"Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions.

The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for."

~ Zig Ziglar

This is the time of year when we see a lot of encouragement around 'counting our blessings' and making gratitude lists...in the USA this tends to revolve around November as this is the month of our Thanksgiving holiday...so often I have wondered what it would be like if every day we were thankful.

I have often spent my November writing 30 days of gratitudes in my journal. I love doing that it helps me begin my holiday season on the right brain wave. This year I wanted to try something different. So back on January 1st I began a list on my phone of one daily thing I am grateful for. Now to be honest I have not hit every single day, and there may be an unusually high number of repetitive gratitudes about coffee...however what I can honestly say...it changes you.

To take the time each day (or the next day), to remind myself how incredibly fortunate I am - really all of us are - to live and love and continue to be a part of this incredible world. With November, we know that the holiday season is upon us and we are also voting this month in the USA and taking full advantage of our freedoms to vote and support the things that matter to us! So be sure you get your vote cast by the deadline and let your voice be heard!!

At the shoppe we are busily getting ready to set the shoppe for Christmas...

and our upcoming Holiday Faire!

One of our most favorite events of the entire year!!

We love opening our doors to local small business artists and crafters and of course to our community to come and shop for those one of a kind items that your gift list will absolutely love!!

So be sure you have us on your schedule on Dec 13th & 14th!!

November also marks the fifth year we have joined in on St. Jude's Holiday Thanks & Giving fundraising campaign, partnering with St. Jude's Thanks & Giving is one of our founding commitments and we continue to "give thanks for the healthy children in our lives" by supporting

the St. Jude families facing a cancer diagnosis.

So our Coffee & Tea Blessings will be going to St. Jude during the holiday season.

Because of your generosity and the generosity of our cardmakers and our card class teacher, Kimberly Graves, we have donated more than $1500 each of our 5 years to St. Jude and this year we may even reach $2,000. If you didn't know, Kim's classes support St. Jude and the cardmakers donate their extra beautiful cards to our card rack where you can get all kinds of handmade cards for a donation of your choosing to St. Jude. What a wonderful community we have at the shoppe and what a beautiful way to express our gratitude for the healthy kids in our lives!!

And so here we go...full on into the holiday season...we have open crafting days and a few classes to offer around the Thanksgiving holiday in November and lots of open crafting coming in December before you need all those gifts wrapped and ready...we will also offer giftwrapping days in December, so if you need a festive place to come and wrap in peace and cocoa or if you need a little help wrapping, we have all that you might need right here, so you can find some times to come wrap with us!!

Meanwhile...here are the details for November...and a little December!

we pray your month is filled with gratitude and blessings and that we will

see you at the little shoppe on the corner!!