signed in a poppy field in Flanders so the poppy has become the commemorative symbol for the veterans of both the Great War and WW II. Poppy wreaths are laid on the memorials in local parks and for the equivalent of about a dollar, you can buy a poppy lapel pin. All proceeds go to charity.

November is really quite an interesting month. It starts with All Saints Day on November 1st then the next big day (in England) is Guy Fawkes day, November 5th.

Guido (Guy) Fawkes is infamous for trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. Fortunately the plot was foiled and Guy was literally caught with his hands in the gunpowder barrel. His cohorts however escaped to their hideout in the country. The weather was typically British and they rode through pouring rain. The gunpowder they were still carrying got very wet so they put it near the fire to dry…… needless to say the resulting explosion gave them away and they were all caught red handed and probably very red faced. Guy Fawkes night, or “Plot Night” is celebrated with local bonfires and fireworks displays. We eat “plot toffee”, parkin pigs, meat pies, mushy peas, and potatoes roasted in the fire. In the North of England especially the night before is known as Mischief Night and I think it best not to elaborate on that.

In Germany Fasching (carnival) officially starts at exactly 11 minutes past 11 o’clock on the 11th day of the 11th month. Committees are formed and plans set in motion. November 11th is also Martinmas which used to be one of the major feast days, since this was the time of year when many people received payments for work accomplished and they could afford to celebrate with friends and family and generally make merry.

Thanksgiving is the major celebration this month, but, like the day itself, I’ll get to that a little later.

Seems like everybody has a blog these days, so here goes………..

Food for thought:
Lots of people may love their job, but how many are lucky enough to have a job that loves them back!

I spent the past weekend in San Antonio, Texas with fifty, nifty “Fiskateers”. For those of you who don’t know what a Fiskateer is, they are Fiskars’ army of scissor wielding demonstrators and instructors who will be teaching the merits of Fiskars products in local craft and scrapbooking stores around the US, England, Australia, New Zealand and places that even I can’t spell. No, I’m not a Fiskateer, but I was invited to offer sage advice about demonstrating. I certainly fit right in with the “50″ part, but I’m not yet sure about the “nifty”. It was a fun and fabulous weekend and the “Fiskateers” will definitely be a crafting force to be reckoned with.

Remember the Alamo?

I’m not sure it will ever be the same…… in case you’re wondering, the Fiskateers are the ones in the orange hats. Each hat had the Fiskateers # on it; mine had PBS (for Scrapbook Memories) – for which I was most grateful. I don’t think I could have walked around San Antonio wearing an orange hat with SM on the front of it. I must admit though, it would have been a very unique “scrapbook moment”.