parties – Page 2 – Gracious Rain

December 30, 2010June 8, 2026

New Year’s Past

When my children were little one thing that was always a part of Christmas and New Year’s was the “cracker.” Not a cracker-cracker, like you’d eat with cheese, but a cracker like the paper ones you’d break open with a “crack” and find small prizes inside. One of the trinkets that was always a charming part of the cracker was a paper crown. They were quite fragile–being made out of tissue paper and all, but the kids loved them. Best part about them was that it was a fun tradition that they came to expect and love.

So, years later, when they were grown–we got really brave and decide not only to make our own crowns, but to hand make the crackers as well. We had a blast finding just the right loot to fill the crackers with for each family member.

And it was even more fun to force all the grown-ups to wear the crowns! HA!

If you’d like to make your own crackers or crowns–it’s so easy and there’s still time.

Click HERE for crowns

and HERE for crackers.

I hope you’ll come back and show us how they turn out!

December 15, 2010January 14, 2022

How The Other Half Lives

This–my friends, is what it looks like to watch an official Jazz game…

from “the box.” You know, the box—

where they feed you amazing, scrumptious food like pork loin and potatoes and cheesecake and soft fluffy rolls.

Oh, and we get to watch the amazing Jazz too. They were fabulous!

We could watch the game on the monitors, just like the folks at home…

or up really close with some hoity-toity binoculars…provided they’re turned around the right way, that is.

Hey, she’s two.

We won cool jackets and T-shirts and backpacks–just for the heck of it…

and then they fed us again!

I always imagined “the box” like a funny little crowded spot where you had to stand the whole time to see anything at all.

Yeah, was I ever wrong.

Certainly the most fun we’ve had in a long, long time–thanks to Bishop Thomas and the folks at Coke/Sprite.

How will be ever be content in the green seats again?

December 10, 2010June 7, 2026

Hanukkah Lights

Lighting the Menorah.

Telling the story of Hanukkah.

Preparing the feast.

Potato latkes–yum!

Family and friends.

Spinning the Dreidel.

The toy feast.

It was a lovely evening.

Thanks April and Jacob.

August 19, 2010June 3, 2026

A Blessing Way

When my pretty little niece Emily was expecting her very first and much prayed for baby daughter–after 5 boys!–a good friend threw her a well deserved baby shower…but with a twist.

In the invitation we were told that this was not just a baby shower but would be a “Blessing Way” as well. I’d heard of them before, but had never been to one. Wanting to know more, I searched online to better understand.

Turns out that while a typical Baby Shower is a way to help parents celebrate and prepare for the new baby coming into their lives, a Blessing Way is a ceremony designed to honor the new mother and the change her life is about to make. The idea too, is that she is surrounded by the women that she loves most in the world as they offer her their love, support and blessing as she moves into this sacred place.

Isn’t that lovely?

My favorite part about this event was that we were all asked beforehand to choose a bead or token of some type with the new mother in mind. Something that made us think of her in some way.

We would have the opportunity to give her the bead and explain our choice at the party–if we wanted to. Some friends chose to write a personal note rather than tell everyone.

So much love went into each choice that just talking about it made many of us mush-heads cry. It felt like a gratitude ceremony, not only to the new mom–but for mothers and women everywhere that have blessed our lives.

At the end the beads and tokens were all strung into a beautiful necklace for mom to keep and treasure for always.

It is such a beautiful thing to be able to put your hopes and wishes into an actual physical thing that will remind a dear one that she is so loved, so blessed and so valued every day of her life.