Time to Reflect as the New Year Approaches ` From the Quote of the Week Files December 28, 2015

Time to Reflect as the New Year Approaches

“We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience.”

John Dewey

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At the end of each year, I ask myself two questions:

What do I want to create in this New Year? And, perhaps even more importantly, What do I want to let go of?
 
Patricia Digh

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Some other things to think about when reflecting on this past year... 

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Next Week...

The Word of the Year ~ What will your word be for 2016/

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Wishing you a most Beautiful New Year wherever this may find you!

Inspiring Story ~ The American St Nick

The American St Nick

A great story about a small act of kindness that happened 70 years ago that is still remember to this day

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/american-saint-nicolas/

http://www.americanstnick.com/

Christmas Quotes and Random Musings ~ Quote of the Week, December 21, 2015

Christmas Quotes and Random Musings

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” 

Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Favorite Christmas Movie Quote

It's Christmas Eve, it's the one night of the year where we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more...for a couple of hours out of the whole year we are the people that we always hoped we would be. It's a miracle, it's really sort of a miracle, because it happens every Christmas Eve...

"You have to do something, you have to take a chance, you do have to get involved. There are people that are having trouble making their miracle happen. There are people who don't have enough to eat, there are people that are cold...you can go out and say "hello" to these people. You can take an old blanket out of the closet and say "here" you can make them a sandwich and say "oh by the way here!" I get it now! If you give, then it can happen...then the miracle can happen to you. It's not just the poor and hungry, it's everybody who's got to have this miracle!! And it can happen tonight for all of you! If you believe in this spirit thing, the miracle will happen and then you'll want it to happen again tomorrow. You won't be one of those (Scrooges) who says Christmas is once a year and it's a fraud...it's not! It can happen every day..you've just got to want that feeling. And if you like it and you want it you'll get greedy for it...you'll want it every day of your life, and it can happen to you. I believe in it now! I believe it's gonna happen to me now, and I'm ready for it. It's great! It's a good feeling..it's better than I've felt in a long time! I'm ready....have a Merry Christmas, everyone."

From the movie "Scrooged" (1988) starring Bill Murray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eObVoC0dOp0

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My all time favorite Christmas Treat 

Gingerbread Cookies ~ (Estonian Style)

For the Recipe...

http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2005/12/estonian-christmas-cookies.html

"Haid joule ja head uut aastat"

(Merry Christmas in Estonian)

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Favorite Christmas Song

White Christmas ~ Bing Crosby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJSUT8Inl14

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Favorite Christmas Present

American Flyer Train Set!!

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Favorite Christmas Rock and Roll Song

Christmas Wrapping  ~ The Waitresses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nud2TQNahaU&list=RDnud2TQNahaU#t=29

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Favorite Christmas Message

This Holiday Season…

Mend a quarrel... Seek out a forgotten friend... Dismiss suspicion, and replace it with trust...Write a love letter... Share some treasure... Give a soft answer... Encourage youth...Manifest your loyalty in word and deed...Keep a promise... Find the time... Forgo a grudge... Forgive an enemy... Listen... Apologize if you were wrong… Try to understand... Flout envy... Examine your demands on others... Think first of someone else... Appreciate... Be kind... Be gentle... Laugh a little, Laugh a little more... Deserve confidence... Take up arms against malice... Decry complacency... Express your gratitude... Welcome a stranger... Gladden the heart of a child... Take pleasure in the beauty and the wonder of earth... Speak of your love... Speak it again... Speak still once again.

Author Unknown

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Wishing you a most beautiful day wherever this may find you!

Christmas is Coming; From the Quote of the Week Files; December 14, 2015

"If you were going to make this the best holiday season ever, how would you do it?  It won't happen for most people, because most people won't have that as their #1 intention.  And it's unlikely that you'll have the life-changing holidays that you could have if you don't create a powerful intent."

Debbie Ford

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 “Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself.”

Francis C. Farley

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Wishing you a most beautiful Christmas wherever this may find you!

How to live the Good Life; From the Quote of the Week Files; December 7, 2015

"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."

Marcus Aurelius

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“There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a life in two days. And if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life. A good life is not measured by any biblical span.”

Ernest Hemingway

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Wishing you a most beautiful day wherever this may find you!