Looking for a gift for someone who has recently purchased a home?

Visit the following link for some great ideas on what to give to the new homeowners. These gift ideas are great year round, but with Christmas only 5 days away any one of these gift ideas make a great, thoughtful last minute gift and likely a very much appreciated one.

http://www.rew.ca/news/30-holiday-gift-ideas-for-new-home-owners

Once again it is that time of year...a time to give back, a time to help make Christmas special for families in need.
Every year at this time our office - HomeLife Benchmark Realty Cloverdale and the Pacific Titans Hockey Academy rally together for a month before Christmas and raise funds to help support the Surrey and Langley Christmas bureaus.

This year we helped to provide Christmas Hampers for 3 families...but more importantly we helped to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for the children in those families. Tonight we delivered the Christmas Hampers and every year I am torn with excitement at giving and the emotions that well up as we deliver the hampers and meet the families. Everyone's story is different...tonight we met single Moms struggling to make ends meet. From a cancer survivor trying to find work to a Mom who finds it challenging to provide the right diet for her diabetic son. 

Christmas is a time of giving, I challenge everyone out there to give back in some way. Whether it is helping a person carry in their groceries or paying for someone's order in the drive through, anything that brings a smile to someone's face. That is what the Spirit of Christmas is all about!

Children are meant to out live us and tragedies such as this one in Newtown, Connecticut have really hit everyone hard. I cannot imagine anyone not having their emotions turned upside down after hearing about the nightmare that the children and staff of Sandy Hooks elementary went through. There is no making sense of such a tragedy, these children were taken before they even had a chance to live.

I will never forget Barack Obama's quote from yesterday's memorial "being a parent is like living with your heart outside your body all the time" Never have their been truer words...

Newtown you are not alone, the world grieves with you....Let us all remember....

This is the list of names of the dead provided by the Connecticut state police. It does not include the name of the gunman, nor his mother. 

Children

Charlotte Bacon, age 6

Daniel Barden, age 7

Olivia Engel, age 6

Josephine Gay, age 7

Ana M Marquez-Greene, age 6

Dylan Hockley, age 6

Madeleine F Hsu, age 6

Catherine V Hubbard, age 6

Chase Kowalski , age 7

Jesse Lewis, age 6

James Mattioli, age 6

Grace McDonnell, age 7

Emilie Parker, age 6

Jack Pinto, age 6

Noah Pozner, age 6

Caroline Previdi, age 6

Jessica Rekos, age 6

Avielle Richman, age 6

Benjamin Wheeler, age 6

Allison N Wyatt, age 6

Adults

Rachel Davino, age 29

Dawn Hochsprung, age 47

Anne Marie Murphy, age 52

Lauren Rousseau, age 30

Mary Sherlach, age 56

Victoria Soto, age 27

Let us all remember

Our hearts go out to the families of Newtown Connecticut. Such a terrible tragedy....

One of the many questions we get asked is whether or not it is a good idea to sell your home during the Christmas season? 

I would argue that it is...People looking for homes during this time of year are usually the very serious, qualified buyers. They have either sold their home already or need to buy.

Selling during the Christmas season and having your home decorated can actually make your home more warm and inviting. Although, you have to be careful not to decorate as you normally would. Less is always more....Which we usually say when staging your home by asking you to pack away as much as possible and setting the stage to showcase your home well. The last thing we want is to clutter it up with more stuff. Minimizing the space instead of maximizing it. Try to choose tasteful decorations sparingly. Leave presents hidden away until just before Christmas if you can. Otherwise, only have out a few. Try not to have too many religious things out. The reason is that you want people to be able to envision themselves in your home, but to see it as their home. Removing these things and photos etc, also helps to protect your own privacy.

 

If you get a fresh Christmas tree every year then Christmas Tree Fire Safety should be a major concern for you and your family. I was asked to share this and agreed as we can never have enough reminders about Christmas tree fire safety.

To ensure your Christmas remains a merry one, please take a few minutes to go over the tips and facts in the following link:

Christmas Tree Fire Safety

Much of what is shared is common sense, but every year we hear about families losing everything and sometimes losing someone due to Christmas Tree Fires. Please take a moment to be sure you are taking all the right precautions this holiday season.

We went out in the rain yesterday and my husband found his perfect 9' Christmas tree, probably the biggest and most beautiful Christmas tree we've ever bought. We usually get our tree from Art's Nursery in Port Kells on 192nd Street.  They had some beautiful trees this year, but none big enough for my husband. If it doesn't threaten to scrape our cieling it's not tall enough and then it has to be big enough around as well. He's very cute, always manages to find us the PERFECT tree.

This year he fell in love with a Christmas tree at Potter's on 152nd Street in South Surrey.

Both locations always have a great selection of the freshest Christmas trees and each year if we can't find the right height and tree at one we head to the other. The above photo is the tree we found at Art's Nursery last year displaying our Christmas families hampers.

Where do you get your Christmas trees?

Happy 1st day of Hanukkah from our families to yours. We wish you all the best during the holidays and all the best in 2013!

Looking for something fun to do with the kids this weekend? It's always tough to keep them occupied at this time of year, it's too wet and cold to go outside. Why not pop in to Clayton Heights Secondary this Saturday from 10-2pm for lots of fun Christmas activities for the whole family. It's FREE, all Clayton students and staff are asking for is a canned goods donation for the local food bank. 

Saturday Dec 8th 10am -2pm
Location Clayton Heights Secondary School
             7003 188th Street
             Cloverdale


Click on the schools website for more details:

Clayton Heights Secondary School

Christmas Crafts
Gingerbread decorating
Games in the gym
Face Painting
Christmas music
Christmas Classics in the theatre
Santa Photos from 11am-1pm
Tim Hortons coffee, hot chocolate and timbits

Admission - canned food donation for the Food Bank

Happy Holidays!!!

On this evening's news they featured a great company for the holiday season. Husbands everywhere love them and wives will too! ;)

The Lights Before Christmas provide professional Christmas light installation. No more concern about hubby going up on a ladder or steep roof. Leave it up to the professionals...this way, as one gentleman was interviewed he no longer gets blamed for doing it wrong. :) It's all on The Lights Before Christmas and their installation crew. 

Their prices start at $175 and they offer free estimates as well as suggestions on new trends or how to best display your lights.  Why not leave it up to the professionals this Christmas. 

No more lights up til Canada Day either as the quote includes dismantling in January!

For more information on The Lights Before Christmas visit the following link:

The Lights Before Christmas

One of my biggest weaknesses is chocolate, candy and cookies. Into Chocolate carries 2 out of 3 of my weaknesses and is a very dangerous shop for me to stop in and browse...:)

Today I visited the Cloverdale store for the 1st time and met one of the owners Delaine Wilms. Delaine helped me put together a custom gift package of delicious treats. Of course, I couldn't leave the store without buying a dozen of their artisan chocolates too. (Which my family devoured as soon as they saw them...:)

They carry a wide variety of specialty candies and chocolates. From novelty, retro, American, British to local and in house made treats and so much more. Their fudge is delicious! I had never tried bonbons before...never knew what I was missing until today.

I usually visit Delaine and her husband Doug's Into Chocolate shop in Fort Langley every time my husband and I take a stroll through town. I very rarely walk out without at least buying myself one treat. The new Cloverdale store is much bigger and offers a wider variety of yummy treats.

Click on the following link to visit their website and stop by their shop today...you won't be disappointed.

Into Chocolate