When Mom Isn’t So Merry

It happened again this morning. I was irritated at my children; desperately trying to get them to school on time. The twins are only in preschool but some mornings I feel like I have two teenagers on my hands. And, I do what I hoped I wouldn’t: I snap. It doesn’t help that it’s December, one of the craziest months of the year. It doesn’t help that I’m pregnant and working and quite honestly tired. It doesn’t help that my husband is traveling and the dishes are piled up in the sink and those crazy fruit flies have appeared again …

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43 Tips & Ideas to Make Christmas Meaningful as a Family

  Can you believe it—23 days until Christmas. The days will pass in a flurry of activities but what if you and I could most intentional over the next 23 days to make Christmas meaningful? What if this Christmas could mark your family’s hearts as a season of celebrating Jesus? Not sure how? I gotcha covered. 1. Begin Advent. It started two days ago but you can still catch up: Advent Reading List & listening in the car on the way to school, at breakfast or before bed each night. Click here for reading printable reading list!!!  Create your own …

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A Christmas Gift for Daddy

It’s too late.  If you haven’t finished Christmas shopping for your husband, your time is up. Oh, you could fight the crowds, pray for a parking spot, wait in line, and buy him … a bag of jerky, but that’s not really what he wants. On Christmas day, a mom can give her main man what he wants most:  her respect. Christmas can become so focused on the children that a dad can feel like a toy dancing Santa … fun at first, but then only good to be put in a corner and ignored. Add in some holiday-inspired sarcasm …

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He Came!

I grieve when I fail the Lord, when my obedience lacks its first response. But then I remember it was for failures that Christ graced a rough-hewn manger. It was for failures that He breathed His last earthly breath as He hung in disgrace for the failings of the world. It was to a failure, one who penned the precious psalms that touch our hearts in time of need and, yet, as a man after God’s own heart, sinned and ripped apart his fellowship with the Lord, then repented and repaired it. It was to a failure, one who had …

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Gift of Grace

Nine years ago marks one of the most difficult, yet most important Christmases in my life.  It would become a Christmas that would change my life and how I celebrate the birth of Jesus. In October, we had found out we were having another baby.  This baby would be our ninth child and we were just as excited as if it were our first.  However, our excitement changed to sorrow when we found out two months later we would never see this baby come full term.  We later found out I had a virus that attacked my sweet baby and …

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Praying Cards

My little family has lived in three different states. Minnesota, California, Minnesota again, and Colorado.  Every time we have moved it’s  been hard to say goodbye to the friends we made and the places we’ve grown to love. So… getting Christmas cards at our home is a big deal.   We love hearing from our friends and catching up with their family news. It’s so fun to look at the pictures and see how the kids have grown (not how the parents have aged!).  Sadly, another Christmas approaches and we find we haven’t communicated with these special people in the …

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Ways to Help Your Children Focus on Christ at CHRISTmas

Can you imagine if it was your birthday and a friend offered to give a birthday dinner in your honor? You pull your car up the driveway and there are lights with your husband’s name on them.  Arriving at the front door, you’re greeted with a wreath welcoming a neighbor.  When you get inside, the whole house is decorated with pictures of the host’s favorite musician.  When the birthday cake is brought out, it has someone else’s name on it. Gifts are given to another person, not you.  Happy birthday is sung with someone else’s name.  As you leave, the …

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Have a Merry Marriage & The TMI Monday Link Up!

A lot of work in decking the halls falls to Mom. A mother’s list is long when counting to Christmas, and it isn’t unheard of for there to be a casualty during the 12 (just 12?) days of Christmas. Does someone named “husband” feel like there’s no room for him in the inn this time of year? Honestly, would your husband say your marriage is very merry in December? Would you? While tackling gift lists, baking cookies, signing cards, and attending parties, a wife might feel like she only has time for her man when it’s time to hang the …

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Preparing Your Child’s Heart for Christmas

by Debbie Taylor Williams I will never forget when I was a child and my Sunday School teacher challenged my class to memorize the Christmas story found in Luke 2:1-14. What seemed a daunting task became manageable as my mother helped me memorize one small section at a time.  “And it came to pass”                                 “in those days”                                                    “there went …

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A Holiday-Ready Heart

Maybe November and December are your two favorite months of the year. Perhaps preparing for, living through, and cleaning up after the holidays don’t phase you in the least. You may have your Christmas shopping all done, your cards ready to mail, and your menus completely planned. If these are true for you, then The PURSE-onality Challenge “A Holiday-Ready Heart” is not designed for you. (But please join us anyhow and give us your best advice!) However, if you…         dread dragging out the holiday decorations… wonder how what should be “the best of times” often ends up …

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