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When it comes to finding a unique and loved-filled gift for those close to you, collections from Precious Moments and from Willow Tree offer some exceptional ideas. These two brands have stylish and thoughtful items that have been designed around premises of love, faith and caring. Whether you’re looking to give a gift during a festive period or when somebody reaches that oh so important milestone, these two collections are well worth considering.

Moments are Precious – Celebrate Them

Sam Butcher, artist and designer of the brand, introduced Precious Moments in 1978. Since the brand has gone on to produce more than 1,500 items which have sold across the world. The collection offers an assortment of religious and faith based designs that make ideal gifts; gifts that portray heartfelt emotion from the giver to the receiver. Events such as Easter and Christmas are well represented with Butcher’s work, whilst important personal occasions are also celebrated. This latter selection includes the likes of graduations, a new born baby and a baptism.

The importance of faith within the collection, which reflects the importance of faith to Butcher (who also owns the Precious Moments Park, a mural-covered chapel open for worship), makes these ideal for those looking for religious gifts, or those looking to make a long-lasting impression. Many of the items feature pastel colours, cool and unobtrusive, that are ideally suited to the angel figurines and other dolls on offer.

The Precious Moments range offers a wide variety of items. These include dolls and figurines (as mentioned above) as well as the likes of ornaments, jewellery, stands and plush toys. All items are ideal for those wishing to send a well thought out gift to a loved one.

Gifts from Beneath the Willow

Like Butcher’s precious collection, the Willow Tree range has a clear focus on representing humane and loving qualities. Having first appeared in 2000, Willow Tree is the work of Susan Lordi, a native of Kansas City, Missouri. Lordi handcrafts and hand paints all of her designs and sculptures, many of which are representations of emotions.

Those looking for the ideal Willow Tree gift will find the range to be extensive and thorough. As with the Precious Moments collection, this album of work features ideal gifts for holiday periods as well as personal events. You’ll find lovely items for those celebrating a wedding, anniversary or birthday, as well as those ready to graduate college or pass a training course. It doesn’t have to be a specific event either. Items are available that are suitable for wishing a speedy recovery or a thank you for tireless help.

The selection features a range of sculptures designed to promote the likes of love, friendship, kindness and family. Journals, ornaments and plaques are also available.

Remember, if you’re looking to express your love with a gift that will act as a long time reminder, both the Willow Tree collection and the Precious Moments brand offer a wealth of ideas that are sure to be suited to your purpose.

Many of our most inspirational sayings have to do with love and romance. The sayings can be surprising. Sometimes, they even seem to go against conventional wisdom. But if you take a minute to truly think about the message, these love quotes and sayings carry a lot of truth in very few words.

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” – Amy Carmichael

We often give without loving: A trunk full of clothes that no longer fit us donated to Good Will, perhaps, or a hastily written check for a charity you’ve never even heard of before. No, giving does not require love. But true love always requires giving another person one of the most sacred gifts you can give anyone: Your trust.

“Love is a friendship caught on fire.” – Northern Exposure

The most loving and long-lasting relationships almost always begin as deep friendships. Love based only on physical attraction tends to burn out pretty quickly.

“In real love, you want the other person’s good. In romantic love, you want the other person.” – Margaret Anderson

Romantic love has a lot to do with possession. (“Look at my new boyfriend. Isn’t he hot?”) Real love focuses less on owning the other person and more on what will do the person the most good. Remember the old saying, if you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.

“Love creates an us without destroying a me,” – Unknown

This is one of the most inspirational sayings about love. So many people are afraid to love because they are afraid to lose themselves. True love doesn’t steal your identity. Rather it gives you an additional identity.

“Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.” – H.L. Mencken

Love requires an imagination, a willingness to investigate new possibilities and new dreams that intelligence tells you are impossible. Sometimes intelligence is not so smart.

“The best proof of love is trust.” – Dr. Joyce Brothers

Contrary to popular belief, it is not adorable to be possessive of or jealous about the person you are in love with. True love is based on trust, not ownership.

“I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.”  — Elizabeth Barrett Browning

This is another of the most accurate of the many love quotes and sayings. True love does not make us “crazy.” It makes us better.

“We waste time looking for the perfect lover—instead of creating the perfect love.” – Tom Robbins

You don’t have to wait to find love; you can start to create it in your life this minute. Once you are ready to love, the right person will come along.

“The first duty of love is to listen.” – Paul Tillich

That means not changing the subject when your honey has had a bad day and wants to talk about it.

“You can’t force someone to love you; all you can do is become someone who can be loved; the rest is up to them.” – Unknown

It’s perfectly true that you can’t force another human being to feel one way or another. The important thing is that you become a person that you can love and respect. Once you love yourself, you will realize that outside validation is not as important as it once seemed.

Next time you’re feeling confused or frustrated by love, take a few minutes to think about these inspirational sayings; you may be mistaking love for some other emotion entirely.

Reading electric toothbrush reviews (German translation: Zahnbürsten Testberichte) can sometimes seem like reading about a close horse race. One day Oral B is in the lead, the next day it’s Sonicare. Both Oral B and Sonicare produce electric toothbrushes of the very highest quality, and the two companies control most of the electric toothbrush market. In the era before electric toothbrushes, Oral B was practically a household name, and most households with a toothbrush or two, which means most households, more than likely had at least one Oral B toothbrush in the bathroom.

The Smart Toothbrush - The typical electric Oral B toothbrush (German translation: Oral-B Zahnbürste), and there are a number of models, features an oscillating-rotating brush head as opposed to the ultrasonic cleaning approach used in the Sonicare line. It should be noted that the Oral B product line does include a few sonic models, such as the Oral B Plusonic. Most Oral B models, at least the higher-end models not only brush your teeth, but provide guidance as you do so, such as signaling when it’s time to move on to another part of your mouth, or giving an indication that you are working too hard at brushing, rather than letting the toothbrush do the work. While a few toothbrush reviews are sometimes a bit on the negative side with complaints that the Oral B toothbrushes have too many bells and whistles, the same is said for Sonicare, and the other brands of electric toothbrushes.

Toothbrush reviews for a given Oral B model tend to be positive, in fact more often than not they are overwhelmingly positive, not only for the high-end products like the SmartSeries and the Triumph models, but also for the under $20  models such as the Oral B Vitality model, which does not have a lot to offer in the way of bells and whistles. Most reviewers like these extra features, although a few think they’ve paid good money for features they don’t need. When it comes down to having a “smart” toothbrush however, most seem to feel that they do a better job of tooth brushing, because of the various features. When there are complaints, they often address the seeming complexity of the accompanying instruction manuals. Admittedly, if you’re just stepping up from using a conventional toothbrush, the instruction manual can seem a bit daunting.

There aren’t too many negatives to be found among toothbrush reviews for Oral B products. There have been complaints about some models having too short of a battery life, but such complaints are common in today’s world, where more and more of the things we use are powered by rechargeable batteries. Electric toothbrushes certainly receive far fewer negative reviews regarding battery life than do laptops. Both Oral B and Sonicare get plenty of what might be considered as the best possible review, the one that says – “My mouth feels just like it does when I’ve had my teeth cleaned by my dentist”.