Did you know the Monday after Thanksgiving has been christened Cyber Monday. This day is alleged to be the busiest online shopping day of the year—with people using their internet connections at work to shop. The day, however, is not the busiest online shopping day of the year. In fact, it is nowhere near the busiest online shopping day.

Cyber Monday was coined on 19 November 2005 when Shop.org, an association of online retailers, made the claim to the New York Times that it was expecting a “substantial sales increase” on that day.

Best online shopping for those extra ink and toner cartridges (for those Christmas Printer Gifts) is just a click away. Click here.

The term dates to at least 1975, when it appears in the New York Times on 29 November:
Philadelphia police and bus drivers call it “Black Friday”—that day each year between Thanksgiving Day and the Army-Navy game. It is the busiest shopping and traffic day of the year in the Bicentennial City as the Christmas list is checked off and the Eastern college football season nears conclusion.

“Thankfulness is measured by the number of words; Gratitude is measure by the nature of our actions.”

Today is a day we reflect on what we are thankful for and give thanks to our bountiful harvest. Sound almost “pilgrimish”, I know but our bountiful harvest comes in many forms and fashion. As we see from the quote above thankfulness would appear to be just a number of words but the ultimate to that is our gratitude which would most likely be a daily display of our actions. I guess to use another quote would have to be “Actions speak louder than words”. That is not to say that we should forget our thankfulness of even small acts such as the cashier bagging your groceries at the grocery store or the person who holds the door open for you warrants a “thank you” with a smile and how about that driver who allows you to take the last parking space or make the turn before him or her. I know you are probably thinking, when does that happen?. Well it does and it may not be often but it is that one moment of thankfulness that can be infectious. You can “pass forward” kindness one to another. Reciprocate the gesture to another complete stranger. Try it and see it does become infectious.

Feeling thankful and grateful are great ways to warm your heart and others during this holiday season. Small acts of kindness not only benefit the receiver but they also benefit the giver as well. This can be something we don’t just wait for the holidays to begin doing let it begin on Thanksgiving Day and carry it through each and everyday.

My thanks to all who have come into my life and to those who have left their footprint and gone to another place I am what I am and who I am because of you all. I look forward to all those who will also have our paths intersect at some point in time. Fate is just waiting for the right moment.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and hope your day was a day of reflection, as was mine.

United States of America – Santa Claus comes from the Dutch word Sintaklaas, meaning St. Nicholas. Santa Claus has had a number of looks, but in 1863 he was given the universal name of Santa Claus and wore the red suit, was jolly and bearded, smoked a pipe and had his reindeer and sleigh. Celebrations are not standard since there are many nationalities that make up the United States . Santa Claus is definitely considered to live in the North Pole, but he has two USA homes, one in Torrington , Connecticut where Santa and his helpers give out presents and one in Wilmington , New York , where there is a village where children can see Santa and his reindeer.

In eastern civilizations such as India, the principal writing media from the time of Christ were birch bark or bhurjapatra (Sanskrit) and dried palm leaves. The use of paper began only after the 10th century AD. However birch bark and palm leaf continue to be used even today on a limited scale in a rural milieu for the use of horoscopes, wedding invitations and other cultural uses.

Notable User’s of Birch bark Stationary would be….

Our past President Thomas Jefferson penned many a letter to his beloved wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson.

Some creative calligraphy written on bark can easily be put in an envelope the same as our modern day stationary. Sometimes if they find a suitable flat piece they will cut it to size of either postcard or greeting cards and these can be placed in the mail. From what I have been told, never having received or sent these unique letters, “People love to receive these natural things in the mail.”

Would be the revolutionary heroic woman Deborah Sampson of Plympton, Massachusetts, who was possibly one of the first women to enlist in the army disguised as a man. During the Revolutionary War she wanted to help, but they did not allow girls to join the army. She decided she could join the army if she pretended to be a man. She practiced walking and talking like a man until she could even fool her mother. She was ready. She became an enlisted “man” using the name Robert Shurtleff.

“Robert” was a good, brave soldier and volunteered for some dangerous jobs. The other soldiers were proud of him/her.

She developed a fever and was put in the hospital. The doctor discovered that “Robert” was actually a woman. He took her to his family’s home to get well. She was given an honorable discharge from the army.

Paul Revere wrote a letter to Congress asking for her to be given a pension. She began receiving four dollars a month.

She died at the age of sixty-six.

All I can say is,

“You Go Girl”

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Someone just sent me this and I thought it is one of those things that you just have to “pass forward”. I keep a copy on my desk and look it over every morning as a “jump start to my day”. Sometimes I admit, I have to look at it more than once a day to help me stay focused. I hope it touches the hearts of others as it has touched mine.

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson .
3. Follow the three R’s:

• Respect for self,
• Respect for others,
• Responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember not getting what you want you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you have made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone everyday.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember silence is sometimes the best answer
11. Live a good and honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you have never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

One-half of girls who participate in some kind of sports experience higher than average levels of self-esteem and less depression (Colton & Gore, Risk Resilience & resistance, Current research on adolescent girls, MS Foundation.)

More than four out of five executive business women (82%) played sports growing up and the vast majority say that lessons learned on the playing filed have contributed to their success in business, according to the results of a national survey. (Game face, from the locker room to the Boardroom: )

HERSHEY’S KISSES Brand Chocolates, have been around since 1907. While it’s not known exactly how KISSES got their name, the popular theory is that the candy was named for the sound or motion of the chocolate being deposited during the manufacturing process.

While the shape of HERSHEY’S KISSES have not changed, there were a few variations produced between 1909 and 1931. Names familiar to some long-time chocolate lovers include: Sweethearts (1900 to 1918), Silver Tops (1909 to 1931), and Silverpoints (1918 to 1929). These products have not been produced since 1931.

Did you know chocolate came from a Tree. It begins with the Cacao Tree. It produces large, football shaped pods that contain 30-50 seeds enough to make 7 bars of milk chocolate. Cacao was grown in Central Americans in the tropical rain forest and was harvested and produced a frothy beverage by the Mayan people.

In 1847, the Fry & Sons Company of Bristol, England, introduced the first chocolate bar meant for eating as a snack.

Richard Cadbury (the founder of England’s Cadbury chocolate company) introduced a terrific money-making tradition by creating the first Valentine’s Day candy box in 1868.

Robert Stroehecker is the “father” of the first chocolate Easter bunny—yet another successful holiday advertising icon, which first appeared in 1890.

The United States Armed Forces also helped make chocolate a popular treat. During both world wars, the rations of U.S. soldiers included this sweet for extra energy. Today, Army D-rations still include 4 ounces of chocolate