Holidays

This moment will never come again

This was my Christmas morning view last year. Boys who came running down the stairs in delight to see if Santa came and begin rummaging around under the tree, on the table (I know, that’s a whole other story). They were so excited and full of joy.

I barely remember it.

Thankfully, I took pictures. I was so tired. We were in the thick of our new house project with deadlines and all the rest. We stayed up to the wee hours wrapping all the gifts and the kids woke up at the crack of dawn. I remember that I was barely functioning. I needed so. much. caffeine. that day.

Christmas day came and went in the flurry of all the things and the pace of life just kept charging full speed ahead.

This past year was chock full – of not only all the house activities, but record growth with HeartStories, which brought …

We had our very first holiday party at our new home over the weekend and it was, by far, favorite party we’ve ever thrown. It was imperfect, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure I unintentionally left people I love off the guest list (I’m so sorry!). I didn’t plan the kids activities very well. Like, I probably should have planned some supervision in the cookie decorating room. . . yikes. (So sorry also for the darling holiday clothes covered in red and green icing and the stomach aches due to ingestion of PURE sugar.) As imperfect as it was, the very best feedback I heard all night was “It was so ‘you’. ” When I asked for clarity about what made it “me”, the answer was that it was such a diverse group of people. Some of them knew one another, but many of them did not. Friends were asking me to …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Love in Friendship Loving Others Our Story Priorities The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

When I arrived at our venue to set up Thursday night for Girls Night Out, I was pleasantly surprised to find the room decked out with festive holiday decor. A fully dressed Christmas tree reached up to the ceiling, and two life-size nutcracker soldiers stood guard at the front of the room.

We always bring our own design theme, but this was a welcome addition.

As is tradition during our Holiday Ready GNO, we needed to screencast a little closed circuit tv presentation of our hair & makeup artist’s tips and tricks, so that everyone in the room could see the techniques they were using on models, up close and personal. It’s also been a tradition that my camera skills, combined with a our not-so-professional equipment have sometimes made this part of the evening a comedy of errors. So this year, I was determined to get it all set up and do …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Inspirational Words Love In Action Love in Family Loving Others Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

I spent the day yesterday hanging around a hospital, while my beloved Daddy had a (long overdue) knee surgery. It had been a family juggling act for me to be able get down to the hospital before they took Dad back.( Thankfully, I made it and Dad did great!) But while I was trying to focus on my laptop and the final preparations for our “Holiday Ready” GNO tonight, the funeral of President Bush was airing live on all the waiting room TVs. The focus of almost everyone in the room was up on those screens. I wanted to listen to the eulogies of the legacy of such a wonderful man, but I needed to prioritize my work. Then I noticed an elderly man, a couple of chairs down from me, he must have been more than 80, who was waiting for his wife to come out of surgery. He was …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Inspirational Women Love In Action Love in Family Loving Others Loving Yourself Priorities The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

Never in my life have I been in the middle of the “holiday frenzy” like I was yesterday. After we were more than halfway through decorating our tree, we decided to add a little blue to our existing color palette. “No problem!”, I thought. I popped over to my computer to see who had the best sale on holiday decor and quickly discovered Michaels had a one-day 50% off holiday decor sale with an additional 20% off your entire order with a special code at checkout. Sounds easy enough! Sign me up! I told the fam I’d be right back and jumped in my car for the quick little trip.

That didn’t work out the way I planned.

I don’t do “Black Friday”. I don’t do pre-Christmas mall shopping. Clearly, I just don’t do much shopping at all because, upon my arrival at Michaels, I could hardly even assimilate what was happening. …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Inspirational Words Love in Family Loving Others Loving Yourself Motherhood Priorities The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

As a parent, when things get a little too quiet, there’s always the thought in the back of your mind that something’s just not quite right. I had one of those moments yesterday after Scott’s parents arrived from Houston. We adults were sitting in the kitchen talking and telling stories, when the kids wizzed past saying they were headed out back to play basketball. It was odd though, because I never heard a ball bouncing. I made a mental note of it, but our storytelling was pretty intense, so I never circled back to check into it.

Until, I heard the blood-curdling scream of my mother-in-law at the front door.

When she opened the door to run out to the car for something, this is what she encountered. The boys had no intention of “playing basketball”. They’d decided to prank us by piling ALL the leaves off our cypress tree, that fell …

by Crystal Gornto Love In Action Love in Family Loving Others Motherhood Roadblocks in Life Leave a comment chat

This moment will never come again

Life’s very best gifts

Thank them for their service

“Holiday Ready” is more than meets the eye

The only gift that lasts

It’s about people