A different kind of Christmas

Can you believe the holidays are upon us? I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We are super low key around here this year. We are just so thankful to be together as a family and that is what we are celebrating.

 The last several years our family has tried to walk off the beaten path with Christmas and we have tried to find different ways to celebrate rather than just the usual go to the store and participate in the Christmas shopping madness. Each year our family pushes further from retail and we look for more meaning in the holidays. I will share with you some of what we have done with links in case you have been on the search as well for some more meaning, community, or charity in your Holiday Season.  

You can make handmade home spun gifts  Handmade Holidays  

Angel Tree is a great organization to bring Christmas to children who's parents are in prison

You can support the clean water crisis in Africa Blood Water

You can purchase a farm animal for a family in another country Heifer International

you could donate to Samaritans Purse who are doing a lot for the refuges coming in from Syria they also have the famous Operation Christmas Child and you can fill that shoe box!

You can decorate duffle bags for local foster kids with Together We Rise

You can volunteer with your local food bank and give something very precious your time San Diego Food Bank 

Some other ideas...

REI closed their stores this black friday and it was #optoutside. How about rather than shopping you go for a hike or walk grab your family and go on an adventure

Patagonia is promoting to repair your clothes rather than buy new. They have videos they have been putting out on tips for repairing your ripped or torn gear.

Get out a mug out and put it on your counter and instead of going to Starbucks put the money that you would have spent in your mug instead and have coffee at home. You will be surprised how much you can save by saying no to Lattes and Mochas. You can then take that money and donate to your favorite charity, or make some goody bags with neccesities for those that are homeless in your community.

You can donate your old jeans to Madewell and they send them to a charity that then turns them into insulation for Habitat for Humanity and other organizations to put in the houses that they build. So those old jeans sitting in the back of your closet could actually be the thing keeping a family warm this winter! And if you do this they give a $20 coupon to go towards a new pair of jeans. Thats a win win!! Or you could start your own denim drive with your family and friends the instructions are on their website. 
Blue Jeans Go Green 

I hope this post inspires you to think outside of the box or in this case the retail stores this holiday season. 

Please feel free to share and leave your favorite charities or different Holiday ideas in the comments below. 

#thinkoutsidethestore #bighugs #Friends&Family #neighborlylove #whatcanIdoforyou #Itsnotaboutme

#shopyourcloset #handmade #madewithlove #optoutside 

#loveoneanother #itsbettertogive #repurpose #coffeechallenge

#getoutside

Art Classes

My art class is winding down we only have 2 classes left till the end of the semester. I have had such a great time with these kids I am really going to miss them.

Today we did a continuous line drawing. I got the idea for this off Pinterest, here is a link for the website this came from Owl Drawing

Supplies: Paper, Sharpie, Markers 

The kids had a great time with this it's a mix of control with lots of freedom for expression. 

Great for your elementary aged children. 

Here are some pics from the lesson today

The world is but a canvas to our imagination 

~Henry David Thoreau

Here we go again.....

I am not sure exactly what it is about my husbands job that makes this happen but it seems always near the 3 year mark a move is in the forecast. Yesterday as I was at the Veterinarians office getting 2 of our dogs ready for another move our Vet commented and said it had been 4 years. That's almost a record. Alaska still holds the title though for our longest stay. 

So here we go, The Watts are moving again. So far we have it planned to be gone for a year but you just never know so we shall see what happens from here. This move will be really different for us now that our kids are getting older.  Noah my oldest will be staying behind and continuing at college. He is busily into his second year now and is working towards the long term goal of becoming an Equine Veterinarian.

Our other 2 kids will be coming along on this move. Although we are still working out lots of details. I think this has been the most complicated move yet. Our middle son graduates this year. If senior year isn't busy enough try sorting out a move right smack dab in the middle of it to another country nontheless. 

The last few weeks have been a whirl-wind sorting out the ranch and getting ready. Hence the lack of blogging posts sorry for the lack of action over here it has all been behind the scenes work. It is really funny how life catches up with you sometimes. Or maybe life runs ahead of you would be a better way to describe it. Thankfully finding homes for all our ranch animals went really well, and much quicker than I expected. And I was really happy with the homes we found and the people that they went with. I was particularly happy that a friend from church now has my horse. It makes it easier when you know you can still visit your furry friends and keep in touch. And I even made some new friends in the process of all that. 

But wait I haven't even said where we are moving to this time. It will be another overseas trip for us. We are moving to England. We have rented out a very cute little thatched roof cottage in a village that has like 100 people. This should prove to be a very fun and memorable adventure. The weather in Southern California has been so hot we are all super excited about the cooler temps and have been very busy digging out sweaters and socks from the back of our closets. 

Having grown up in a common wealth country I am really looking forward to this. It reminds me of Canada which really gives me that nostalgia feel of home. I have been over to England a few times now and I really like it. I am hoping it will give our family a chance to slow down and enjoy life at a different pace.

My husband has been working overseas for months now and the separation has been really hard on all of us. We are all very eager to get under the same roof again. I have found that through this experience and the separation my priorities have really shifted. I am feeling like things that were important to me before just don't matter as much anymore. And for me that has been a great change! Change is not easy and having moved as much as I have you would think that I could just roll right with it. But I am here to say honestly I am never that graceful about it. This time grasping the idea of moving again was a little rocky for me at first and hard to wrap my head around, but overall it has been a good thing. It really got me out of the clouds and focused back on whats important in life. Rather than being stuck on a place or things I would much rather be stuck to the people I love in my life. Home is where the heart is. 

So here we go again!! 

Just when I think I have learned the way to live, Life Changes 

~Hugh Prather