Sadieday Traditions

Happy Sadieday!  We'd like to thank everybuddy for the comments on last week's Sadieday post.  We've decided to continue having positive, smile inducing posts on Sadieday as a way to honor our sisfur Sadie.  Another tradition that Mommy kept up was the New Year's Day stroll which is something that Sadie always loved to do...

Mommy went on a hike in the forest with three friends on a beautiful New Year's Day...

She was a little somber to be on a stroll without Sadie but enjoyed the time with her friends even though she cried for a bit after seeing a dog that looked like Sadie.  Her friends know how she is!  Anyway, she's glad she carried on the tradition and knows that Sadie was walking with her in spirit with a smile on her face...

We hope you carry on the tradition of getting out and enjoying an adventure in your neck of the woods!  And as always, be sure to spread smiles around on Sadieday and always!

Have a Happy Sadieday and a great weekend!

Christmas Traditions

The EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival hosted by Stormy Designs had the following choices:

1. Christmas traditions & recipes- Share Christmas traditions or your favorite holiday recipe.

2. Christmas spotlight- Show & tell of a Christmas item in your shop or your favorite gift idea in someone else's shop.

Since I recently showed some great gift ideas, I'll choose to share Christmas traditions. As a child I remember we always had a real tree that we'd go pick out from a tree farm and my dad would cut it down. Nothing smells better than a real tree! My husband and I continue that tradition but have only had two trees since moving to Oregon - where there are Christmas tree farms pretty much every where you go! Pictured below is our first Oregon tree in 2005 along with Sadie and KC - I sort of went overboard when picking it out and it was a lot taller than expected!

We always fix a special meal for Christmas Eve dinner that we don't have any other time of the year. Well, let me clarify that, I pick out the recipes and my husband cooks the meal since he's the chef in our family! My favorites are chosen from an Emeril Lagasse cookbook or inspired by other countries such as Chinese food or Italian food, etc.. As soon as dinner is complete we start a fire in the fireplace and open presents. We always have plenty of gifts for the pets and it's so fun to watch them open their presents - or just play with the wrapping paper! After all the presents have been opened and the parents called so I can report what we got, I love to go on walks around the neighborhood on Christmas Eve because it's so peaceful and the Christmas trees are all lit up and I love looking at the decorations on people's homes.

On Christmas Day we just have another fire going in the fireplace and enjoy a nice, relaxing day with just us and the furbabies!

Thanksgiving Traditions

This month's EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival theme choices were 1) What is your favorite tradition for the Thanksgiving holiday? or 2) How are you going to prepare your business for the holiday rush? Since this will be our first holiday season with our BeadedTail shop, I have no idea how to prepare so I chose the discuss my favorite traditions for Thanksgiving.

Growing up I always remember my mom's fantastic stuffing and spending the day with family. We have a small family and I'm an only child so Thanksgiving was always a nice time to get together with grandparents and celebrate the day with good food and football. On November 23, 1983, the day before Thanksgiving that year, I began dating my now husband and he became a part of every Thanksgiving celebration!

Since the early 1990's, after hubby and I moved from Kansas to Colorado and later to Oregon, we have been celebrating all holidays with just the two of us as jobs and pets keep us from traveling to visit my mom in Las Vegas or my dad, Grandma and other family in Kansas. They are busy too so are unable to come visit us during the holidays.

Even though it's just the two of us, we still fix a Thanksgiving dinner, although on a much smaller scale, and we also have to watch football. We'll start a fire in the fireplace and just enjoy a nice, quiet day. This year will be more special since it's the 25th anniversary of our first Thanksgiving together and this is the year of our 20th wedding anniversary too. And of course, getting to spend the day with Sadie, Isabella and Angel is just the dollop of whipped cream on the already perfect pumpkin pie!