This man's father died leaving him in charge of the family business when he was only 30. He prayed for inspiration and guidance to know what his dad would have done. He expected to feel some kind of guidance, but he didn't. He had to make hard decisions based on what he thought his dad wanted.

One night his dad appeared to him in a dream. The man asked his dad why his dad had not helped him with guidance or assurance of any kind.

The father replied, "Son, we really don't care about the business up here. What we care about very much is what you become because of your business."

That is a great lesson I hope I will never forget. What we get in life is inconsequential, but what we become in life makes all the difference.

What we become on the inside makes all the difference.

Our experiences build and shape our souls into fountains of pure clean water or filthy dry empty wells.

It takes constant filtering to keep our soul water moving and clear.

How clear is my soul water today?
Today: good.
Last night: Bad.

I was feeling resentment. I prayed for it to go away. Today resentment is gone. I feel clear, even though the situation hasn't changed. Only my heart has changed. It feels better.

Yay, Christmas will feel better!

Merry Christmas!

Once I went to a Simply Fun home party.  www.simplyfun.com.  It was fun, like their name.  I bought a few games to give as gifts.  I don't know how fun they were, but my family in other states said the games I gave them were fun.  I actually wish I had kept them for us, ha ha!

The game I kept for our family is called Pop Belly.  We have enjoyed playing it.

Here are 22 of my favorite Boredom Busters from Simply Fun.  I love them because they are pretty much free.  

1. Self-Portrait Feet- Trace around your foot on a piece of paper.  Draw a face in it for a funny self portrait.

2. Create A Story- One player starts a story with one word, each player adds a word to create the story.

3. Time Capsule- Fill an empty container with various items.  It could be a picture, recipes, or family news.  Date the items.  Bury the container somewhere it won't be found for awhile.

4. Tube People- Use paper towel or toilet paper tubes to create people with markers, paper and glue.  Make a whole town!

5. Fall Leaves fun- Press colorful leaves with an iron between 2 wax paper pieces. Cut them out to use as name tags, arrange a wreath, scatter for a centerpiece, or embellish cards and picture frames.

6. Texture Paper- put a piece of paper on a brick or cement and rub a crayon across it.  See how the texture shows.  Find different textures you can use to create a piece of art, wrapping paper, card, etc.

7. Sardines- Reverse version of hide and seek.  One person is a hider.  The others are seekers and close their eyes and count.  Then the seekers look for the hider and if found, hide with them until the last person finds them all.  this person is now the hider. 

8. Stick nameplates- Make a name plate for your door using paper, glue and sticks.

9. Back-board- Pretend your finger is chalk and your friend's back is a backboard. Take turns drawing on each other's back and guessing what is drawn or written.

10. Charades- Take turns acting out a movie, book, character or animal.  You don't necessarily need slips of paper to play. Be creative!  Whoever guesses correctly goes next.  For car travel, use your hands and face.

11. Follow Me- Everyone follows one leader exactly how they walk.  Make people walk in circles, backwards, funny, hop, or skip.  

12. Freeze Frame- One person is "it."  Everyone else moves around wild and crazy until "it" yells, "Freeze Frame!" Everyone must immediately stop.  Whoever doesn't stop is out. "It" yells, "Go!" to start moving again.  Play until only one person is left.  They are the new "it." 

13. Memory Tray- Place about ten objects on a tray and have everyone study it for a minute.  Take the tray away.  Have the everyone write down everything they remember on the tray.  Who has the best memory? 
Another version:  remove one item from the tray and see can remember which item is missing.

14. Draw What I Say- Draw a picture.  Then have everyone attempt to draw the same thing as you describe it, without using specifics like "wheel for a car" or "window for a house."  See what crazy pictures are drawn.

15. 4-Square- Draw 25 dots on a piece of paper, 5 rows across and 5 rows down.  Take turns with players joining 2 dots each turn.  When you complete a square, put your initials inside to claim it.  At the end, count initials to see who made the most.

16. Slide a coin- All players have same size coin and slide them across a table.  The player that gets the closest to the edge without going over wins. 

17. Odd thing out- Have evryone leave a room and you move or remove one object.  Call them back in to see if they can spot what is changed or removed.

18. I Spy-  For car travel, you don't have to have the object in sight.  One person starts by saying, "I spy with my little eye_____" and fills in the blank with a generic description of anything. People guess what it is.  Winner spies next. 

19. Dry-erase drawing- Dry erase markers make fun drawings on car windows or home windows.  Write backwards so others can read it.  

20. No-no words- When you start a road trip, pick 3 words nobody can say.  Then try to trick them into saying them!  change words for added fun. 

21. Going on a trip- Leader starts the game with, "I am going on a trip and taking ______ with me."  The next player repeats the line including the item and adds an item to take along.  The game continues as players add items to the list until someone forgets an item.  They are out of the game.  Game continues until only one person is left. 

22. Travel ABC game variation- While traveling, search for something that starts with the letter A.  Next B, and then C.  Play until all the letters of the alphabet are found. 

A cardboard box is a safe and easy way to make a snow cave. Or snow tunnel. Or snow fort. Or whatever you want to call it.

Anyway it was fun.

Yay, we got a tree! We've never chosen this kind of tree before. It's an alpine from Montana. We love Montana! And we love this tree!

Four days later we finished putting ornaments on it.

A mishap with the lights delayed the decorating. I strung about ten strands of lights all hooked together. They all went out that night. Bummer! I googled and figured out that I had too many strands linked together. Luckily we have an extension cord with four separate plugs along it so I could separate the strands into groups of three.

Yay, I didn't have to re-string the whole tree! I wouldn't have anyway. We would have had a tree without working lights, ha ha. I like the natural tree look. Alpines are beautiful on their own. I wish we had some growing in our house! Or at least around our house.