First off, I want to honor my beautiful and charming, lovely mom on this special day…I love her smiling face as she and my dad are holding their very first baby. She looks so  peaceful and full of joy with the flower in her hair, especially after all that hard labor, delivering her firstborn into this world.  (My dad is making sure my sister had ears.) 🙂 (just joshing.) 🙂

I can only imagine all my mom’s ‘beaus’ that sat with her on this porch swing...on those romantic, sultry, summer Carolina evenings! 🙂 

Here are a few more photos that “captured my mom’s beauty, “inside and out.”

My mom and best friend for all the years of her life at my graduation from Mission Viejo High school. I will always remember my mom and I sitting together in her beautiful Laguna Niguel home, the day she and my sister blessed me with a delightful and winning bridesmaid luncheon.  (You would never guess she was just diagnosed with cancer, she was so beautiful.) My mother, (slender mom, after having several children) taking a quite moment of repose at the beach. (Little did she know that right around the corner, 4 more babies were coming! 🙂 ) Forever her beauty will be etched in my mind, the evening she was all dressed up to go out with my father who was formally attired in his  handsome Uniform and lastly, my mom with all of her friends, sunbathing! She is the one on the left hand side, sitting up.

Before writing this blog, I want to say “Thank you,” to my mom for being my best friend, confidant, the awesome, “fearless duo”  that we were and for all the love, encouragement and acceptance she gave me up until the day she went to heaven in 1992.

THE DISTINGUISHED QUOTE CORNER:

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”

“The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom, of which you will always find forgiveness.” ~ Honore de Balzac

“There is only one pretty child in the world and every mother has it.” ~ Chinese Proverb

“The phrase”working mother’ is redundant.” ~ Jane Sellman

“A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.” ~ Tenneva Jordan

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed but the mother, never. A mother is something entirely new.” ~ Rajneesh

 

 

You know, we all started off as babies...Even our moms and dads. We all have a mom…Not every mother- daughter or mother-son relationship is ‘ideal,’ but there will never be another person in this world who can say what your mom can say…”I carried you for nine months in  my stomach and brought you into this world.” (She may have reminded you of those very long agonizing, excruciating hours of labor when she was not happy with you.) 🙂

Mothers day is the one day set aside to annually honor your mom. This blog is about a variety of ways to bless her, honor her and say “thank you for being my mom.”

You may have someone in your life, (like we do,) who is our ‘adoptive mom.’ Neither my husband or I have any parents living and this lady has been like a second mom to both of us, plus I can think of several other women throughout my life who were a gift and like a mom to me as well. This day can be for them too…just to say “Thank you” to them with a card, phone call or flowers!

 

Here is a full day of some thoughtful things to do for your mom to extol and acknowledge her. If you have a brother or sister, they too can share in some of these ideas. Perhaps each of you spending time with her at different hours and events of the day, would be the ideal gift and would give you or some of your siblings, who are mom’s themselves,  time to spend with their own families as well.

Plan out a special day ‘just for her.’   A homemade breakfast with an inviting ambiance, served with fresh flowers, a candle, decor that she loves, beautiful china and her favorite CD playing in the background.

Pour her a hot bath with her favorite bubble bath and don’t forget the warm bath towels, candles and a luxurious bar of  soap.

Take her out for a picnic lunch. Place in the basket, her favorite wine, fruits and cheeses and home made cookies. If it is a stormy  day in May, have the picnic on a quilt in the living room, or on the lovely, screened in back porch.

Shower her with gifts…I would always give my mom  gifts that blessed the side of her that would say; “Hey I am not just a mom, I am a woman too.” The part of her, in her younger days, that enjoyed  getting all dressed up and going to parties with her girlfriends. Remind her of the days where she was wined and dined by handsome young men or the afternoon at the beach where she felt so sexy in her one piece bathing suit, stealing the eyes of  the young men passing by. Don’t always go for the practical gifts, go for the elegant  and  ‘nostalgic’ gifts as well. 🙂

Some gift ideas to shower your mom with are classy soaps, a  stunning bathrobe, new bright and pampering linens for her bed in her favorite colors, vintage lace, monogrammed  napkins or pillow cases and perhaps a bottle of her cherished perfume. A luxurious lotion and powder set to make her feel and smell beautiful, a majestic, fancy scarf, a charm bracelet with each one of her children’s initials on a handpicked trinket, a royal and rich Toile wine  bottle cover or an exquisite, decorative candle with a fresh spring scent. All these things will make her feel beautiful on the inside and out.

Everyone’s moms are entirely diverse. Maybe go back in time and do a little research on her life before she was married with kids and bless her with something to bring back some of those special memories. But, always celebrate her being ‘a mom’ as well, cause you know she wouldn’t trade you for anything in the world, not even her most blissful moment when she was single. 🙂

Perhaps she would adore a scrapbook made by you…start with photos of you as a baby, toddler, kindergartner and then your elementary through High school years.  If you are married with children of your own, give her a lovely frame with pictures of your family in it.

Some personal items for the home, (yet still pampering to her soul,) would be lovely. Perhaps  some throw pillows to match her bed, a stylish vase, a chintz tea cup and saucer, a tapestry foot stool or a few of her favorite Classic movies.

As the late  afternoon arrives, serve her a  delightful snack… perhaps some fresh fruits atop a glass of sparkling wine, champagne or lemonade in her pretty crystal, gourmet cheese and crackers on her ‘good china or hot tea and  hazelnut scones.

When dinner is served, surprise her with one of her favorite dinners, candles, fresh flowers, pretty silverware, linen napkins and an extra special dessert. If being a chef is not your specialty, take her to her favorite eatery in the enchanted heart of the city for a nice dinner. If all the family can be there, make the meal a quiescent extended feast, all of you partaking in delicious cuisine and wondrous reminiscing of family and friends.

Lastly, as her special day is ending, give her a big hug and a kiss. Tell her “Thank you” and “I love you mom.” It will be the best gift of her day!  She will be exuberant with joy! Sentiments are a GIFT like no other. When my mom was dying with cancer, on her last mothers day I wrote her a poem… It was called “An Extraordinary mother.” I typed it on my computer and  printed it out and  bought a classy , feminine bone white china frame for it. As she read it, she cried and absolutely loved it. After she was gone and my sister and I were at the house one day, going through her belongings to see what kind of ‘girl things’ we wanted to keep of hers, my father came to me and asked me if he could keep the poem I wrote for her. He told me then that it really meant a  lot to him. Show your heart, let her know that you love her and what she means to you…

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you ‘MOMS” out there…May your day be blessed to OVERFLOWING! (And to all of “YOU MOMS TO BE” AS WELL! 🙂 )

 Additional Links:
Victoria Magazine
Country Living magazine

PHOTOGRAPHS: In placing your computer mouse upon any of the photos or graphics, it will display where the picture originated from.

LINKS: To learn more about the newly added ‘links’ in Living Winsomely, please read the blog, “WE NOW HAVE LINKS,” in the category section. 🙂

 

.