Are you ready to embrace Self Love in 2013?

I've been a busy Dominee lately! I decided that it was time to buckle down and create this Self Love Planner that's been bouncing around in my head this entire year.

And guess what?

I did it!

I am so proud and bursting with joy over my new baby! I tried some new things, tinkered with some new programs and I think it turned out completely rock balls awesome.

I want to share it with you and I really really REALLY want to hear what you think. This is like the prototype for what's coming in the future so lemme know what you like and what you want improved upon! The price is $13 (only $8 if you are signed up for the newsletter and using the super secret discount code) and I feel good about this! Really freakin' good.

This is the first project that I've released that I actually have everything set up and ready days before the launch. And you want to know another secret?

I don't feel scared, not even a bit.

This one feels right.

This one makes me really proud in a way that the others didn't. (Shh... I think I'm coming into my self confidence here) I'm not full of doubts, I'm not thinking that it's not-good-enough, I'm pleased as punch and I hope I feel more of this in the future!

Anyway, share it, like it, tweet it, print it out and kiss it, bequeath it to your heirs, and all that jazz.
Sign up for my affiliate program to get 50% of the price of the planner each time someone buys it through your link.

I totally love you.

Thanks so much! (Clicky the link and check it out)

P.S. I'm in desperate need of testimonials to make the sales page all shiny so send 'em to Dominee@blessingmanifesting.com and I will hug you and squeeze you and love you for eber and eber. (Which is a really long time, in case you didn't know.)

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What I Learned in 2012: Business Edition

It's still really hard to identify myself as a business woman. I mean yeah, I have a business and I have girly bits, but the term business woman puts into my head the vision of a powersuit and a corporate office.

Not someone who sits around in her jammies with a cup of coffee.

This year has been a huge year for me as far as my business goes. It has been epic. No matter what I do in the years to come, I know that this year has been, and will always be, the most important. It will be the one that I look back on and know that this has been the year where it all started to come together. When I came into my own. I have learned a lot and I will try to share with you the important bits. Now, I know my business outlook isn't the norm, I'm cautious, and I'm slow, and I take my time. Stability and security are two of the most important things to me. My business reflects me and that's okay. To each their own, right?

Emulation is alright, but authenticity is even better. 
When I was starting out I really didn't have a clear idea of who I wanted to be, I just knew who I wanted to be like. They inspired me to do what they did so I tried to be like them as best I could. In doing that, I discovered my own style. I discovered what it was that I liked to do and how I liked to do it, even though they did it differently. It allowed me to learn some really important lessons. I can only ever be me and they can only ever be them. Try as I might to be just like them, it won't ever happen, so all that is left is to be the best me that I can be. I'm glad I discovered my authenticity.

Investing in myself and in my work is something that I needed to do... eventually.
Starting out I wanted to do everything on the cheap. I didn't want to invest in myself because what if I *gasp* failed. Wasted money, down the drain, kaput. You know what? That was a good fear for me to have. It was a healthy fear and a realistic fear. I had nothing to lose in the beginning and that let me have comfort and security, something that I need as the Dominee that I am. Starting out I used blogger to blog (still do!), weebly for the website (first the free version and now the paid), and all of my products came from the program gimp (free), and openoffice (also free). I made my layout myself, I did everything myself. Damn good learning experience, I'll tell you that!

This last year I did Leonie's Business Course, I paid for a domain name, I bought photoshop and Microsoft Works, I've bought e-books on blogging and business, I've paid for ads, and invested in the things that I need including subscriptions to e-junkie and mailchimp (and guess what? I'm getting an awesome new camera soon! VIDEOS ARE COMING).

Starting out with nothing and still  being able to move forward and make something out of myself showed me that I was worth investing in!

I need my day job.
This year there was a huge focus in my online tribe on that big step of quitting the day job. I read blogs and articles that to really believe in yourself and your dream you had to give it your whole focus. That quitting your job would be this huge miracle for you, and you would succeed if you wanted it bad enough. For awhile I got caught in that dream. I wanted to quit my day job so bad. I began to resent going to work, and I was miserable. I kept being taunted with the thought to do it. Do it do it do it. And then I ran into reality.

I don't make enough right now to survive on my own. I don't have a spouse or family members to fall back on if I fail. I felt like a failure for thinking in terms of failure. I'm a positive-thinker, and a manifester, and a make-shit-happener. Shouldn't I cross my fingers, hope for a positive outcome, and then leap-of-faith?

No.

That's not for me. I realized that my business would suffer and so would my personality. Blessing Manifesting would cease to be about what is fun and what feels good. It would become 'What do I have to create to pay my rent this month?'. My bottom line would change and I don't want that. At least not now. When I get burnt out and don't want to write or hang out on social media, or blog, for days or a week at a time, nothing bad happens. In fact, nothing but good happens because I get to rest and replenish and be better when I return. Always stressing out about making ends meet would rob me of that (and ohhhh would there be some stressin'!)

Maybe quitting my day job would push me to do more, and be more, but right now, I'm happy just being me.

My business thrives on two things: Passion and Rest.
They're a bit opposite, I know, but they are so connected for me. Earlier this year I had a week of vacation from the day job. I decided that I was going to write enough blog posts for a month and then re-do this and re-do that and have the most EPIC vacation-not-vacation vacation EVER. I wrote and wrote and wrote and then I got tired of writing. Still I pushed myself and kept pushing until the very thought of writing made me roll my eyes in annoyance. I kept pushing though it (because I had a plan ya know) and by the end of the week I literally wanted nothing to do with my website, so I abandoned it for a few weeks and was in a horrible mood the whole time. That happened a few more times this year and then I learned the big secret:

Rest allows me to love what I do. 

If I had to work on Blessing Manifesting every minute of every day, I would not love it. I learned that when I get that first inkling of tiredness, I need to shut down, take a break, instead of push through it. For me, the pushing is the damaging part. Rest + Blessing Manifesting = best life ever.

I'm not good at socializing or networking so I stopped trying to be perfect at it.
I have a habit of being an anti-social hermit (OMG the secret is out!). All the biz articles I read starting out said I had to be social, I had to *gulp* talk to people. I made tons of friends and connections online. I e-mailed, I guest posted, I commented on other's blogs, I started conversations on facebook and twitter, I turned in to a social butterfly. Then I got burnt out really quickly. I lovelovelove all of the wonderful people I met and got to talk to, especially the friendships that were formed, but it felt really overwhelming to me to keep up with it all. I remember one day I just started crying because there were so many people that I had to respond to, and I felt so appreciative that they wanted to talk to me, but it was so overwhelming. I wanted to retreat so badly.

That was my hint (and I listened) that I need to step back a little and dip into conversation when I really feel called to. It's hard admitting that being uber social is something that I'm not good at but creating boundaries in that aspect of my business helps me excel in other ways.

And I'm totally okay with that.

You all know that I love you, even if sometimes I go all feral cat and hiss and run away when you try to talk to me... right... right? I kid, I kid. Bazinga. But really, you guys are my peoples and I heart ya. So that's what I've learned business-wise this year. I think there might be more, so if you see a Part 2 pop up at some point, don't be surprised!

If you have your own business, what's the most important thing you learned? What's your favorite of mine?

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What I'm Reading 12/29

I read so many blogs and have so many soul-sisters that rock, that I never seem to have enough time to showcase their awesomeness! I thought I'd take a bit of time today to share with you some blog posts from the online family that I've especially enjoyed.

Give 'em a read!

Listening to your Muse! Petrea at Art Therapist shares the importance of letter writing, even when writing to yourself! Get in touch with your creative desire!

Top 10 Tips For Avoiding PMS this Christmas from Jo MacDonald. Yeah, yeah, I know Christmas is over, but these tips can be used all of the time and I dunno about you but I need reminders every now and then to do the good-for-my-body stuff.

A great post about moderation from Claim Your Treasure, and how it’s not a bad thing! Read the three suggestions for applying moderation to enhance your life! Good stuff! (Especially for me because I'm an all-or-nothing kind of girl)

Check out the Hag’s Den, 13 Moons - A Goddess Journey Through The Year, a journey of moonlight dancing, meditation, and realisation of your divine feminine self! Sibylle is made of all sorts of awesome and I love who she is and what she does.

Gina at VedaSun is the anxiety busting Goddess and in "How the bleeeeep do I get rid of anxiety?" she shares a very important secret on how to deal with anxiety. Her advice is priceless and has always been a great help to me.

Last but not least, Jane of Ardis talks about her Solstice celebration and shares some really wonderful questions that she asked herself! I think I need to take a page out of her book and do the same.

Those are some of my favorites from this week and I look forward to sharing more in the future. Feel free to share your favorite blog or a post that really resonated with you. I love finding new blogs to read.

Mwah!

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The 10 Best Blog Posts of 2012!

This year has been a great year for me as far as blogging goes. Currently Blessing Manifesting is at 322 posts and 130425 pageviews! I can't wait to see where I'll be at this time next year. I feel this big shift in energy and in creativity and I hope that I do it proud in the coming year.

I hope that I am able to continue to shine, to be bright and brilliant, and to share all of the things that are in me to share.

I am so proud. Really I am. I know that I'm not the best technical writer and my grammar probably sucks, but I am still so proud for showing up. That's all I can ever do. Imperfect as I am. Here are some of my most popular and my favorite blog posts of 2012. I would LOVE (and love and love and love) if you'd share with me which ones are your favorites and which ones really resonate with you.

Let Others Help Themselves

I feel another's hurt and pain so clearly sometimes that it becomes my own. This is especially true for people that I am close to. I use to find myself obsessing about their problems, feeling hurt over them, anxious because of them, and racking my brain on how to FIX it.

I was living another person's issues and feelings and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that's a bad idea. It's wonderful to want to help your friends, to want to make them happy, to make their life better, but there's a thin line between supporting someone carrying a burden, helping them to carry a burden, and then trying to take the burden from them and carry it yourself. Read more...

Closing the Door On The Past

How often do you look back on the past and is it in celebration or to punish yourself? The thing about the past is it is there both to teach us and to torture us at the same time. There's a trick to it. The past is there to be learned from, the key here is learn.

This does not mean that you get to bring up the past to make yourself feel bad. To live a life full of regrets. Learn the lesson and then move joyfully on, putting it behind you. Read more...

I Am Lonely and I Am Pure Spirit

As you may know, I am single and I have been for years. Most days I love it. Somedays not so much. Oftentimes, I think that it wouldn't be so bad if I had a supportive group of friends around me, but I don't. I know that is something that I need to work on and I am trying.

I still get so heart-achingly lonely.

Yesterday I launched my latest ebook and started my life coaching practice. At the end of the day I had no one to celebrate with. No one to tell me that they were proud of me.  Read more...

5 Ways To Embrace Joy

Joy: A feeling of great pleasure and happiness. We can find joy within (and outside of) ourselves in a variety of ways. You should know yourself inside and out. You should know how to take care of yourself, how to make yourself happy, and how to do sweet things for yourself.

You'd be amazed at how delighted you can make yourself feel. Read more...

Wisdom From Lost's John Locke

Every struggle that you go through makes you stronger. You might wish with every fiber of your being that someone was there to stop the suffering (most times that only person that can stop it is you) but surviving it makes you stronger. It makes you more prepared to face the next struggle. Even if you don't see it now, or a year from now, or five years from now, doesn't mean it's not buried under there somewhere. Read more...

5 Ways To Stop Hating Your Body

The thing that always annoys me is the pictures that start out "Real women... (have curves/ aren't a size zero/ ect) To which I say "Poo poo!" Now I completely understand curvy women wanting to say "Look, I can be what I am and still be beautiful." but to do that at the expense of those women that don't have curves or are naturally thin, is no better than the media who likes to tell you how fat you are.

Real women come in all shapes and sizes. The end. Nobody should be defined by their body shape. Read more...

No babies for me. 

The older I get, the more frequently I hear the question and the more frequently I get asked by strangers if I have kids. That question is like an instant ice-breaker when you're meeting someone new. It's something to bond over, something to talk about, and if you don't have kids, people want to know why not. The closer I get to turning thirty, the more this question pops up, and the more resolve I have about my decision. I am never going to have kids. I've been met with a lot of different reactions to that answer. Read more...

5 Ways To Be Happy

There's nothing spectacular about my life (except that it's all mine and I love it) and if you really looked at it, there'd be tons of reasons for me not to be happy. I mean, I work at Walmart and I'm a spinster-crazy-cat-lady-without-cats. I could go on about all of the things that are wrong, all of the people that have hurt me, or been mean to me, and I could unpack all of my baggage right now, but the thing is, the bad stuff, it's there, but it's not worth ignoring the good stuff. My fab friends, my online pals, my soul-work, the Autumn wind blowing fresh air into my cozy, lil', apartment. There are so many things to be happy about that the not-so-happy stuff is just a few drops in the bucket of a good life. Read more...

Live Your Amends 

"You can't change what you've done, but you can change who you are and improve your life. It's hard to explain why living amends work. They do, somehow they just set you free." When I heard this part, it spoke to me so deeply, and I realized that's what I've been doing, in my own fumbling way. My life is about being of service and doing good work. I really, honestly, with my whole heart want to make a difference in someone's life, in YOUR life. Read more...

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words of Self Love 

Pictures seemed like proof, hard, factual evidence, that I was unattractive, and who wants visible proof of that? I was letting my poor self-esteem and my bad self-image stop me from making memories, it stopped me from noticing the beauty in my face, and the beauty inside of myself. Lately I've been taking more pictures, (thank you smart phone + instagram) and allowing myself to fully believe that no picture is a bad picture because each picture that I take shows me, and that in itself makes it beautiful, because I am beautiful.
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Which one is your favorite?!

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9 Things I Learned in 2012

2012 was a decent year for me. In fact, I would even say it has been the best year of my life so far. Nothing earth-shattering happened, nothing life-changing occurred, and that within itself is what made it amazing.

There was no drama, no huge revelations, no deep, dark, sinister, depressions. I can totally dig more years like that!

Here's a list of what I learned this year.

I do not have to punish myself for being the person that I used to be. Punishing myself does not resolve me of the things that I did in the past. The only thing that I can do is live better, and I am.

Practicing epic self care has changed my life. There's a difference between knowing self care and implementing it into your daily life. This year I began to practice what I preached and it's been amaaaazing.

I realized that I'm a freakin' control freak. It is funny that I really didn't notice it before, seeing as how my word of the year was "Surrender". Letting go of control is something that I am still working on. Not being attached to outcomes is a hard thing to learn, which is what I've learned!

Other people's opinions about my body are irrelevant. It's easy to know it, but it's hard to let it sink in, but it's truth. People can say what they want. Their words don't matter. When I look in the mirror I truly love what I see now. It was a harder journey than I wanted it to be.

I have learned that I need to listen to myself more often. I've always had a habit of letting other people's opinions have more weight than my own, but that's truly no way to live. I'm much happier when I listen to what my heart tells me to do in all things. That's when you really start to become authentic.

I can let go of the people that don't belong in my life. I am not obligated to keep them. They do not  inherently deserve a spot in my life just because. If they earned that spot in the past, it doesn't mean they get to keep it forever. I deserve to have people in my life out of love, not obligation.

When you love who you are and when you embrace your self-confidence, amazing things happen around you. People are drawn to you in a way that they are not drawn to other people. It's a pretty amazing thing to realize people like you for liking yourself and it freaks me out a little bit too, hermit that I am.

Speaking my truth, about not having babies, about my past experiences, about my depression, it all has had it's purpose. A wonderful purpose of letting others know that they are not alone. Sharing my story is something that I have lost the fear of doing.

I've learned that being the main character in my own story is way better than just being a supporting one. I was always putting other people first, it was always about them and never about me. Allowing my life to be about me and what I want? Best thing ever.

Will you share with me one thing that you've learned this year?

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What I've been up to!

At this moment I'm watching the movie "Brave" while covered up in a nice warm blanket (as is my way) relaxing while a corn bag sits on my belly warming the monthly cramps away. I can think of worse ways to spend my day.

My day job has been hectic and crazy, with more hours put in than I'd have liked, but I am glad the holiday rush is over. I'm glad that normal can return.

My heart is still a bit aching and sore in some ways, as stories of violence done to women and children pervade the news. I just breathe through that and remember how important it is to just love, love, love.

Have you recovered from the holidays yet? I hope yours were full of joy, bounty, and much merriment. I celebrated the holidays in a quite way, my own way.

It was what I needed. It nourished me in a way that I was desperately seeking. It allowed me to get my head where it needed to be. I've been a bit quiet online, but it's been the good kind of quiet.

The kind of quiet that means I'm up to something!

sneak peek!

I've been working on (and 99% finished with!) my latest project, the 2013 Self Love Planner + Workbook. I'm so excited about it. It's the best thing (by far) that I've created. If it was a pregnancy it would be an easy one. I have no worries about birthing it out into the world. With all of my other projects and e-books I've always felt this huge fear and rush of insecurity and not-good-enoughness. I always drag my feet towards the end of a project, trying to delay it and then rushing around like I'm losing my mind when I hit a deadline and I'm not finished. It's all frantic and fearful. Not this time. I believe it will go out into the world (by the end of the month!!!!) and do what it needs to do and all will be right with the world. That my dears, is a good feeling to have. Means I've got my head in the proper place. *nods*

Random topic of conversation here: Is anyone else addicted to Downton Abbey? It's been my company through most of the putting together of the workbook and it makes the work even more enjoyable. I work better with mild distractions! In the last few weeks I've made it through seasons one and two and I am loathing and anticipating the watching of season 3, it's always sad when you catch up!

I've been feeling a lot of transformation happening within myself lately. Oftentimes I teeter between wanting to change and actually finding the energy or motivation to do so. Take my spirituality for example, it's so easy to want to devote time in my day to prayer and meditation, yet I find myself sleeping in so that I don't have the time, or staying up late reading. There comes a point when you must decide wishful thinking vs really truly wanting it. For me, it's involving a lot of resistance, in a lot of areas of my life, but I feel like this is the time to sort it all out in my head and make those sorts of commitments!

It's all good stuff.

I think that's the gift the end of the year gives us, we are forced to look backwards and see what we have been, so we may look forward and discover who we want to become. I feel like each new year presents itself as a blank canvas, ready to be painted with whatever colors we choose. What colors has this year been for you? I would say that mine have been soft blues and purples. The year before that felt quite grey. I think this year shall be yellow, with bursts of turquoise and purple and pink.

Is it odd that I think in colors?

I think it's time for me to wander off to bed, maybe with a pit-stop to a warm bath first. Tonight I plan on writing and writing and writing. So many things to share. What I learned in 2012, What I learned from my business in 2012, my word of the year, and a new version of 39 Things You Need to Know in 2012 (One of my most popular posts ever!).

I look forward to seeing you around!

"Our fate lives within us. We only have to be brave enough to see it."

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Protect Your Sensitive Soul

Have you ever cried while watching a movie? Or when your favorite character in a novel dies? Have you ever been around someone that was sad and you felt those emotions yourself?

That's empathy.

Empathy is the ability to recognize and feel the emotions that are being experienced by someone else. You are able to understand, be aware of, and be sensitive to, the feelings and thoughts of others. Compassion and empathy are often intertwined.

Empathy is a really great quality to have. It allows you to connect with other people and form bonds and relationships, it helps you to be a good listener, and a wonderful healer. Empathy can also be a lot of other things.

Frustrating.

Confusing.

Overwhelming.

Hurtful.

I'm naturally a very sensitive person and empathy often goes hand-in-hand with that. I pick up moods and feelings very easily and this can be very problematic at times. My good moods drop significantly when being around people who aren't happy. I feel another's hurt and pain so clearly sometimes that it becomes my own. For example, one of my friends was up for a promotion at work and when they didn't get it, I legitimately cried because I was so upset for them. That's when I have to allow myself to step back and take care of my own needs and my own emotional wellness. I've learned a few things in my journey.

Shielding

There are a ton of ways to shield yourself. Shielding is making a mental bubble or shield around yourself and not allowing the things that you don't want in, get in. This is great for the workplace, especially if you work with a lot of negative and grouchy people. All you need to do is picture some sort of shield or bubble around yourself. Repelling all of the yuckies and keeping you safe and protected from the negative juju.

Check out

I pride myself on being an excellent listener but sometimes in a conversation all you can do is check out and revert to a polite smile and a head nod as opposed to letting what they sink in and bother you. It's also an excellent idea to use your imagination if you able. When you are in those tense family situations, or in an unhappy environmental, get thee to thy mental happy place! Transport your mind to some place calm and happy.

Self Awareness

Become aware of what your feelings are and how that is separate for what you are feeling for someone else. It can be hard to distinguish between them sometimes, especially when it's someone close to you. Ask yourself "What am I feeling?" then look at what you need to feel better. If the answer to what you need to feel better is about someone else then chances are it's time to step back into yourself.

Put Yourself First

Always remember that you were put on this earth to live your life first. You can't live your life for your spouse, your children, or your friends. Of course they are a big part of it and you make sacrifices for them, and that's wonderful, but make sure that you are allowing yourself to have a life for you as well. Do not got so caught up in meeting other people's needs that you forget your own!

Mwah! xoxo

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What the movie Butter taught me.

Last week I was relaxing and decided to watch the movie "Butter". It's a quirky comedy about a little girl in foster care, who decides she wants to enter a butter-sculpting competition at the state fair. She goes up against the wife of the local butter-sculpting hero and hilarity and rivalry ensue. It's a very sweet, funny, and touching comedy.

There was a part that I found especially wonderful and I really enjoyed it and I wanted to share it with you. It takes place in the car outside of a lodge where the main character, a little girl by the name of Destiny, is about to sign up to enter the butter-sculpting contest. 

Her foster dad gives her the pep-talk which ends up being the opposite of positive thinking, but I love it.

Ethan Emmet: "Don't tell Jill, she always likes me to think positive, but what I like to do is this: I would imagine all of the bad things that could possibly happen if you enter this contest. Like, you could die of a tragic butter overdose. There could be a rabid grizzly bear hiding inside this very moose lodge ready to tear your face off."

Destiny: "There could be a python inside."

Ethan: "What if this place is full of monkeys with a deadly virus?"

Destiny: "There could be the ghost of Hitler."

Ethan: "What if there's no gravity in there and you float up and bang your head on the ceiling and then all of a sudden gravity kicks in and then you bang your head on the floor?"

Destiny "There could be a black hole that would suck me all up."

Ethan: "What if this place is full of good looking British vampires?"

Destiny: "The worst of all of them."

Ethan: "They're so pale."

Destiny: "Or hungry cannibals!"

Ethan: "It could happen. So think about all of that and ask yourself, really what's the worst that can happen?"

Destiny: "I could be terrible and lose."

Ethan: "Yeah, yeah, you could, but could you live with that?"

The moral of the story? Don't let the fear of what could happen stop you from following your dreams and being brave. 

You can totally do it.

Whatever it is that you want to do.

Even if you do fail, chances are, you'll be okay in the end. 

Unless you get attacked by rampaging hippos, then you might just be on your own.

I love you.

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Winter Solstice a time of reflection

The Winter Solstice is coming upon us, and I do not know about you, but with the first wintery wind, I was feeling the effects of it.

A time for Quiet. A time to Withdrawal. A time for Reflection.

It hit me harder than it has in years past, maybe because this year has been one of movement and passion, and so many wonderful things. Now is the time to sit with it, process everything, and begin refilling the well.

It's kind of nice.

I've learned over this past year when to take a break. When to slow down and when to step back. In the beginning I was so afraid that taking a break would make me fall into laziness, it would make me lose my passion and motivation, so I would push and push until I felt burnt out and yucky. The lesson that finally sunk in was that when I choose to step back and relax before it gets to that point, I am so much happier!

When I take a break at the precise moment when my mind and body first tells me to, I spend that break resting, yet at the same time feeling love and passion for my business. When I'm ready to dive back in again it's with excited fingers that are ready to dance over the keyboard joyously. Right now, it's all about slow, sluggish, energy, but there's excitement underneath it all. Reflections of gratitude and transformation.

Today's Oracle Card is Winter Solstice from the Earth Magic deck. In the card you see a still and quiet scene, the bare trees reflected on the cold waters of the lake. The reflection reminds us that this is a time for us to go inside, physically and internally. It's time to contemplate and review the year. Honor whatever has happened over the previous several months with gratitude and forgiveness. Then let it go. Allow yourself some solitude so you can spend some quiet, slow time in reflection. Once you feel complete, reflect on your present life. What you are grateful for? Who do you want to be in the year to come?

Are you feeling the stillness and withdrawal of winter?

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My 12 Wishes... on 12/12/12

In honor of 12/12/12 (may you have a magical and wonderful day!), Jamie Ridler is asking us to make 12 wishes! Twelve seems like a lot, but then I have many hopes, dreams, and wishes for the new year.

Here are my 12/12/12 wishes for 2013!

I wish to remain a Blogging Goddess, churning out posts as much as I do and sharing my story in the lover-ly way that I do.

I wish to remember that rest is essential to the work that I do. Taking a break isn't something naughty, despite what my Muse tends to say whilst stomping her foot.

I wish to be able to balance my friendships and relationships with my tendency to retreat. This year has been a tough lesson in recognizing I need to work on that.

I wish to get into cooking! I'm a microwaver and a pasta maker. That's my culinary forte. I've had my slowcooker for a year and used it once. I want to change that! I want to make good and good-for me food.

I wish to stop holding myself back from feeling things. I disassociate myself sometimes when I shouldn't. I want to really feel lots of things, without fearing that I will only feel the bad things.

I wish to be someone that I can be truly proud of. Some aspects of myself are there and others still need a little bit of tinkering.

I wish to allow myself to be a dreamer. I don't really daydream as much as I would like to. I'm afraid my dreams won't come true, or that I shouldn't dream so big.

I wish to help as many women as I can. Sometimes I think I don't know how to do it, but then someone tells me that I already have and I get that feeling in my heart. This is right.

I wish to rediscover my spirituality. It's been quietly waiting for me in the background, ready to embrace me again.

I wish to be healthier. I think I've (finally) gotten the hang of loving my body at every size, but it needs more water, veggies, and exercise.

I wish to show more gratitude. Like most people, I fall into taking things for granted, but I'm working on being thankful for what I have!

I wish to be brave. I need to believe that everything will be okay, and I can be brave.

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Story Time: The Night Before Christmas

Ready to partake in Blessing Manifesting's Plan A: Christmas Spirit? Grab a cup of egg nog, hot cocoa, tea or coffee, put on Christmas music, sit back, and enjoy The Night Before Christmas.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Twas the night before Christmas by Clement Moore

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Story Time: The Fir Tree

Ready to partake in Blessing Manifesting's Plan A: Christmas Spirit? Grab a cup of egg nog, hot cocoa, tea or coffee, put on Christmas music, sit back, and enjoy The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen!

Out in the woods stood a nice little Fir Tree. The place he had was a very good one: the sun shone on him: as to fresh air, there was enough of that, and round him grew many large-sized comrades, pines as well as firs. But the little Fir wanted so very much to be a grown-up tree.

He did not think of the warm sun and of the fresh air; he did not care for the little cottage children that ran about and prattled when they were in the woods looking for wild-strawberries. The children often came with a whole pitcher full of berries, or a long row of them threaded on a straw, and sat down near the young tree and said, "Oh, how pretty he is! What a nice little fir!" But this was what the Tree could not bear to hear.

At the end of a year he had shot up a good deal, and after another year he was another long bit taller; for with fir trees one can always tell by the shoots how many years old they are.

"Oh! Were I but such a high tree as the others are," sighed he. "Then I should be able to spread out my branches, and with the tops to look into the wide world! Then would the birds build nests among my branches: and when there was a breeze, I could bend with as much stateliness as the others!"

Neither the sunbeams, nor the birds, nor the red clouds which morning and evening sailed above him, gave the little Tree any pleasure.

In winter, when the snow lay glittering on the ground, a hare would often come leaping along, and jump right over the little Tree. Oh, that made him so angry! But two winters were past, and in the third the Tree was so large that the hare was obliged to go round it. "To grow and grow, to get older and be tall," thought the Tree--"that, after all, is the most delightful thing in the world!"

In autumn the wood-cutters always came and felled some of the largest trees. This happened every year; and the young Fir Tree, that had now grown to a very comely size, trembled at the sight; for the magnificent great trees fell to the earth with noise and cracking, the branches were lopped off, and the trees looked long and bare; they were hardly to be recognized  and then they were laid in carts, and the horses dragged them out of the wood.

Where did they go to? What became of them?

In spring, when the swallows and the storks came, the Tree asked them, "Don't you know where they have been taken? Have you not met them anywhere?"

The swallows did not know anything about it; but the Stork looked musing, nodded his head, and said, "Yes; I think I know; I met many ships as I was flying hither from Egypt; on the ships were magnificent masts, and I venture to assert that it was they that smelt so of fir. I may congratulate you, for they lifted themselves on high most majestically!"

"Oh, were I but old enough to fly across the sea! But how does the sea look in reality? What is it like?"

"That would take a long time to explain," said the Stork, and with these words off he went.

"Rejoice in thy growth!" said the Sunbeams. "Rejoice in thy vigorous growth, and in the fresh life that moveth within thee!"

And the Wind kissed the Tree, and the Dew wept tears over him; but the Fir understood it not.

When Christmas came, quite young trees were cut down: trees which often were not even as large or of the same age as this Fir Tree, who could never rest, but always wanted to be off. These young trees, and they were always the finest looking, retained their branches; they were laid on carts, and the horses drew them out of the wood.

"Where are they going to?" asked the Fir. "They are not taller than I; there was one indeed that was considerably shorter; and why do they retain all their branches? Whither are they taken?"

"We know! We know!" chirped the Sparrows. "We have peeped in at the windows in the town below! We know whither they are taken! The greatest splendor and the greatest magnificence one can imagine await them. We peeped through the windows, and saw them planted in the middle of the warm room and ornamented with the most splendid things, with gilded apples, with gingerbread, with toys, and many hundred lights!

"And then?" asked the Fir Tree, trembling in every bough. "And then? What happens then?"

"We did not see anything more: it was incomparably beautiful."

"I would fain know if I am destined for so glorious a career," cried the Tree, rejoicing. "That is still better than to cross the sea! What a longing do I suffer! Were Christmas but come! I am now tall, and my branches spread like the others that were carried off last year! Oh! were I but already on the cart! Were I in the warm room with all the splendor and magnificence! Yes; then something better, something still grander, will surely follow, or wherefore should they thus ornament me? Something better, something still grander must follow--but what? Oh, how I long, how I suffer! I do not know myself what is the matter with me!"

"Rejoice in our presence!" said the Air and the Sunlight. "Rejoice in thy own fresh youth!"

But the Tree did not rejoice at all; he grew and grew, and was green both winter and summer. People that saw him said, "What a fine tree!" and towards Christmas he was one of the first that was cut down. The axe struck deep into the very pith; the Tree fell to the earth with a sigh; he felt a pang--it was like a swoon; he could not think of happiness, for he was sorrowful at being separated from his home, from the place where he had sprung up. He well knew that he should never see his dear old comrades, the little bushes and flowers around him, anymore; perhaps not even the birds! The departure was not at all agreeable.

The Tree only came to himself when he was unloaded in a court-yard with the other trees, and heard a man say, "That one is splendid! We don't want the others." Then two servants came in rich livery and carried the Fir Tree into a large and splendid drawing-room. Portraits were hanging on the walls, and near the white porcelain stove stood two large Chinese vases with lions on the covers. There, too, were large easy-chairs, silken sofas, large tables full of picture-books and full of toys, worth hundreds and hundreds of crowns--at least the children said so. And the Fir Tree was stuck upright in a cask that was filled with sand; but no one could see that it was a cask, for green cloth was hung all round it, and it stood on a large gaily-colored carpet. Oh! how the Tree quivered! What was to happen? The servants, as well as the young ladies, decorated it. On one branch there hung little nets cut out of colored paper, and each net was filled with sugarplums; and among the other boughs gilded apples and walnuts were suspended, looking as though they had grown there, and little blue and white tapers were placed among the leaves. Dolls that looked for all the world like men--the Tree had never beheld such before--were seen among the foliage, and at the very top a large star of gold tinsel was fixed. It was really splendid--beyond description splendid.

"This evening!" they all said. "How it will shine this evening!"

"Oh!" thought the Tree. "If the evening were but come! If the tapers were but lighted! And then I wonder what will happen! Perhaps the other trees from the forest will come to look at me! Perhaps the sparrows will beat against the windowpanes! I wonder if I shall take root here, and winter and summer stand covered with ornaments!"

He knew very much about the matter--but he was so impatient that for sheer longing he got a pain in his back, and this with trees is the same thing as a headache with us.

The candles were now lighted--what brightness! What splendor! The Tree trembled so in every bough that one of the tapers set fire to the foliage. It blazed up famously.

"Help! Help!" cried the young ladies, and they quickly put out the fire.

Now the Tree did not even dare tremble. What a state he was in! He was so uneasy lest he should lose something of his splendor, that he was quite bewildered amidst the glare and brightness; when suddenly both folding-doors opened and a troop of children rushed in as if they would upset the Tree. The older persons followed quietly; the little ones stood quite still. But it was only for a moment; then they shouted that the whole place re-echoed with their rejoicing; they danced round the Tree, and one present after the other was pulled off.

"What are they about?" thought the Tree. "What is to happen now!" And the lights burned down to the very branches, and as they burned down they were put out one after the other, and then the children had permission to plunder the Tree. So they fell upon it with such violence that all its branches cracked; if it had not been fixed firmly in the ground, it would certainly have tumbled down.

The children danced about with their beautiful playthings; no one looked at the Tree except the old nurse, who peeped between the branches; but it was only to see if there was a fig or an apple left that had been forgotten.

"A story! A story!" cried the children, drawing a little fat man towards the Tree. He seated himself under it and said, "Now we are in the shade, and the Tree can listen too. But I shall tell only one story. Now which will you have; that about Ivedy-Avedy, or about Humpy-Dumpy, who tumbled downstairs, and yet after all came to the throne and married the princess?"

"Ivedy-Avedy," cried some; "Humpy-Dumpy," cried the others. There was such a bawling and screaming--the Fir Tree alone was silent, and he thought to himself, "Am I not to bawl with the rest? Am I to do nothing whatever?" for he was one of the company, and had done what he had to do.

And the man told about Humpy-Dumpy that tumbled down, who notwithstanding came to the throne, and at last married the princess. And the children clapped their hands, and cried. "Oh, go on! Do go on!" They wanted to hear about Ivedy-Avedy too, but the little man only told them about Humpy-Dumpy. The Fir Tree stood quite still and absorbed in thought; the birds in the wood had never related the like of this. "Humpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he married the princess! Yes, yes! That's the way of the world!" thought the Fir Tree, and believed it all, because the man who told the story was so good-looking. "Well, well! who knows, perhaps I may fall downstairs, too, and get a princess as wife! And he looked forward with joy to the morrow, when he hoped to be decked out again with lights, playthings, fruits, and tinsel.

"I won't tremble to-morrow!" thought the Fir Tree. "I will enjoy to the full all my splendor! To-morrow I shall hear again the story of Humpy-Dumpy, and perhaps that of Ivedy-Avedy too." And the whole night the Tree stood still and in deep thought.

In the morning the servant and the housemaid came in.

"Now then the splendor will begin again," thought the Fir. But they dragged him out of the room, and up the stairs into the loft: and here, in a dark corner, where no daylight could enter, they left him. "What's the meaning of this?" thought the Tree. "What am I to do here? What shall I hear now, I wonder?" And he leaned against the wall lost in reverie. Time enough had he too for his reflections; for days and nights passed on, and nobody came up; and when at last somebody did come, it was only to put some great trunks in a corner, out of the way. There stood the Tree quite hidden; it seemed as if he had been entirely forgotten.

"'Tis now winter out-of-doors!" thought the Tree. "The earth is hard and covered with snow; men cannot plant me now, and therefore I have been put up here under shelter till the spring-time comes! How thoughtful that is! How kind man is, after all! If it only were not so dark here, and so terribly lonely! Not even a hare! And out in the woods it was so pleasant, when the snow was on the ground, and the hare leaped by; yes--even when he jumped over me; but I did not like it then! It is really terribly lonely here!"

"Squeak! Squeak!" said a little Mouse, at the same moment, peeping out of his hole. And then another little one came. They snuffed about the Fir Tree, and rustled among the branches.

"It is dreadfully cold," said the Mouse. "But for that, it would be delightful here, old Fir, wouldn't it?"

"I am by no means old," said the Fir Tree. "There's many a one considerably older than I am."

"Where do you come from," asked the Mice; "and what can you do?" They were so extremely curious. "Tell us about the most beautiful spot on the earth. Have you never been there? Were you never in the larder, where cheeses lie on the shelves, and hams hang from above; where one dances about on tallow candles: that place where one enters lean, and comes out again fat and portly?"

"I know no such place," said the Tree. "But I know the wood, where the sun shines and where the little birds sing." And then he told all about his youth; and the little Mice had never heard the like before; and they listened and said,

"Well, to be sure! How much you have seen! How happy you must have been!"

"I!" said the Fir Tree, thinking over what he had himself related. "Yes, in reality those were happy times." And then he told about Christmas-eve, when he was decked out with cakes and candles.

"Oh," said the little Mice, "how fortunate you have been, old Fir Tree!"

"I am by no means old," said he. "I came from the wood this winter; I am in my prime, and am only rather short for my age."

"What delightful stories you know," said the Mice: and the next night they came with four other little Mice, who were to hear what the Tree recounted: and the more he related, the more he remembered himself; and it appeared as if those times had really been happy times. "But they may still come--they may still come! Humpy-Dumpy fell downstairs, and yet he got a princess!" and he thought at the moment of a nice little Birch Tree growing out in the woods: to the Fir, that would be a real charming princess.

"Who is Humpy-Dumpy?" asked the Mice. So then the Fir Tree told the whole fairy tale, for he could remember every single word of it; and the little Mice jumped for joy up to the very top of the Tree. Next night two more Mice came, and on Sunday two Rats even; but they said the stories were not interesting, which vexed the little Mice; and they, too, now began to think them not so very amusing either.

"Do you know only one story?" asked the Rats.

"Only that one," answered the Tree. "I heard it on my happiest evening; but I did not then know how happy I was."

"It is a very stupid story! Don't you know one about bacon and tallow candles? Can't you tell any larder stories?"

"No," said the Tree.

"Then good-bye," said the Rats; and they went home.

At last the little Mice stayed away also; and the Tree sighed: "After all, it was very pleasant when the sleek little Mice sat round me, and listened to what I told them. Now that too is over. But I will take good care to enjoy myself when I am brought out again."

But when was that to be? Why, one morning there came a quantity of people and set to work in the loft. The trunks were moved, the tree was pulled out and thrown--rather hard, it is true--down on the floor, but a man drew him towards the stairs, where the daylight shone.

"Now a merry life will begin again," thought the Tree. He felt the fresh air, the first sunbeam--and now he was out in the courtyard. All passed so quickly, there was so much going on around him, the Tree quite forgot to look to himself. The court adjoined a garden, and all was in flower; the roses hung so fresh and odorous over the balustrade, the lindens were in blossom, the Swallows flew by, and said, "Quirre-vit! My husband is come!" but it was not the Fir Tree that they meant.

"Now, then, I shall really enjoy life," said he exultingly, and spread out his branches; but, alas, they were all withered and yellow! It was in a corner that he lay, among weeds and nettles. The golden star of tinsel was still on the top of the Tree, and glittered in the sunshine.

In the court-yard some of the merry children were playing who had danced at Christmas round the Fir Tree, and were so glad at the sight of him. One of the youngest ran and tore off the golden star.

"Only look what is still on the ugly old Christmas tree!" said he, trampling on the branches, so that they all cracked beneath his feet.

And the Tree beheld all the beauty of the flowers, and the freshness in the garden; he beheld himself, and wished he had remained in his dark corner in the loft; he thought of his first youth in the wood, of the merry Christmas-eve, and of the little Mice who had listened with so much pleasure to the story of Humpy-Dumpy.

"'Tis over--'tis past!" said the poor Tree. "Had I but rejoiced when I had reason to do so! But now 'tis past, 'tis past!"

And the gardener's boy chopped the Tree into small pieces; there was a whole heap lying there. The wood flamed up splendidly under the large brewing copper, and it sighed so deeply! Each sigh was like a shot.

The boys played about in the court, and the youngest wore the gold star on his breast which the Tree had had on the happiest evening of his life. However, that was over now--the Tree gone, the story at an end. All, all was over--every tale must end at last.

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Story Time: The Elves and the Shoemaker

Ready to partake in Blessing Manifesting's Plan A: Christmas Spirit? Grab a cup of egg nog, hot cocoa, tea or coffee, put on Christmas music, sit back, and enjoy The Elves and the Shoemaker by the Brothers Grimm.

Once upon a time there was a poor shoemaker. He made excellent shoes and worked quite diligently, but even so he could not earn enough to support himself and his family. He became so poor that he he could not even afford to buy the leather he needed to make shoes; finally he had only enough to make one last pair. He cut them out with great care and put the pieces on his workbench, so that he could sew them together the following morning. Now I wonder," he sighed, "Will I ever make another pair of shoes? Once I've sold this pair, I shall need all the money to buy food for my family. I will not be able to buy any new leather.

That night, the shoemaker went to bed a sad and distraught man.

The next morning, he awoke early and went down to his workshop. On his bench he found an exquisite pair of shoes! They had small and even stitches, formed so perfectly that he knew he couldn't have produced a better pair himself. Upon close examination, the shoes proved to be from the very pieces of leather he had set out the night before. He immediately put the fine pair of shoes in the window of his shop and drew back the blinds.

Who in the world could've done this great service for me?" he asked himself. Even before he could make up an answer, a rich man strode into his shop and bought the shoes-- and for a fancy price.

The shoemaker was ecstatic; he immediately went out and purchased plenty of food for his family--and some more leather. That afternoon he cut out two pairs of shoes and, just as before, laid all the pieces on the bench so that he could sew them the next day. Then he went upstairs to enjoy the good meal with his family.

My goodness!" he cried the next morning when he found two pairs of beautifully finished shoes on his workbench. "Who could make such fine shoes--and so quickly?" He put them in his shop window, and before long some wealthy people came in and paid a great deal of money for them. The happy shoemaker went right out and bought even more leather.

For weeks, and then months, this continued. Whether the shoemaker cut two pairs or four pairs, the fine new shoes were always ready in the morning. Soon his small shop was crowded with customers. He cut out many types of shoes: stiff boots lined with fur, delicate slippers for dancers, walking shoes for ladies, tiny shoes for children. Soon his shoes had bows and laces and buckles of fine silver. The little shop prospered as never before, and it's proprietor was soon a rich man himself. His family wanted for nothing.

As the shoemaker and his wife sat by the fire one night, he said, "One of these days, I shall have to learn who has been helping us."

We could hide behind the cupboard in your workroom," she said. "That way, we could find out just who your helpers are." And that was just what they did. That evening, when the clock struck twelve, the shoemaker and his wife heard a noise. Two tiny men, each with a bag of tools, were squeezing beneath a crack under the door. Oddest of all the two elves were stark naked!

The two men clambered onto the workbench and began working. Their little hands stitched and their little hammers tapped ceaselessly the whole night through.

They are so small! And they make such beautiful shoes in no time at all!" the shoemaker whispered to his wife as the dawn rose. (Indeed the elves were about the size of his own needles.)

Quiet!" his wife answered. "See how they are cleaning up now." And in a instant the two elves has disappeared beneath the door.

The next day, the shoemaker's wife said, "Those little elves have done so much good for us. Since it is nearly Christmas, we should make some gifts for them."

"Yes!" cried the shoemaker. "I'll make some boots that will fit them, and you make some clothes." They worked until dawn. On Christmas Eve the presents were laid out upon the workbench: two tiny jackets, two pairs of trousers, and two little woolen caps. They also left out a plate of good things to eat and drink. Then they hid once again behind the cupboard and waited to see what would happen.

Just as before, the elves appeared at the stroke of midnight. They jumped onto the bench to begin their work, but when they saw all the presents they began to laugh and shout with joy. They tried on all the clothes, then helped themselves to the food and drink. Then they jumped down and danced excitedly around the workroom, and disappeared beneath the door.

After Christmas, the shoemaker cut out his leather as he always had--but the two elves never returned. "I believe they have heard us whispering," his wife said. "Elves are so very shy when it comes to people, you know."

"I know I will miss their help," the shoemaker said, "but we will manage. The shop is always so busy now. But my stitches will never be as tight and small as theirs!"

The shoemaker did indeed continue to prosper, but he and his family always remembered the good elves who had helped them during the hard times. And each and every Christmas Eve from that year onward, they gathered around the fire to drink a toast to their tiny friends.

by the Brothers Grimm

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Story Time: Gift of the Magi

Ready to partake in Blessing Manifesting's Plan A: Christmas Spirit? Grab a cup of egg nog, hot cocoa, tea or coffee, put on Christmas music, sit back, and read O. Henry's Gift of the Magi.

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.

In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."

The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.

Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling--something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.

There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8 flat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art.

Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.

So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street.

Where she stopped the sign read: "Mne. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." One flight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the "Sofronie."

"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.

"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it."

Down rippled the brown cascade.

"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.

"Give it to me quick," said Della.

Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.

She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value--the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.

When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends--a mammoth task.

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.

"If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do--oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty- seven cents?"

At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.

Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God, make him think I am still pretty."

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two--and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.

Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.

Della wriggled off the table and went for him.

"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again--you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say `Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice-- what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."

"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.

"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?"

Jim looked about the room curiously.

"You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.

"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"

Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year--what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.

Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.

"Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first."

White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.

For there lay The Combs--the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims--just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.

But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"

And them Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!"

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.

"Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."

Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.

"Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on."

The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

Gift of the Magi was written by O. Henry

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Story Time: Grandma got run over by a reindeer

Ready to partake in Blessing Manifesting's Plan A: Christmas Spirit? Grab a cup of egg nog, hot cocoa, tea or coffee, sit back, and enjoy the lyrics to a song that makes me giggle, Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer!

Grandma got run over by a reindeer

walkin' home from our house Christmas eve. 

You can say there's no such thing as Santa. 

But as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

She'd been drinkin' too much egg nog. 

And we'd begged her not to go. 

But she'd forgot her medication, 

and she staggered out the door into the snow.

When we found her Christmas mornin,' 

at the scene of the attack. 

She had hoof prints on her forehead, 

And incriminatin' Claus marks on her back.

Grandma got run over by a reindeer, 

walkin' home from our house Christmas eve. 

You can say there's no such thing as Santa, 

but as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

Now were all so proud of Grandpa. 

He's been takin' this so well. 

See him in there watchin' football, 

drinkin' beer and playin' cards with cousin Belle.

It's not Christmas without Grandma. 

All the family dressed in black. 

And we just can't help but wonder: 

Should we open up her gifts or send them back? 

(Send them back)

Grandma got run over by a reindeer, 

walkin' home from our house Christmas eve. 

You can say there's no such thing as Santa, 

But as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

Now the goose is on the table. 

And the pudding made of fig. 

And a blue and silver candle, 

that would just have matched the hair in Grandma's wig.

I've warned all my friends and neighbors. 

"Better watch out for yourselves." 

They should never give a license, 

to a man who drives a sleigh and plays with elves.

Grandma got run over by a reindeer, 

walkin' home from our house, Christmas eve. 

You can say there's no such thing as Santa, 

but as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

(Sing it Grandpa)

Grandma got run over by a reindeer, 

walkin' home from our house, Christmas eve. 

You can say there's no such thing as Santa, 

but as for me and Grandpa, we believe.

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