A Christmas Love Story

This is my second Christmas without my mom.  I come from a large family and last year we all gathered as we always did and tried to keep every tradition alive.  It was horrid.  This year I am excited to be hosting Christmas in my own home for the first time in my life.  The menu will break all the rules of over fifty years right down to a new cocktail.

This week I had an idea to incorporate something of my mom's  into Christmas so I went to my what is now my "dad's" home and dug through the old Christmas stuff.  I was looking for something that was distinctly mom.  What I found was love. True love,  The kind you find in movies.  In the very bottom of the oldest Christmas storage box I found a thin paper box with a very dried rubber band around it.  On the top in my mom's handwriting was "Mark and Lorraine's first Christmas together, Love is in the Air".  Inside the box were some very old and very delicate decorations likely bought at Zeller's where my mom worked.  I even recognized the little pink one with the snowman on it.  I recall that was my favorite as a young girl.  Also in the box where letters and an array of ornaments.  I started to read the letters and discovered my mom and dad wrote each other a letter every Christmas and told each other how grateful they were for their lives together.  The letters covered a lot of years and a whole lot of love.

What I found particularly moving about these letters was there very existence.  My mom and dad had a lot of children.  Every year Christmas was pure magic in my house.  Every detail was lovingly prepared.  Even gifts were wrapped with care.  Outside lights were the envy of the street and the house always smelled like baking.  All my life I thought it was about us.  My mom and dad working to give perfect kids a perfect Christmas. The discovery of the letters made me realize it was about so much more.  My mom and dad loved each other.  Forever and for always.  No greater joy.....  heaven blessed them each and every day.  Their words not mine.

So in the middle of all the chaos every year they had a tradition.  They took time out for each other and put in writing what their lives together meant.  They exchanged letters and hung a decoration that symbolized their lives.  No wonder my parents loved Christmas.  They had this magic moment that only they shared.  How they found the time and space with so many of us I will never know and really that's not the point.  They just did. I can only imagine where their special time together went but I do remember my parents being their happiest at Christmas. 

And so my gift from mom this Christmas is the reminder that my brothers and sister and I were born of love and raised in love.  Yes it said so in the letters.  And this year will be the celebration of that love as we gather together.  My Sister called this morning and told me how excited she was to be coming to my place for Christmas.  It made me feel so wonderful to hear her say that. I can't wait to show her the letters mom and dad wrote to each other the Christmas she was born.    I realized that we are all blessed by the love my parents had for each other.

Merry Christmas everyone.  Have a fabulous time.

And so this is Christmas....

By the time you read my post this we will be ready for one celebration and ramping up for the next.  Hopefully my house guests won't stay too long and I’ll get in a few days of skiing. 

This next year will be an exciting one for me.  I’m starting the year with two fun projects.  Again I’ll be taking mortgage clients to the Bon Jovi concert in February so get your application in to qualify for our famous fun event.  Last year we gave out 109 pairs of tickets and that was so much fun.  I’m also thrilled to sponsor an important fund raiser for Northumberland Services for Women.  A lunch with Gail Vaz-Oxlade will be held in Cobourg on March 26^th.  Tickets are $25 each and did I mention they make a great gift? 

So now I’m saying good bye to 2010 and looking back with pride.  I really enjoyed this year.  To all our clients I want to say thank you for allowing me to help you arrange your mortgage.  We are always here to help you through the ebbs and flows of the mortgage market.  In 2011 we are going to focus on the first time home-buyers and helping people pay off debts and get you toward investing in your future.

From all of the staff at The Mortgage Diversity Group, we wish you a wonderful holiday season.  Our office will be officially closed Dec.  27, 28.  We may also duck out for some holiday cheer intermittently for the rest of that week, so your patience is appreciated ;0)

Declutter your kitchen

I was getting the house ready for Christmas and things got out of control.  With my large family coming for the holidays I wanted to make the kitchen as efficient as possible.  Since I’m thinking of selling my home it was good time to declutter.  It was also a good excuse to surf the net for ideas.
The kitchen is one of the highlights of a home - whether you`re buying or selling - unless it`s overrun with household items. If you've been thinking of decluttering your kitchen, consider the following tips:

1.      Purge.
It`s believed that most of us use 20% of our kitchen gadgets and utensils 80% of the time. If you have a number of items cluttering your counter-tops and drawers that you haven`t used in a while, consider whether you really need it.

2.       Downsize.
If you only use your food processor for the occasional dip or blended drink, you may want to consider a more compact option - such as an electronic hand blender. I replaced mine with a Magic Bullet.

3.       Look at your storage options in a new light.
If you have a nice set of dishes or cutlery, why not put them on display. This Blog has quite a few creative ideas and I adopted some of them myself.  http://decork.blogspot.com/2009/02/creative-ways-to-store-dishes.html

A decluttered look may get you a few extra dollars for you home and that means a few less dollars on your next mortgage.  And you know me.... a penny saved is YOURS!