Traditions

The holiday season is all about traditions

whether it is pulling out the family recipes

cutting down your own tree

having the same thing for supper on Christmas eve

attending the candlelight service

they all hold a special place in my heart

there is another tradition

that I have carried on since 2004

and that is 

a Secret Pal gift exchange

with a group on on line ladies

I met before the days of blogging

I have spoken of these ladies here before

some have blogs

some don't

we met on the Martha Stewart Wedding site

as we were all in some stages of wedding planning

at the time

some of the girls have been fortunate enough to meet

and I met 3 of the girls last year

which I spoke about here

every year we do a special post about

"who is in" this year

then one of us takes the names

makes the draw

and then emails everyone separately

to let them know who they are buying for

the anticipation of waiting for the package

is exciting

and hearing of the other ladies reveals

is a welcome smile during this busy season

this year my Secret Pal package

came from Pittsburgh, PA

Santa ~ aka Canada Post

arrived at the door Christmas Eve day

everything was wrapped and labeled

and I had a blast sitting by the tree

with my trusty sidekick

opening each and every gift

I loved each and every item that Stacy

picked out for me

 she included an ornament for my tree

and a special treat for Miss Molly

sitting pretty for one of her new treats!

You can see why I cherish this group of ladies

not just for the gifts

but for the support we give one another

in good times and in bad

I hope and pray that one day

we will be able to all get together

meet in person

I can see us all sitting around

drinking wine

talking, talking and talking

someday girlies ~ someday...

A Thank You to Martha

I will have to clarify why I want to give a great big
"Thank You"
to
Martha Stewart...

Back in 2000
I was in the midst of planning my wedding

Because I was having a case
of Princess syndrome
I was on every wedding planning site
that was out there

Of course one of the sites
was Martha's wedding site.

I stumbled into the chat room
a newbie, a bride to be
and was embraced by a group of girls
of like minds as we were all there
for the same thing.

Not long after
Martha shut down her chat room
so a group of the chatters
moved over to Yahoo and formed a group.

Through the years
this group of ladies have become very special to me
Lifelong friends.

Most of us got married
some had kids
some then got divorced
we have been through sickness and health
births and deaths
but stuck by each other
in good times and in bad.

The ladies are from all over
we have 3 in Canada,
1 in London, England
and the rest of them are sprinkled
throughout the USA.

You may know a couple of them yourselves
Kim, Simone & Zizette
for their beautiful blogs.

I cherish all these ladies
so I was very excited to be able
to meet up with 3 of them while I was in NYC

This is Zizette and her beautiful daughter Maya

This is Jae
she is our resident princess

This is Cindy and her cutie pie daughter
Maya wanted a picture with Alexis too!

We had a wonderful dinner and you know what
It was like sitting down with a bunch of friends
that I have known forever.

We are trying to get the group together
to finally meet in person
I know that some day it will happen
as I have faith.

xo