Silent Rant

Today is my birthday. Events from this weekend (a traumatic visit to the ER, Zoe, Jed and Lucy all having the stomach flu, no sleep, etc) had me coming into it with low expectations. This morning we decided to go out for breakfast. After we finished our meal and asked for our check the waiter said our meal had already been paid for. We sat there a little confused and told the waiter there must be a misunderstanding. The waiter then explained to us that people from another table had paid for our meal, and he gave us this:

Wow! If that doesn’t put you in the holiday spirit, what does? Feeling inspired, we picked someone else in the restaurant and paid for their meal. I wonder if they were inspired and paid for someone else’s meal, too!

The whole experience made my day!

My hope for this holiday season – that everyone who reads this post does an anonymous act of kindness for someone else this month. Pay for someone else’s meal next time you are at a restaurant, the drive-through, or even Starbucks. Or do something else that will lift someone else’s spirits! Please leave a comment about your experience and, hopefully, in a few weeks this post will have a bunch of great stories of  spreading Christmas cheer!

Like everyone, Thanksgiving reminds me of the millions of things I am grateful for, big and small. This year I’m especially thankful for my little family. I love my babies!

And who doesn’t love fabulous dessert?

We spent Thanksgiving day in MN with some friends and their family. We were too busy eating and hanging out to stop and take pictures, but we had a great time and SO much food! Especially dessert (all homemade): apple pie, cherry pie, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, creme brulee, eggnog, chocolate bunt cake, chocolate covered nuts and marshmallows, cookies and (not homemade) ice cream! Whew! That’s a lot of suga!

Pictures for this week…Zoe and her “babies” (Lion, Sheep, Dino, Charcoal and Striped Kitty) without whom she rarely voluntarily goes anywhere and is very, very grateful for…

Lucy proudly showed off her new cheeks.

I just found this picture on my friend Jenny’s site. I haven’t seen it before– it’s kind of funny. Ethan, Jenny’s son, is on the left and Zoe is on the right.

Photo of Zoe and Ethan