This is where childhood comes alive, where the imagination lives! The Toledo Botanical Gardens is a feast for the eyes, with gorgeous flowers, grasses, & ground coverings, layers upon layers of textures; its beauty is bountiful. It’s a living classroom where kiddos can learn about pioneer times, explore the vegetable gardens, & most recently allow their imaginations to roam freely in the Secret Forest!
This year, there will be nothing under my Christmas tree. No gadgets, no updated devices, no video games, no toys. And I say that with purpose, not neglect. Because what my children truly need, what they have always needed, isn’t another object. It’s our time, our presence, and our attention.
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It’s funny, I couldn’t tell you what I wore the Christmas of 1990 (I’m sure it was a gorgeous dress that matched my siblings and we all looked adorable Mom), or what gifts I opened from under the tree, or even if we had snow that year. What I do remember is sipping hot chocolate as we walked through the zoo at night (that in itself is pretty cool to kids) in wonderment at the Lights before Christmas with close family friends, rushing ahead of my parents in awe of the Christmas magic at Children’s Wonderland, touring the over the top decorations at Holidays in the Manor House with my grandparents, seeing the classic, A Christmas Carol, & watching the joy on my father’s face as he recited lines as we watched the classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. That’s the thing about Christmas; it really isn’t about the perfect gift it’s about the time spent with loved ones. So this Christmas let’s focus less on the number of goods under the tree and more on the quality of time spent making childhood memories that our children will cherish for a lifetime.
Mom on the go in Holy Toledo 