We love that Trader Joe’s is opening more stores here in Utah. A couple weeks ago Ronnie and I braved going to the new one in Riverdale, Utah on a Saturday. It’s not something I would recommend, but I needed fresh flowers for the following day. While I was there, I grabbed gifts for my sweet almost 98-year-old mother-in-law Eileen. I’ve said this before, “Ron was the bonus is this deal”! Eileen has treated me as her own daughter… which she never had. As a mother of five boys, Eileen has wrapped her arms around all five of her daughters-in-law and our lives have been truly blessed as she fills everyone who knows her with love and LIGHT.

Every year for the past 30 plus years, I’ve had the privilege of helping her decorate her home for Christmas, in addition to helping her with her neighbor/friend gifts. Sadly, she’s been in an assisted living care center for over a year now and decorating for Christmas looks much different than it used to.

However, I still love helping her with her personal shopping for neighbors and friends. In the past we have wrapped up a roll of paper towels in cute Christmas tissue with a lovely ribbon bow. Another year we did the same with a roll of toilet paper. That was not in 2020 though as toilet paper was scarce and precious to find! 😊 One year we wrapped a box of Kleenex in pretty wrapping paper also with a lovely ribbon bow. Another year she gave nativity ornaments made from cinnamon scented dark bees wax. These were a hit! The past few years we’ve tied bows onto bottles of hand soap. She comes from the greatest generation who survived the great depression in addition to World War II. Because of this, Eileen is extremely sensible, frugal, and likes to give gifts that are needed and can be used. She wanted to change it up this year and do something we haven’t done before. When I told her about the “Hand Cream” from “Trader Joe’s” she said yes, let’s do that.

Living in Utah’s dry winters requires lots of lotion and lip balm to survive. Our high desert air here is brutal on the skin. Trader Joe’s Hand Cream comes in a nice tube with a screw-on cap and is packaged in a nice cardboard box. This hand cream is unscented making it attractive for men and women alike. It is a bit heavier than regular lotion which makes it perfect to apply it just before bedtime. When I do this, my hands feel hydrated, soft and smooth when I wake up.

I made ribbon sprigs along with a personalized tag from Eileen and then tied those all on with a gorgeous piece of Christmas green ribbon.

The ribbon sprigs make any gift festive and are fun and easy to make. They just take a little bit of time. A great project to sit and work on while watching a movie. You can see the process of how I make the ribbon sprigs in the attached pictures.

If you’re in need of a quick and easy gift, this is a good one! Everyone enjoys personal care items like lotion in the wintertime.

My wish for you this week is to assist someone with their Christmas shopping, especially someone who might have a difficult time getting out to go shopping, or who may be alone without anyone to help them. If you don’t know of anyone to assist, purchase a couple extra personal care items and drop them off at a women’s or homeless shelter.

Tying them up in pretty ribbons and bows with little notes of encouragement will brighten someone’s day and help them know someone truly cares about their trials and struggles. We don’t have to look far to find people going through things much harder than we are. When we focus on others and serve them, our own trials don’t feel as big and hard to bear.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I want to thank all of you for following me here on “Candle in the Window”, but even more for all you do each day to serve others as you share of your LIGHT. When we give others LIGHT and hope, it comes back ten-fold! May you have a blessed Thankful day and know how much you are loved!

Love Ya, Les 😊

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Trader Joe’s for the Win!