Sparkle 2: A Bit Of Christmas Magic

A Bit Of Sparkle Makes You Glow Can you remember back to your own childhood? How did you feel when you saw the Christmas tree lit up, the Christmas lights in your town and the glittering displays in shop windows. Do you remember putting tinsel on the tree and hanging it over pictures and photos?…

Sparkle: Is Beautiful And Shiny

Also see (https://eileenmoynihan.wordpress.com/kids-and-teens-fan-club/) Time To Sparkle This is the time of year when we begin to see festive decorations for Christmas and in the Northern Hemisphere the sparkling lights and glittering decorations cheer up the dark, cold days of winter. There is something magical about the twinkle and shine and it can lift spirits and…

Preparation 4: Planning for Christmas 2022 – Spiritually and Commercially

The Advent of Christmas And The Festive Period According to the Cambridge English dictionary Advent means, 'the fact of an event happening, an invention being made, or a person arriving'. Well, the event happening is Christmas, something new like an invention is to change the world, and the person arriving is the birth of Jesus. This is the…

Preparation 3: Preparing To Write

Finding A Place To Write If you are lucky enough to have a room, shed or cabin to write in take advantage of it and turn it into your own little writing space. Surround yourself with books you like, files or notebooks you want to keep notes and different writing projects in. Have photos or…

Preparation 2: Helping Children Prepare For Life

Preparation And Planning Are Life-Skills On https://www.allprodad.com/planning-preparation-skills-teach-kids/ , they list five key planning skills and preparation skills... 1. Think big picture first: 'Teach your kids how to “begin with the end in mind,” as author Stephen Covey says. Once they can see what they are striving for, it will motivate them.' 2. Fill in the…

Preparation: Are You Ready?

Also see https://eileenmoynihan.wordpress.com/kids-and-teens-fan-club/ Be Prepared The motto 'Be Prepared' was the original motto for the Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts/Girl Guides. It came from the the man who started the scout movement in 1907; his surname was Baden-Powell... B. P....BE PREPARED. Major-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1896. The photograph was taken for Elliott and Fry by Francis…

Journeys 4: Irish Poets and Pilgrimage

Me going up Croagh Patrick in 2014 What Is A Pilgrimage? Bruce Feiler says there are six stages that characterize every pilgrimage .https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sacredjourneys/content/pilgrimage/?fbclid=IwAR0HG34pJnqplATVm9f88pChwK1hb-chsc-ifT4Zp6f6Ggo0l-LdpD3w_KU The Call: A yearning for meaning in one's life The Separation: Taking ourselves away from our world and objects. The Journey: Enduring the struggle and obstacles on our way. 'This personal sacrifice…

Journeys 3: Writing Journeys

What Is Your Writing Journey? 'Your writing journey is your own process of ongoing exploration and growth within your writing. When you travel along your writing journey, you are accountable—not to someone else’s definition of success, but to exploring and growing as a writer in the ways you find meaningful and fulfilling.' https://writers.com/seven-questions-for-your-writing-journey-in-2020#:~:text=What%20is%20a%20Writing%20Journey,you%20find%20meaningful%20and%20fulfilling. 'Writers have no choice but to…

Journeys 2: An Important Part of Growing up

In Books Never underestimate the power of the imagination, especially in a child. Even if a child can't physically make a journey they can be transported there by reading a book. When I read Enid Blyton adventure books as a child part of the enjoyment was the freedom of the children to go on adventures…

Journeys: In Children’s Books

Also see https://eileenmoynihan.wordpress.com/kids-and-teens-fan-club/ Books Can Take Us On Many Journeys Many books for children have journeys in them. It might be a journey to a real place, an imaginary place or on a journey of discovery for the character in the book, who learns new things about himself/herself and about life. Young Children Michael Rosen's…