Skip to main content

Be Encouraged - The Little Book of Christmas Joys

I feel like a lot of people I know stress out about to what to get each other for Christmas.  They spend December frustrated and angry and stomping around or worse, sad and depressed because they can't find that one perfect item.  What a privilege!  Not everyone gets to stress over such things.  Consider it pure joy to have the right to do so!

Bill's parents, aunt and uncle, and cousin got Bill and I a wonderful gift this past weekend called, The Little Book of Christmas Joys.  It is a wonderful way to remind yourself what is important in life.  I want to share a few reminders with you - excerpts from this book.  I hope you take them to heart and bring the spirit of the season back into focus. 

#9 Don't schedule yourself too tightly during the holidays. Before making an appointment, ask yourself, "Can this wait until after Christmas?"

#12 make an effort to attend every Christmas party you're invited to, even if you can stay only for a few minutes.

#77 Call a nursing home and get names of five people who don't often receive mail.  Send each one a beautiful Christmas card. Sign it, "from santa."

#159 If your parents live far away, videotape your family trimming the tree and decorating your home and send it to them to enjoy Christmas Day.

#227 Open Christmas Cards as a family activity each night at the dinner table. Read the messages aloud.

#281 Once or twice take a different route home from work and enjoy the decorations in another neighborhood.


Don't worry so much about presents and wrapping.  Focus on people, quality time and love.

Be encouraged friends.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!




Comments

  1. What a great book! I love all of these ideas! Thanks for linking up ;)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the Nursery: Whole Hearted Parenting Manifesto

I recently finished a book by Brene Brown titled, DaringGreatly .  It really moved me, and I am definitely still processing it. At the beginning of the book I wasn’t resonating deeply with the topic of vulnerability, as most people will tell you I am an “open book”.  I will answer most questions without holding back and love to deep dive into good conversation.  However, what I came to realize through her many examples is that we all wrestle with vulnerability, guilt and shame throughout this book even if is more momentary than constant.  I gleaned SO MUCH from this book that I did not anticipate, and I thought I would share this Parenting Manifesto that she put right at the end of the book.  I am printing it and framing it for our nursery, as I think it communicates some deep parts of my heart cry for parenting my kiddos well. I hope this resonates with someone else as much as it did with me.   I needed these words to remind me that parenting is not a checklist,

A Penny For Your Thoughts - Looking Back & Missing Italy

 I took this my first day in Italy, and will always remember my town just like this... I realized something about my writing the other day, and that is that I am much more present in my writing than I am in my brain.   I am constantly thinking back, but I never write about my past.   Sure, I write a story here or there reminiscing on my African travel, but rarely do you hear about my life pre-California unless it is in reference to my family.   Lately, I have found myself pining for Italy.   Did you know I lived there?   Probably not, because I rarely mention it! I knew I was going to love it there, but it has stuck with me since the moment I left.   I have wanted to go back every   minute of every day since then.   The simplicity of life, the emphasis on slowing down, the architecture, the food, the flowers, the people, the color, the trains, the bikes, the gelato, the smiles and laughter, the wine, and the cities are only scratching the surface of things I love from the bea

At the Library - May through September 2019 Reading

We had another baby in May (SO much more on that later) and blogging has obviously taken a back seat, but I am still reading for pleasure and have managed, in my sons first four months of life, to complete these 8 books!  Y'all, I remember a time when even completing 2 books a year would have sincerely sounded daunting, much less with a newborn.  If you want to read more, you can find the time!  Take stock of your days and see where you are wasting hours.  For some of these, I listened to the audio book while I was pumping or watering the garden.   Rather than give you an individual breakdown of each of these books, I just want to report I found them all incredibly enjoyable.  A total cross section of a food memoir to a psychology deep dive to nature centric novels, I would recommend them all in different capacities.   We have fallen a bit behind on our Bible reading, but we WILL finish by the end of the year. You do not make it to September