Posts Tagged: holidays

Reducing Holiday Stress-O-Rama

December 8th, 2017
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Santa_and_Puppies

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I recently posted some thoughts about December and it’s ups and downs.

More than any time of the year, expectations run high and emotional triggers seem to be lie in wait all around us.  There’s shopping and decorating and socializing and it’s all supposed to go according to schedule and be everything that you want it to be.

You know.  Like the holidays in the magazines and on television.

Except that in real life that doesn’t happen.

And it’s okay.  In fact, it’s more than okay.

It’s just what life is.… Read More

Father’s Day Without Dad

June 18th, 2017
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    Sometimes the most profound moments can happen in the middle of doing something ordinary. My Brother, Tom, and I were recently grocery shopping for our Mom.  At 86, our Mom has paid her dues and shouldn’t have to put even her little toe inside a grocery store anymore.  Sometimes she does like to get out and do her own errands and browse around the grocery store but on this particular day she was tired and needed some essentials so my brother and I decided to go for her. Let me pause here to quickly tell you a little… Read More

Love Connections

February 14th, 2017
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Valentine’s Day may be what some people call a “Hallmark Holiday” but love is always worth celebrating whether you embrace all of the commercial hoopla or just quietly light a candle, give a meaningful hug or tap out a telephone number to connect with a special person. Love gives us hope.  Love makes us feel all tingly inside and helps our resilient hearts beat a little faster.  Love is exciting. Love is also risky.  To find it is definitely a roll of the emotional dice and, depending on the person, you may want to immediately throw the dice.  Or as … Read More

Merry Christmas 2016

December 24th, 2016
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Photo Courtesy of Victoria Magazine Just like you, I have surrounded myself this past week with rolls of wrapping paper, scotch tape, ribbons and layers of tissue paper as I have carefully and lovingly wrapped Christmas presents for my family and friends. Some of the presents made me smile for they brought back how I felt when I found the particular item and how I immediately knew it was the right gift.  Score! But as I came to the presents that I had bought for my parents they seemed woefully inadequate. My parents are now in their eighties and at… Read More

Me As Buddy The Elf

December 20th, 2016
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Photo Courtesy of Country Living This holiday season I feel a bit like Buddy from the popular Christmas movie, Elf. Remember the scene where Buddy the elf, who is magically played by Will Ferrell, travels from the North Pole to New York City to find his father and explains to his new family that elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup? That would be me this holiday season.  Except for the candy corn, which I have never liked because I think it tastes like some kind of plastic or wax.… Read More

Let’s Rise Up

November 12th, 2016
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  My late husband, Tom O’Toole, as a young boy   Good Morning Friends: So how was your week? I’m not trying to be flip.  I am genuinely concerned. We live in a topsy turvy world and you would have to be stationed in some unbelievably remote part of the globe not to be aware of the election results in this week’s U.S. presidential contest.  Seriously, it has been quite a freaking week and everyone I know (including myself) is still absorbing what happened. On top of the surprising election results, my family received some sad personal news that I … Read More

Holiday Triggers

July 4th, 2016
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  The Fourth of July and other long holiday weekends which happen during these spectacular summer months are truly the best for unwinding from the stresses of our daily go-go routines. More time is spent outdoors relaxing and doing the things that we all look forward to: gardening, swimming, walking, grilling and just chillin’ and loungin’ in our favorite space. But those activities can also serve as a difficult reminder that a loved one is no longer with us and while I hope that those reminders don’t stop you from going ahead and doing what you planned, those wistful thoughts… Read More

Everyone’s A Paddy Today!

March 17th, 2016
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    When my son was in kindergarten, his wonderful teacher had a great way for the children to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. She took all of the last names of the boys and girls in his class and wrote them on shamrocks made of green construction paper and then as an added surprise, she added either “Mc” or “O'” in front of the names to make everyone feel they were Irish.  Just to give you an idea, Smith would become McSmith or O’Smith.  Then she taped the shamrocks to the front of the kindergarten entrance for the whole school… Read More

Happy New Year 2016

December 31st, 2015
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And now let us welcome the New Year Full of things that have never been.                                    ~ Rainer Maria Rilke On this last day of 2015, I find myself reflecting, probably just as you are, on how the year went by so quickly, on some of the good and bad things that happened and what I have might learned from all of these amazing experiences. It seems like the natural thing to do. 2015 has been quite a year, bringing all sorts of surprises, but it also brought me a renewed sense of discovery.  A sense of appreciating instead of just… Read More