I’m gearing up for a busy week next week. I’ll be baking and getting ready for Thanksgiving and visiting family. I’m hoping to do a few thankful crafts with the girls and emphasize family and gratitude with them. I love Thanksgiving – a holiday all about enjoying yummy food with my family and taking time to reflect on how blessed we are. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t get much better than that

If you have a minute, check out some links I’ve enjoyed over the past couple weeks:

A friend of mine sent this link to me. Thanksgiving On A Budget from Epicurious. If you’re trying to figure out how to have all the things you love with a little less money then this link is worth checking out.

Amy from Amy Loves It is going green. She’s said goodbye to paper towels. I’m not too far behind her. I really don’t like spending money on things I throw away!

I love this post from Almost Frugal – The ABCs of Frugality.

Fortuitously Frugal has a post that I really identified with this week – Behind The Times And Loving It. I hear ya sister.

Check out the list of gift ideas and tutorials at Curiositys. I know for a fact that I’m making one of those things for a gift!

Want to know How To Make A Gift Bow Out Of Any Paper? Head over to Lifehacker and find out.

Smart Family Tips has a great recipe for a soup mix base. It’s a dry soup base that you make in bulk and then simply add broth when you need a comfy homemade soup. Great idea!

Congratulations are in order …

for Clever Dude – he and his wife are DEBT FREE! They paid off $113,000!

for Kate from Curiositys because she and Mike are expecting their FIRST BABY!

Both of those blogs are on my favorites list and I highly recommend them

Why I do what I do ~ I was contemplating whether to share this on here or not. I’ll share but I don’t want any family members calling to ask if it “means anything” because it doesn’t – deal? Ok, so our local newspaper does a feature called Letters To Santa. Kids write their letters to Santa and the paper publishes them as a special insert one day. We don’t make a big deal of Santa in our house but this year Chloe’s been talking about him a lot (she drives reindeer around the house) so I thought I’d try to transcribe her letter to Santa. I sat at my computer, ready to type as fast as I can  because my daughter is a chatterbox and I thought for sure she’d write Santa a novel. Here is the exact copy of her letter:

Dear Santa Claus,

Your reindeer are very soft. (Mommy asks- what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?) A baby. (Mommy says- ummmm, is there something else you’d like for Christmas?) No, just a baby.

Love, Chloe

David and I could NOT stop laughing. Of all the things. I said, “Sweetheart, Jesus brings babies, not Santa Claus. You’re going to have to ask him for something else ” … “but I only just want a baby Mama.”

Related posts:

1. Good Reads: Great Perspective
2. Apple Cranberry Stuffing
3. Frugal-Minded Holidays
4. Good Reads: Questions About Mommy
5. What To Do With Thanksgiving Leftovers

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