The Season of Giving

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable (and not too stressful) Holiday Season! If you were in that crazy traffic jam trying to get into the Mall of America today, my thoughts are with you!

This year I am feeling thankful. I am constantly reminded of last year when Adele was in hospital and we were stressed out and worried. I am so happy to have her home with us this year, even if she is yelling in her bedroom after only taking a 15 minute nap. I am grateful for her happy spirit, and beautiful smile.

I can not imagine not being able to share her smiles. For her, or Fiona to have been born with a facial deformity that makes it impossible for them to smile. Luckily, if that had happened, we live in a country with good healthcare, and we have excellent health insurance, and she would not have had to go through life unable to smile.

So this Christmas, I am grateful, not only that I have two beautiful, healthy, smiley girls, but also that Ben and I are able to donate to organizations that can help families who are not as lucky as us. One of my favorite blogs Cake Wrecks is in the middle of a "12 days of Christmas" charity drive - every day they feature a charity and ask each reader to donate a dollar to the charity. That's all. Just one dollar. If you give a dollar a day, that's $12 dollars. But if everyone gives a dollar a day, that's a lot of dollars. Today they featured the charity Operation Smile which provides free surgeries to correct facial deformities in children, and they do some incredible things for children who would otherwise have to go through life without showing off their beautiful smiles. So if you have a dollar to spare (or even 12), think about contributing. Go to Cake Wrecks, and follow the link to donate. Smiley babies all over the world will thank you.