Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hannukah!!

Hello Everyone,

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I am so thankful for my husband who makes me proud of the man and Army Officer that he is. He is romantic, supportive, giving, and thoughtful. He makes me a better person, always makes me laugh and loves me and our fur baby Holly unconditionally. He has been so supportive of me getting my Seamstress Certification to now getting my BS in Fashion and Retail Management. He always encourages me to excel at all my craft's and this year I have been very busy with testing patterns and sewing things for him, Holly, our family and friends. He is still enjoying his assignment up in Canada. We are especially thankful for our beautiful forever home that we purchased in the spring. It has been a long dream come true for us and we are forever grateful.

I am thankful for my Mom who has taught me so much about being the woman I am today about life, love and happiness. You always told me to wait for the right man to come along and I love how you and my family love him so. You taught me how to be a good wife, daughter, sibling and friend. Thank you for being in my life! E, I am also very thankful to have such a wonderful sister. You are an amazing sister, sister-in-law, best friend, wife, mother and fur baby mama and aunt. To our wonderful brother-in-law E, we are thankful for you being part of our family and being a wonderful husband, father and brother-in-law. I am thankful for our nephews G and M...both a gift, which make us laugh and keep us on our toes. Thank you for being the sweet, loving boys that you are and always putting smiles on our faces. We love you both very much and miss you dearly.

I am thankful that my in-laws and my stepson will be celebrating Thanksgiving with us this year. We are so glad that you will be celebrating the holiday in our home this year.

I want to thank Sue for being such an amazing sewing instructor. You have taught me so much and I am thankful. You are such a wonderful friend. I hope this wonderful gift you have given me will be passed on to the students that I will eventually teach and getting my sister inspired to learn this beautiful craft as well.

I also wish all of our troops serving our Country and their families a very Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for keeping Americans and our country safe. Thank you to the Military families who stand by their side and support what they do. Please keep them in your thoughts every day.

Also, thank you to all my blogging friends out there, old and new, who have been supportive since I started blogging 4 years ago this past October. You have all been so kind with your encouraging words and funny comments and I have really enjoyed reading your blogs, learning from and getting to know you.

From my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving. May your day be filled with family, friends, food, and fun!

Happy Hanukkah!!

Hanukkah is known as The Festival of Lights and is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 B.C. Olive oil was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night every night. The story goes that there was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle.

It just happens to fall on Thanksgiving this year.

There is a custom of eating foods fried in olive oil to commemorate the miracle of a small flask of oil keeping the flame in the Temple lit for eight days. Traditional foods include potato pancakes, known as latkes and jam-filled doughnuts, called sufganiyot. Other Hanukkah traditions are Hanukkah gelt (chocolate money) and the dreidel game.  Dreidels are four-sided spinning tops that children play with and each side is imprinted with a Hebrew letter.

My Grandmother passed away 35 years ago today. I think about her every single day and miss her so very much.