If you have ever spent a small fortune you didn’t have, or have spent your Christmas Eve in crowded shopping malls looking for that perfect gift for your husband …. raise your hand! I love the Christmas season as much as anyone, but I don’t love the STRESS of all the holiday to-dos added to my already overloaded mom schedule. Between home, work, and church, I’ve got plenty on my list. BUT a few years ago, I dispensed with all…
My kids make me wait until November 1st to start the Christmas countdown…and then it’s full steam ahead! But with the Christmas creep, we’re barely over Labor Day when the retail industry has us feeling the sudden urge to start prepping and shopping for Christmas. But, wait! Don’t start shopping just yet. Christmas is the perfect excuse to declutter. Out with the old, in with the new. Prepare for the holiday shopping season with these… 6 Things to Declutter Before Christmas: …
Savor the Joy of the Christmas Season with a Festive Bucket List Soft lights twinkling in the windows, steaming cups of cocoa being passed from hand to hand, boots dripping with fresh snow piled on the welcome mat, little faces bright and rosy cheeked from romping in the cold yard. Christmas music swirling in the background while angels glisten on the evergreen tree in the corner and gold wrapped packages sit expectantly underneath. These are the little moments of the…
The holidays are a natural breeder for mom guilt. Really any busy season is but there’s something about the Thanksgiving and Christmas season that seems to grow mom guilt at an alarming rate. The number of activities available to over-commit to, the pressure to make the season magical, the financial burdens, the family gatherings, and the list goes on and on. There’s always something you will feel like you aren’t doing enough of during the holidays. There will always be…
Christmas can either be a hectic time of year, or as the classic carol says, “the most wonderful.” What is the difference between the two? How can we take hold of its joy? The one word answer is worship. In the midst of decorating, baking, wrapping presents, and more, we can have a heart stilled and grateful over our Savior’s love – that He left the grand courts of heaven to come to us and make us His own.…
Some traditions begin on a whim, and yet in their simplicity, they become a profound bedrock of family celebrations, rich in meaning and steeped in value. And it’s not until we’re given a glimpse backward that we realize how they’ve imprinted faith on our hearts and grounded us in hope for the future. I remember it began early in our marriage, with a simple “baby’s first Christmas” ornament, hung on a short, barren tree, between a few golden baubles. Like…
There is nothing like seeing the wonder in a child’s eyes during the holiday season. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! As children grow up, however, that wonder seems to fade; the holidays no longer seem as magical as they once were. My pre-teen daughter confirmed that recently when she said forlornly, “The holidays aren’t as exciting as they were when I was younger.” This year, I’m on a mission to bring the wonder back to…
Dad and I crossed the steamy asphalt, melty ice-cream cones in hand. We’d driven cross-country to Yellowstone for a nature-writing seminar and stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs for two reasons: huckleberry ice cream and piano music. The ice cream was a sure thing. The piano music, though? That was a different story. Randy played four or five nights a week and we weren’t sure this was one of them. It’s a stop I make every time I’m in Yellowstone. I…
This post is by guest writer, Jody Collins, and part of our Simplify The Season Holiday Blog Party. Have you ever had to move house during the Christmas season? How much fun is that, eh? Several years ago our family participated in the journey to a new land during the holidays and I discovered something. It’s impossible to celebrate a “normal” Christmas when your living room is crowded with moving boxes. That wasn’t my discovery. No. The good news I…
Take a deep cleansing breath. I am about to tell you that it is ok for every room NOT to drip with Christmas decor. Now release it. Repeat after me, Simple is Beautiful. Repeat until you believe it! I used to decorate every room in my house and have a tree for every room. At one point I believe I was decorating over 20 trees in my house. I loved it. I thought I needed to do that to make the…