Search

Celebrate what you want to see more of.

CONTINUING THIS WEEK ON HOW CELEBRATING EACH DAY IS GOOD FOR OUR HEALTH? PLUS, THE BOOK TEN-MINUTE RELAXATION FOR MIND AND BODY.

Hello Followers,

It is Monday, edging closer to another year.

And thirteen more days until Christmas!

Are you like Dan and I, we LOVE holidays and traditions?

Or maybe you’re just looking for some new Christmas traditions to start.

Either way, look no further!

Having traditions helps create lasting memories, gives us something to look forward to, and is just a fun way to bring people together.

The traditions you start with your family become part of your heritage!

Children find the predictability of those holiday traditions comforting.

Let’s check today!

Have the holidays let you down?

Do you feel like the magic and mystique of Christmas has faded with maturity and age?

Well fear not my fine friends.

National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is here to save you.

And as I was going through some stores in the mall, while Dan was working there; I was seeing some winter Christmas sweaters, this tradition caught my eye.

National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is a day of lighthearted fun and a day to be yourself and not that buttoned up corporate version of yourself you have grown to despise.

Most importantly, National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is a day to make the holidays fun, the way they were intended to be!

So, this National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, leave the school uniform at home, keep the preppy office blouse in your closet, and whatever you do, don't even think about taking your suit to work.

All you need to wear is your ugly Christmas sweater because this is your day, this is our day, this is National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day.

National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is celebrated on the third Friday of December each year.

In 2022, it falls on Friday, Dec 16th.

So, there is no excuse this year in missing it; for I am reminding you three days ahead.

Share this special day with friends and help us spread the word.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people participate in National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day,

and with your help, we can put this holiday on the calendar for years to come!

Will share more on the holiday on the 16th.

As we continue to celebrate this holiday season, Dan and I are starting a new series; HOW CELEBRATING EACH DAY IS GOOD FOR OUR HEALTH?

Continuing from yesterday, give thanks sincerely and often.

Pay attention to the gestures of consideration shown to you throughout the day.

Be sure to thank, with meaning, everyone who pays you a kindness.

Write letters to people thanking them for what they’ve done for you.

Telephone someone and tell them how much you appreciate their influence on your life.

Until tomorrow-

DECEMBER 12th, Dan, and I thought on continuing this segment with the series with some fun; What is it about December that is so significant during this month?

Our Lady of Guadalupe Day – December 12, 2022

Dan and I picked this holiday, it brought back memories of when we lived in Mexico. We went to Mexico City and visited Our Lady of Guadalupe.

So, today we honor not only Our Lady of Guadalupe, but our friends from Mexico and the memories we treasure from Mexico.

TOUR TRIP to the Teotihuacan Pyramids & the Guadalupe Shrine.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Day or Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, on December 12, draws millions of Catholics every year from across Mexico and other countries to pay pilgrimage to see an image of Mary in the Basilica of Guadalupe.

It is the site of her apparitions to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatz in 1531, now the most visited Catholic site in the world.

Children are dressed in traditional costumes and are blessed in churches.

Thousands of people come to church to pray.

Guadalupe’s famous image, a brown-skinned woman in a starry blue mantle, hands folded in prayer, is cherished in Mexico.

She is a remarkable part of believers’ daily lives in their homes, churches, prayers, and community life.

The day has been declared a national holiday in Mexico.

Even though it is a national holiday, most companies and organizations organize masses and feasts for their employees.

On this day, people from all parts of Mexico make their way to Mexico’s religious center at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, located in Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo.

This is a northern neighborhood of Mexico City where they celebrate the Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe with a mass ceremony and a fair in her honor.

Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe is a story of miracles and faith that marks an important shift in the history of Mexico.

The Spaniards, after they conquered Mexico, wanted to convert the indigenous Indians to Catholicism.

But the Spaniards encountered many difficulties because the Mexicans had their own faith and spirituality in which they strongly believed.

However, indigenous people started to become fascinated with Catholicism when the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Juan Diego came to the fore.

According to tradition, Mary, mother of Jesus, appeared to Juan Diego, who was an Aztec convert to Christianity, on December 9 and again on December 12, 1531.

Juan Diego was a young indigenous Indian who was walking toward the Hill of Tepeyac when he was stopped by an appearance of the Virgin Mary.

According to Diego, the Virgin Mary was a young woman with black hair and dark skin who looked more like the women in his community.

She ordered Diego to go to the bishop and ask him to build a church at the Hill of Tepeyac.

Diego then ran to the bishop to tell him what the Virgin Mary had told him.

The bishop did not believe Diego at first and disregarded his request to build a church at the Hill of Tepeyac, demanding a sign before he would approve the construction of a church.

Mary then appeared a second time to Juan Diego and ordered him to collect roses.

In a second audience with the bishop, Juan Diego opened his cloak, letting dozens of roses fall to the floor and revealing the image of Mary imprinted on the inside of the cloak.

The image that is now venerated in the Basilica of Guadalupe.

Although the traditional view has been questioned by various scholars, defenders of the Virgin of Guadalupe, including Pope John Paul II, who canonized Juan Diego and declared Our Lady of Guadalupe the patroness of the Americas.

Accepting the authenticity of the early documents and the various oral accounts of the apparition.

Since 1556, a shrine devoted to the Virgin has existed in Tepeyac Hill.

Veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been particularly strong among women, especially in Mexico, and since at least the early 18th century the devotion was spread throughout the world by the Jesuits and other religions. However, it’s not only limited to religious matters.

Our Lady of Guadalupe’s role has also played an important role in Mexican nationalism and identity.

For example, in 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla promoted her as the patroness of the revolt he led against the Spanish.

During a religious revival in Mexico in the late 19th century, preachers declared that the foundation of Mexico could be dated to the time of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe because she freed the people from idolatry and reconciled the Spanish and indigenous peoples in a common devotion.

Her continuing significance as a religious and national symbol is attested by the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visit her shrine every year.

Time is precious and is priceless, so Dan and I will continue each day to pull from a box of 365 inspirational quotes, one quote and share with you.

Today is:

STRIVE FOR ORIGINALITY IN THOUGHT AND ACTION. BE FIRST; BE DIFFERENT; AND BE DARING. ONLY THEN WILL YOU MAKE A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD. YOU MAY EVEN ATTAIN GREATNESS.

Today Dan and I will be continuing the book, Ten-Minute Relaxation, For Mind and Body by Jennie Harding.

Whenever you are feeling under pressure, ten minutes is all you need to relax totally, using tools that are always with you; your senses.

This book is packed full of wonderfully simple ideas and exercises for using sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch and that vital sixth sense of intuition to rebalance your energies and bring you back into harmony with the natural world around you.