Photo courtesy of Mike Tungate

Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope that for those of you that celebrate Christmas, today finds you fat and happy.  For everyone else, I hope that you are enjoying a long weekend to relax and spend time with your loved ones!

As you can see, I received a very special surprise for Christmas this year!  My cousin-in-law, Roberto, has been helping me with updating my site design and we took it live on Christmas Eve!  I am so excited to finally have a design that reflects a horsey theme!  Give me some feedback – do you like the new layout?  Is it user friendly?  Any quirks? 

Roberto and I have also been cooking up a new surprise for all of you bloggers, too!  Stay tuned in the next few weeks and we’ll hopefully be able to share it with you soon…. I think you’ll like!

Whatever your beliefs and practices may be, I hope that you enjoy the last days of 2009 and are ready to hop into the next decade and make it a great one!  Best to all!

Image courtesy of Dave Walker

Ok, I’ll be the first to admit:  this might sound lame.  Winter Wonderland?  But indulge me for a second here.  Christmas is the ONLY time I miss the cold and snowy north and the holidays bring back many memories of playtime in the snow.  There is something to be said about a little icicle magic adding to the ambience of the holiday season.  With that being said, we’re a little lacking in the snow and ice department here, although we did just have a wicked cold front blow through a few days ago.   These newly cold temperatures provided the perfect backdrop for hunting down holiday cheer.  On Saturday night, a group of friends went for a walk in nearby Crane’s Roost Park that was beautifully decorated for the holidays.  The path wound around a large lake lit by festive lights and peppered with families and couples enjoying the fresh, brisk air.  After we were thoroughly frozen (ok, maybe it was only me that was frozen!) we drove to a nearby neighborhood that was brilliantly decorated for the season.  We walked among the homes admiring both the traditional and the more unique decor.  I can honestly say I’ve never seen a Christmas hippo in a tutu before!  Sometimes it’s hard to find the Christmas spirit when you are surrounded by palm trees in balmy 80 degree temperatures.  But surrounded by millions of blinking lights and festive tunes, you can almost pretend it’s a winter wonderland after all.

As I write about the festivities that surround me, I am reminded of my own little yearly tradition that I started about ten years ago.  Every year around the holidays, I select a charity whose cause resonates with me and I support that charity.  Sometimes I might support financially, sometimes I volunteer.  One year I even adopted my extra special Goober Head.  To me, the holiday season is above all about giving to others so I hope you don’t mind if I share some of my favorite organizations from years past.

Neo Rescue, Inc. ~  This great charity finds homes for unwanted Neos.  Many people don’t realize how many unwanted Neos (and mastiffs in general) there are out there.  These dogs are expensive and messy and huge and can be hard to manage for uneducated owners.  Many of them suffer from numerous health conditions and often require surgeries before they can be adopted.  In this rough economy, rescues like this one are suffering.  This is actually the rescue that I got Grady through six years ago.  They have a lot fewer dogs now, and I imagine the likely reason for that is lack of funds and lack of foster homes.  There is a great shopping boutique on the website, so donaters have the option of purchasing dog related items that provide a referral fee to the rescue.

Pet Rescue by Judy ~ This is a local rescue organization and this woman has worked tirelessly for years to help the animals.  I have witnessed her struggle to continue rescuing animals after city ordinances forced her to disperse her fostered dogs.  Until recently, she has relied solely on foster homes and volunteers to keep her operation running.  She now has a permanent home in central Florida but is relying on donations to keep up her rescue efforts.  This is one charity I really like supporting, because it really helps our local homeless pets. 

Stirrups N Strides Therapeutic Riding ~ This organization hits close to home because this is another great local group that not only rehomes retired or unwanted horses, but also provides riding instruction to handicapped riders.  I am intimately familiar with this program, because my sister has been a rider on their show team for many years.  This is another group of people that sacrifice a lot of time and money to help others and could really use monetary donations, used tack and clothing, or volunteers. 

I know that many of us (myself included) are struggling financially this year.  Don’t let finances inhibit your charitable nature.  If you can’t afford to donate to your own favorite charity, be creative!  Pick up trash along the road, volunteer at a local animal shelter, help an elderly woman to her car with her groceries.  The important thing is to give freely to someone in need, without expecting anything in return.  This is the best holiday gift you can give!  Enjoy this kick-off to the week of festivities!

Once again, it’s time for Thankful Thursday! I hope this post inspires you to consider the things in your life that you are grateful for. If you have a blog, consider posting about it there and link back here. If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to comment here on what you are grateful for in your own life. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, then just take a few moments to reflect on all that you have. If you’d like to tag other bloggers that participate, feel free to do that.

Image courtesy of j_barakat_luver, photobucket

Ahhh, here we are, approaching the holidays at breakneck speed.  Everywhere I turn there are holiday tunes in the background, blinking lights on the trees, something to remind me how thankful I am for this season.  It brings out the child in me and takes me back to a time when purple ponies with sparkles on their butts arrived under the Christmas tree.  For the first 12 years of my life, my Christmas list started off the same:  Can I get a horse?  A palomino?  And can it live in the backyard?  Never did get a palomino, but I was fortunate to have horses in my backyard for many years.  And each Christmas reminds me of those days when purple ponies had to suffice and how, with a little creativity, they were able to fill my aching need for a horse.

Another of my favorite reasons for the season is the proliferation of holiday parties and festive gatherings.  As those who know me can attest, I have a long standing love for cocktail dresses that falls behind only horses, dogs, and chocolate on my list of addictions (no, chocolate and formal wear are not mutually exclusive in my world, at least at the moment).  Holidays also remind me of my childhood when my cousin Jenn would come to visit from out of town for the week and our parents would hit the malls for returns or after Christmas sales.  Invariably, Jenn and I would spend our time in the formal wear section trying on a multitude of dresses and dreaming of the events that we might one day wear them to.  That hobby blossomed into a full blown addiction that resulted in a closet full of formal dresses ‘just in case’ I ever needed them.  A couple of years ago I accepted that neither my hips nor my wallet (nor my closet, actually) could sustain that addiction any longer and I donated the dresses to charity.  Imagine my excitement when I was invited to an office holiday party this year by a new friend.  Even better, I had to go shopping for a new dress.  I’m afraid the addiction may have been rekindled…

Happy Thursday to all and please visit these other sites that frequently participate in Thankful Thursday:

Akal Ranch, Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch, and Tired Dog Ranch.

On Saturday night, I attended Ocala Florida’s Light up Night.  I had a great time and came away from it feeling excited about the upcoming holiday season.  I love this time of year – the holiday music and festive lights, the traditional scents and foods.  Yes, I know – I definitely have rose colored glasses.  I tend to overlook the angry mobs at shopping malls, and the exponential growth of the debt ratio.  What can I say?  I’m a sucker for the season! 

I came across this cute story this morning and it brought a smile to my face.  Nothing like a little Christmas contest to start off this holiday week!  Plus, it features some of my new favorite creatures – donkeys!  I have developed quite a crush on George and Alan from the 7MSN Ranch and I start off nearly every day with a dose of those handsome boys.  (Go on, check them out.  And then just tell me you don’t love them too.  I dare you!  But be warned – you will likely become a George n’ Alan junkie just like the rest of us!) 

Anyway, back to the Christmas contest.  The Donkey Sanctuary in Devon, England has come into possession of quite a unique apple split perfectly down the middle, half red and half green.  They have decided to use this Christmas apple to raise awareness and raise funds for their donkeys’ care.  For a small donation (approximately $3.32 USD), you can vote on which of the “Twelve Donkeys of Christmas” gets to partake in the rare apple.  The donkey with the most votes by December 4, 2009 wins.  There’s not much time to cast your vote, so head over to the Donkey Sanctuary’s site to see photos of the donkeys and learn more about the sanctuary.  Oh, and my vote goes to Wilson, shown below. 

Image courtesy of The Donkey Sanctuary