A Christmas Gift with "C"haracter

With my working and crafting so much on the TygerLily side of me, there hasn't been much time to blog about much of anything.

But yesterday we spent some wonderful Christmas time with our own kids and grandkids. And every year the adults do a Hy-Vee Paper Bag Secret Santa exchange. Every gift must fit in a Hy-Vee paper bag, one to two pieces of tape to hold it closed at the top. Every gift must 'look' the same. As we arrive to the party, our oldest granddaughter Abby grabs each bag and then writes the name of the receiver on the front and then hides the bag. Abby totally controls it from then on, and she does a marvelous job. So when it's time for some adult fun, we gather around a table, Abby presents us with our Hy-Vee bags and then the rest of us have to guess who everyone's Secret Santa is! This year was incredibly HARD!!!!!! Plus there's that $60 bonus for the winner sitting in the middle of the table - and who couldn't use $60? But for the first time (I believe) our oldest daughter, Season, won with guessing 4 out of 6 correct. Bill and I did poorly with only 2 guesses right.

But I wanted to show you what my own Secret Santa got me, which totally threw everyone in the mix completely off.

Is this not the most charming and fun gift yet? Yes, Season had my name and this is what she she picked for me. It's very tall! She said that even though it was the letter "C" glass and my name didn't start with "C", she picked it because of the words ON the glass that started with the letter "C". She honored me by saying the words described me and what she thought of me. Now THAT'S a present I will treasure the rest of my life. And it's just plain FUN!

Thank you to my gorgeous and giving family - each and every one of you has such a special place in my heart, mind AND spirit. I adore gifts that come from the heart and this Christmas was one of those types of holidays. Perfect and memorable.

Friendship Home, Lincoln, NE

My little brain has been in overdrive the past couple of weeks as I've taken on a volunteer situation at work involving a silent auction.

Every year, the doctor's at the clinic put on a chili cook-off at one of their acreages, and the different teams within the company try their best to win the trophy for the best chili! It is a lot of fun with horse riding, hay rack rides, fishing, and of course great chili of ALL kinds. Last year our team took the trophy home, no thanks to me. I am 'kitchen' challenged, but that comes from years of being spoiled by a husband who loves to be the chef.

So this year, the community council within the company decided to kick up the fun a little and have a silent auction for a local shelter for abused women called Friendship Home. A very worthy cause and one we have not donated to for a few years.

So with an auction coming up, me being the somewhat overachiever that I am, decided to get local businesses involved by donating to the auction. It has been a LOT of work and I'm still not even half way through my list, but there are still some wonderful business people out there who know the need and have donated some wonderful items.

I have been invited to a Mary Kay meeting tomorrow night to give a short talk about the auction and hopefully step out with a lovely basket of donated Mary Kay products. And of course, I'm going to stay and have a make-over! Why not? :) But I am getting to know Amy, the senior sales director, a little and she was generous enough to call me at work and ask if I wanted to give this little plug for Friendship Home to her sales staff.

God always seems to have a plan, if we just sit back and listen. The many years of having our own business had led me to some very generous and KIND people. Our community is one I am very proud to say is MY community.

Thank you, Lincoln, Nebraska, for still being a concerned and giving community.

Living Up to 100/0 Ratio

I've had an evening of reflecting and thinking. Here are my thoughts for today.

I receive an email once a week at least from Simple Truths. The snippet from the book they were promoting this week was on living and giving the 100/0 ratio: giving and doing at 100%, but expecting 0% in return. Hard thing to comprehend as we all as humans WANT something back for even the tiniest word or gesture. To honestly expect ZERO? NADA? NOTHING? Hard concept. But when you really think about it, it's true and it's the only way to be.

It also reflects the lesson in the book by Shel Silverstein "The Giving Tree". One of my all time favorite books for children that I think a lot of adults should read.

Sure, we all want notoriety and compliments. We're human. As a co-worker you like to be acknowledged for hard work by even one kind word or action. As a friend, a phone call or card in the mail brings a smile and you know they've gotten the message. As a wife, even a thank you is worth it's weight in gold after many years of being married.

But when it comes down to the real way God wants us to live, it really IS the 100/0 ratio. We do for others because we WANT to, not for any type of reward it could or would bring. Hard? Absolutely. Impossible? I'd say no, not if we're living the way Scripture tells and instructs us to.

I write this so that it can be more ingrained in my own mind and heart. It's a tough lesson, but really isn't the bottom line about others? And how THEY are doing? Jesus never put himself first. His heart is for us. Is my heart for others?

Think about it.