Bag o’ Joyful Swag
My husband brought a gigantic company-logoed duffel bag home from work the other day. It was presumably a bag o’ swag, as is to be expected at a corporate business office around the holidays, but he didn’t look through the contents ahead of time. So when he walked in the door and the boys asked about it, he jokingly said, “Here, boys, this is for you. It’s full of CANDY!” They took it, opened it up, and screamed in delight. Because, unbeknownst to us, it was ACTUALLY FULL OF CANDY.
Christmas, Reclaimed
A few weeks ago I spoke to some fellow moms on the topic of “Simplifying Christmas”. About reclaiming the joy and wonder of it. And finding ways to not hate yourself and everyone around you by the time the holidays are over. It was easily one of my favorite topics this fall because, like most things humans get ahold of, we’ve lost our way a bit in this department. And of all the overwhelming, stressful things in life and the world around us, Christmas just doesn’t have to be one. It’s amazing how much stuff we accumulate to celebrate the birth of a savior who couldn’t have come with any less. Our family is over this. So…
For Unto Us
It’s that wonderful time of year again!!!!!!!!!!! Hah..ha…h… …is it just me or does December always seem to bring with it a heightened level of stress? And scrambling? Every year I promise to slow down. To enjoy the season. To focus on the point of it all. Yet every year I find myself panicked over forgetting Dad’s stocking stuffer. Or wondering if my sister-in-law actually liked her present. Or stressing about how much money I end up spending on “just one more little thing”. I wanted this year to be different for our family. I armed myself with an Advent study an activity-filled countdown calendar and plenty of grace because small children. And…
Christmas: the most wonder{stress}ful time of the year!
Rule 1 of church attending: Never ever, ever, ever skip potluck day. It’s way too delicious to miss. (Can I get an amen?) A few weeks ago, some young couple friends of ours broke this rule. They skipped the brunch potluck we had during class and came straight to the worship service afterwards. I saw them across the room and walked over to give them a hard time. “Skipping, on POTLUCK DAY? What were you thinking?!” I said. My friend laughed and said, “I know…we knew it was a brunch today, but we couldn’t afford to bring anything so we just stayed home!” The part of the conversation that caught…
Blessingmas Report, The Christmas Meltdown, & Family Photos
I’ve been putting off an after-holiday blog because there’s too much to recap in an orderly fashion. Let me just start by saying that at our after-church lunch on Sunday, I was waiting outside the one-staller bathroom for my turn when the lady occupying the restroom came out, made eye contact with me, said, “Hold on just a second…”, turned back around, flushed the toilet, and came back out. So that’s how we do, now. We only flush if we make eye contact with the next person in line. Thank you for reading this. Blessingmas Report I’m sure most of you are wondering about Blessingmas 2012. The anticipation of it…
Neighborly Blessingmas Revolution 2012
Gather round the fire, everyone. I’m going to tell you the tale of an underground revolution called Blessingmas 2012. Better yet, I’ll just share the email I sent to a few of my friends: Hey friends. I can still call you that, right? Most of you are probably wondering why you’re still friends with me. I’ll remind you why: my charm is irresistible. Let me give you some background about my cryptic text today. If you’re completely uninterested in that and would rather just know what I’m proposing, skip to the bottom. Last year at this time I decided to make brownies for my neighbors for Christmas. I kind of…
