Easter: (Part 4) A Birthday Surprise

We now return to our regularly scheduled program. Eco-friendly tips are found at the bottom of the post.

Note: Sadly (sniffle, sniffle), at the time of this posting, I will be working. I will be working on my birthday -- which isn't soooo bad. However, I will leave for work before my family wakes up and I will not get home until they are asleep. However, I will make it through with a smile on my face because this past weekend gave me the go-juice to carry on.

You see... after all of the eggs were hunted...

... and the children had tired... and the sun was setting...



there was a little more fun to be had... a birthday celebration... for little ol' me.

I don't point this out to be vain, but because I was so caught off guard and overwhelmed. I was not thinking of myself. I didn't have any birthday events planned. No one had even mentioned that my birthday was coming. But then, there were cakes... and my family (aunts and uncles and cousins and all...) were in Grammy's kitchen singing Happy Birthday. I was overwhelmed. I was tearing up... over a birthday song. So much of my life is about pleasing others and thinking of others and I have been so busy... that I had almost forgotten that my birthday was coming... and then all of a sudden... it was here... a bit early... if even for a moment.

Look at the beautiful cakes and pies.






It was such a sweet and sincere ending to a very wonderful weekend. I am so grateful and so blessed to be surrounded by my family this holiday season!

(Birthday) Green Tip of the Day

Have you had an eco-friendly birthday this year? Well, really this is a kid birthday idea started by our friends at EchoAGE - where children celebrate giving. The idea is simple. You register your child's party online and he/she gets to pick out an e-vite style invitation (for a real party of course) as well as a charity cause of his/her choosing. The guests do not bring gifts but instead they donate money to a cause of your child's choice. Once all of the money is collected, EchoAGE takes 15%, the charity gets 50% of what's left, your child gets the other 50% of what's left to use as he/shes wishes.

I know, I know. It would be difficult to get a child to go along with this. Start small. You could encourage your child to register their "friend" party with EchoAGE which would still allow him/her to get something special from Grandma and Grandpa.

This is so great -- on so may levels. Click here to see what other well-known companies are saying about EchoAGE.

Other benefits - no paper invitations to send out; no wrapping paper get rid of; no toy packaging to get rid of and so on.