Did You Miss Boxing Day?
Boxing Day. Traditionally the day after Christmas when people boxed alms for the poor or when employers gave servants a Christmas Box. In our house it ranges from boys boxing each other as the excitement and exhaustion of Christmas finally catches up with us...
Birthday Cake for Jesus
One of the traditions my kids love most during the Christmas season is making a birthday cake for Jesus. We usually do this on Christmas Eve, or sometimes on December 23, so we can have a cake for Jesus' birthday party. We decorate the cake differently every year. One...
A Season of Light
I love Christmas. I love the music, the decorations, the air of expectation, and the lights. Oh, how I love the lights! Truly Christmas is a season of light. We hang icicle lights from the eaves of our home, put flameless candles in the windows, hang a lighted wreath...
Simple Gifts
OK. So now it's December 10th and school will be getting out soon, right? When we had kids in school, every year I was surprised by the last day and found myself scrambling for a good teacher gift. Now that we homeschool everyone, I don't have that problem, but I was...
The *Potential* Idolatry of a Composed Christmas
So here we are in December. If you've been composing Christmas with me since July or September, now is when all our hard work begins to pay off. All the carefully laid plans begin to play out. It's the first week of December, and our letters/cards have been mailed....
You are Invited! {And it’s FREE!}
I don't know about you, but I have spent a lot of years rushing through Christmas only to arrive at Boxing Day a little perplexed about why this year didn't feel like Christmas and a little discouraged that my family was focused more on gifts than The Gift. Part of my...
Use Your Camera to Capture Life
So, the Monday after Halloween, my email inbox was full of Christmas shopping ads. And I thought, really? Kind of ironic since I've been preparing for Christmas since July. The reality is, Christmas is coming. And with November arrived and in full swing (yes, we're...
And that’s a Wrap!
I know, it's still October. Is it really time to start Christmas shopping? Well, in two days it'll be November, and you know how fast November rushes by. So, yes. If you want a composed Christmas, where you are not rushing around trying to find the perfect gift in...
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! {Christmas Cards & Update Letters}
Last week I wrote about eliminating unwanted mail from your mailboxes (Incidentally, PaperKarma has added a subscription to their "Free App" that I didn't know about. Apparently new users have a $9.99 annual subscription required to use the service after the first 5...
Thinking vs. Doing {& a Give-Away}
Last week sometime I put my toddler to bed and, as usual, reminded him to "lay down, close your eyes, close your lips, and go to sleep." And, as usual, he lay in his bed singing at the top of his lungs. On this particular night, he serenaded us with, "Trust and...