{"id":379428,"date":"2014-12-16T23:09:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-16T23:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/16\/loosening-my-load-and-christmas\/"},"modified":"2014-12-16T23:09:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T23:09:00","slug":"loosening-my-load-and-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/16\/loosening-my-load-and-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Loosening My Load and Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Journeyers, it\u2019s been a busy week filled with holiday preparations and putting the last touches on our #BestTeachersGifts Giveaway!<\/span><\/div>\n
I made a surprise presentation to the fourth grade classes at a Groton Elementary School, to an educator who definitely understands the pay-it-forward phenomenon\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
He\u2019s going to share the items with the other two fourth grade classes!<\/span><\/div>\n
One of our mentors declined the package as she\u2019s not able to use the supplies the person who nominated her said she uses. That makes me a little bit sad, BUT, I\u2019m happy that there are so many other deserving mentors who would greatly benefit from this project.<\/span><\/div>\n
I have a couple of inquiries out with some out of town friends, but if they aren\u2019t able to secure a home, I\u2019ll reopen nominations for a teacher in grades six through twelve. <\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019m afraid I haven\u2019t taken many photos, but nonetheless, I have been making sure to pay homage to those moments that make me smile, that cause me to pause and appreciate the simple and glorious miracles our earth offers us each and every day.<\/span><\/div>\n
I had a nice discussion on healing grief with Lynda and Angie over at GriefDiaries.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>. Each week they host a guest speaker with all topics geared toward coping with grief, and all shows are archived. I\u2019ll post the link to our show once it has been processed and posted.<\/span><\/div>\n
Music is always at the top of my list and this month I\u2019ve been fondly remembering my time with Mannheim Steamroller lastDecember<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/div>\n
This week I put several lyric lines into my phone notes: The Eagles\u2019 \u201cRunning down the road trying to loosen my load\u2026got a world of trouble on my mind\u2026take it easy\u201d was the first to catch my attention.<\/span><\/div>\n
I love that tune, but let\u2019s just say I hope there aren\u2019t people out there who want to stone me!<\/span><\/div>\n
I had to smile when I thought about loosening my load. One: I can\u2019t wait for our holiday break from school! And two: the sad truth is that about the only thing I\u2019m loosening these days is my waistband. Thanking the fashion industry for giving us \u201cSuper Stretch!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Though I am coming down the homestretch of the final edits of the book proposal I\u2019m submitting to Hay House! Please, please, please keep sending out that positive energy for me and my next little book. <\/span>J<\/span><\/div>\n
Other happy moments included The Voice\u2026down to the final four!<\/span><\/div>\n
Traveling to DC to watch Fave at a competition where he took three gold medals, one best male for the event, and set three new personal records! So happy for my boy!<\/span><\/div>\n
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He’s getting ready to put that load over his head!<\/div>\n
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After the event, we enjoyed one of the most fabulous Italian meals I\u2019ve ever had.<\/span><\/div>\n
If you\u2019re ever in Washington DC, Bucca di Beppo has the freshest food to be found and I think they must have the largest meatballs on the planet!<\/span><\/div>\n
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The other half of this beast is already on someone’s plate!<\/span><\/div>\n
Christmas music and Christmas movies!<\/span><\/div>\n
Christmas shopping\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
Christmas lights\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
And this, a man who whistled while he walked up to the cash register\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
The tune?<\/span><\/div>\n
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
What about you, Journeyer, what moment(s) made you laugh or smile or feel a sense of peace this past week? Loosen up and share one or two with us!<\/span><\/div>\n
Until next time, yours in hope, healing, and happiness,<\/span><\/div>\n
~AE<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>Soon<\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journeyers, it\u2019s been a busy week filled with holiday preparations and putting the last touches on our #BestTeachersGifts Giveaway! I made a surprise presentation to the fourth grade classes at a Groton Elementary School, to an educator who definitely understands the pay-it-forward phenomenon\u2026 He\u2019s going to share the items with the other two fourth grade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1292,316,116,317,1349,320],"class_list":["post-379428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bestteachersgifts","tag-happyhappens","tag-christmas","tag-finding-happiness-in-your-day","tag-grief-diaries","tag-random-happiness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Christmas-2BTree-2B-26-2BGifts.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}