What a Sweet Sister...And, how lucky, to have - A Sister - who is also a thoughtful one too! By the way...Welcome Back!! Read your other post on your trip. Sounds like it was busy and fun filled, with all your family. Looking forward to seeing a tablescape with those new little goodies! jane

I got my mom this atomic clock/weather station. Gives indoor/outdoor highs/lows for the last 12 hrs, predicts weather for next 12/24 hrs. They say it takes 14 days to set itself to predict weather, but mine started showing snow on screen on 3rd day, next morning we had snow. (Got one for myself, my LaCrosse bit the dust after 3 yrs). This is an Acu-Rite brand, super easy set up. I like it for her because the screen is big, easy to read. One "con" is no LCD contrast adjustment, has to be hung at a higher spot on wall so other background images don't "shadow" on the screen. (Tho it will also stand, like a picture frame.) Another great stocking stuffer are those $15 remote light switches. (Can't find a pic of one & need to head out now, but they are everywhere now, Walgreen's, Ace, big box stores). There are two kinds. You plug a lamp into the switch, then either operate the lamp from a push button remote or wall 'flip' switch you can install in a handy spot (double faced backing or small screws). My mom took a few tumbles, so I hooked one up to her bedside lamp and set remote on her bedside table. All she has to do is press remote now, rather than reach over for lamp's switch. Those have been so handy I've given her several, she loves them!

I think it's a swell gift idea and would be pleased to find it in my stocking so I hope your gifts were received with good cheer, Lynn. My friend's son recently had his done and was tickled to find some Australian native DNA in his background. Scandinavian/German/Italian was all that was in the oral tradition of the family, so it was a neat surprise. Our family's Ancestry.com hobbyist received an email from a "surprise" cousin that we did not know we had, after several family members' DNA was registered. Photos were exchanged and yes, there is no way to deny the blood kinship--he looks just like the rest of us, poor fellow. The generation of folks who might have been shocked/hurt by this surprise family member are all gone, and I am glad for him that his lifelong question of paternity could be answered. I can see that it might be awkward for younger families who find out they have siblings they never heard of, but I'm a fan of sunlight in dark family corners-- and I also think it's time that some kinds of families stop acting like those situations never happen "among our kind of people", lol. I also had my dog's DNA done and I'm getting our newer dog's done, too. Very fun to find out what went into these rescue/shelter mutts we love.

I was actually searching for something else and came across a page that explains the tradition Jewish mourning practices for both the grieving and the visitors/community. Very interesting -- quite formalized in steps and stages (for example, the first days before burial this is done to show grief, the day of something else is done, visitors are not to come before x day, even down to who prepares and who partakes of the funeral meal, what happens the next 7 days, the next year, remembrance in the synagogue and on the anniversary of the death. There may be wisdom in this. It certainly gives permission and space to fully express and acknowledge grief, and remember the one who has passed, and must help the grieving to know that the community was all on the same page.