Holidays » life, laughter and little things

let it be christmas

Dear Friends,

It has been quite the year, this 2011. There have been bumps and bruises, but it has been a year of finding beautiful moments tucked into ordinary, and unordinary days, of hope that glimmers in dark places, and of learning what the sweetness of trust in Jesus really is. It hasn’t always felt like a good year, but looking back at all the days, all the moments and all the beauty that we’ve experienced all that I can say is once again, He has been faithful all along the way. And it has been a good year, in spite of everything.

~ We celebrated our second anniversary in March. How time has flown and how happy we have been…together. <3

~ We both got jobs after 1.5 years of near constant unemployment. Both have proven to be filled with challenges, but they came at the time we needed them most, and we are grateful for God’s provision. Now, as I leave my job, I’m looking forward to what He has in store.

~ We were able to get a second car—one that I could drive! (I may be extra dense when it comes to driving anyways, but I need a whole lot of empty dirt roads to learn to drive a stick on and that wasn’t happening)

~ We moved to a different rental—farther off the road. It may be smaller, but it is farther off the road, and we are finally able to have a garden plot a mailbox, and a clothesline. Plus a back porch that looks into the trees where birds like to sing. I am so thankful for this place to call our temporary home.

~ We’ve been able to watch our niece grow, and I’m looking forward to being able to spend more time with her again. We are so excited that Shayla will be a big sister in June and we’ll be able to love another niece or nephew and watch them grow as well. New life is such a precious gift.

~ My parents have been able to come to spend a few days with us this December. It has been so good to see them again.

Now, as this season comes and especially as it goes, may our hearts and lives be touched with the true meaning of Christmas, with peace and love and hope…for all man kind. In the words of a song, Let it be Christmas everywhere.

May your days be merry and bright, all your Christmases be White, and may your new year be filled with His blessings.

Love,

Scott & Chantel

making sparkles

Scott and I made sparkles this weekend as we pulled our Christmas box and put shiny things on an unexpected tree that I rescued from its dumpster destination last week.

I may not be the most Christmasy of people. In all honesty, the materialistic outlook that this modern version of “Christmas” seems to carry with it is tiresome and distasteful to me.

To me, Christmas isn’t about what you put under the tree, but what is in your heart and sharing with others who need a little bit of cheer.

And yet while I may not go all out at Christmas time, and I might not deck the halls, and while all the presents under my tree are currently fake ones, there is something about the sparkle of Christmas that puts my heart to singing. I love the way the lights twinkle on dark days and I love how my mail box starts to fill with greetings from far away friends this time of year. I love the memories made with family. I love dreaming of a white Christmas in a corner of the world where it rarely turns white all winter long. I like making sparkles. They are my memories.

GreaThings 2011: T is for…

If you haven’t already, check out the introduction to GreaThings 2011, and consider joining us by sharing what you are thankful for and the blessings you’ve been given this past year!

what I’m thankful for today

I am thankful for time.

Weeks go by with such fury that my head gets to spinning and then I find some time to sit and write. All the clutter and confusion starts to fade, and perspective begins to get back into focus once again.

After a lot of days of colliding schedules that keep my sweetheart and I apart, we get that one treasured day of time together.Sometimes we catch up on dozens of errands, but it is so much more fun because we’re together. Sometimes we window shop and dream, because that’s the best way to shop. Sometimes we’re completely silly, over times we have long, heart to heart talks about what matters most. Sometimes we sleep in as long as we dare and spend the day doing nothing important. No matter what we do or don’t do, there is nothing like being together. It is like an oasis in the middle of a desert, spending time with him.

Time with friends who I haven’t seen for a very long time. Time with my family who live far away. Time to be quiet, time to grow.

Over and over again, I am thankful for time.

What GreaThings are you thankful for today?

- Add the link that takes us directly to your post about today’s blessings to Linky and take a moment to browse the blogs of others who are sharing their blessings today!

- Join on facebook and link to your note, or if you use status updates, comment on this post with what you’re thankful for.

- Join on twitter and use the #GreaThings tag in your “tweet” and @springjoys to let me know you’re joining in!

GreaThings 2011: A is for…

If you haven’t already, check out the introduction to GreaThings 2011, and consider joining us by sharing what you are thankful for and the blessings you’ve been given this past year!

what I’m thankful for today

I’m thankful for God’s amazing grace. How often I need it, how often I am humbled by it.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me….
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
T’was Grace that taught…
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear…
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares…
we have already come.
T’was Grace that brought us safe thus far…
and Grace will lead us home.
The Lord has promised good to me…
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be…
as long as life endures.
When we’ve been here ten thousand years…
bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise…
then when we’ve first begun.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me….
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

What GreaThings are you thankful for today?

- Add the link that takes us directly to your post about today’s blessings to Linky and take a moment to browse the blogs of others who are sharing their blessings today!

- Join on facebook and link to your note, or if you use status updates, comment on this post with what you’re thankful for.

- Join on twitter and use the #GreaThings tag in your “tweet” and @springjoys to let me know you’re joining in!

GreaThings 2011: E is for…

If you haven’t already, check out the introduction to GreaThings 2011, and consider joining us by sharing what you are thankful for and the blessings you’ve been given this past year!

what I’m thankful for today

I’m thankful for every chance I have to smile at someone who looks sad. Seeing their face light up and getting a smile back is like getting a bonus on my paycheck.

I’m thankful for every small moment that I get to spend with my best friend. He and I are finding work creates schedules that are at odds, and our time together is so much more limited than we wish. But it does make each moment so very sweet. I’m just so grateful for all the time we do have together. So many others aren’t so lucky.

I’m thankful for each new morning. Even when things don’t go the way I wish they would, I love getting to hear the birds wake up and see the sun shine and know that it is still a great day to be alive.

What GreaThings are you thankful for today?

- Add the link that takes us directly to your post about today’s blessings to Linky and take a moment to browse the blogs of others who are sharing their blessings today!

- Join on facebook and link to your note, or if you use status updates, comment on this post with what you’re thankful for.

- Join on twitter and use the #GreaThings tag in your “tweet” and @springjoys to let me know you’re joining in!

4 Ideas for Adding More Thankfulness to Thanksgiving

In the middle of a kitchen piled high with dirty dishes and in the rush to get it all done before dinner time, Thanksgiving often becomes more about food than it is about thanks. Keeping it simple can help to eliminate some of the stress and create more time to focus on what is important, but if we don’t plan ahead, it can still be difficult to make Thanksgiving really about being thankful.

Here’s four simple—and inexpensive!—ways to plan ahead and keep thankfulness the focus of your thanksgiving day.

Make a Thankful Tree

Collect colorful fall leaves and press them in books in the weeks before Thanksgiving day. Every day, write something simple that you are thankful for on a leaf and add it to your thankful tree. If you don’t have big, beautiful fall leaves, cut some out of colored paper! Be creative and make your tree come alive with thanks.

Write Thankful Notes

There are a lot of lonely people in this world, and a lot of people who we should thank more often, but don’t always take the time to do it. Brighten the lives of your family and friends by sitting down together and writing little notes with reasons why you are thankful for them and why you are glad they are a part of your life and deliver them in time for Thanksgiving.

Make A Thankful Playlist

Spend some time as a family creating a playlist of songs that remind you of your blessings and the many things that you have been blessed with, and are thankful for and play it on Thanksgiving Day to remind you to be grateful.

Keep a Thankful Heart

It is impossible to expect to suddenly experience an overflow of thankfulness if we do not practice gratitude every day of the year. Take some time this Thanksgiving to make plans as a family to keep thanksgiving alive in your hearts. Get a journal and make it your place of recording all the reasons big and small you have to be grateful during the year. Re-read it together on Thanksgiving Day so you don’t forget all the blessings—both big and small—that you have been given over the past year! If Journals aren’t your thing, figure out what will work for you to make it a habit to keep a thankful heart all year long.

Do you have a tradition or an idea to help keep Thanksgiving Thankful?

Write a post and share your tips and stories with us by linking back to this post or leaving a comment. I’d love to read and learn from what works for you and your family to help make gratitude a bigger part of your Thanksgiving day—and every day throughout the year!

tis the season

It is amazing to me how time has flown by so quickly, and how the holidays are just a few more blinks away. I’ve been thinking about cooking and baking special foods, about the possibility of friends passing through, and especially about my parents’ visit, hopefully around Christmas time. I’m excited that I’ll have a week off then to enjoy everything and everyone!

I’m also thinking about greeting cards again. Last year, thanks to a great promotion from Shutterfly, I was able to get an amazing deal on some christmas photo cards from their collections to send to our family at Christmas time. We chose this design last year.

Shutterfly has been a great company for us. I have ordered quite a few things from them over the years, including several photo gifts. I think my favorite were the photo books I created for my parents and sister. They all turned out so well and have been some of the best gifts I’ve given.

I can’t write this post without telling you about last year, though. When our photo cards arrived, the coloring was really off. Somehow we looked like we had severe sunburns and everything was glaring and I was disappointed, thinking that I now had a stack of cards I couldn’t even use after all. However, I was wrong! When I contacted shutterfly, wondering what had happened, they offered to replace my cards and shipped them immediately—for free! The cards were much better, and I feel like they proved that they do stand behind their policy. I’m still impressed!

We haven’t had a chance to sit down and pick out what we’re wanting to use this year, but I am leaning towards something simple, maybe like this one. I am definitely looking forward to going through the styles with Scott and seeing what we pick out! Of course, we have to find someone to take the picture for us this year, since my brother will be out of town.

As usual, Shutterfly is running some great promotions and has a lot of fun, new styles to choose from in their 2011 collection. You should go check it out.

I am particularly excited about being able to give away three codes, each redeemable for 25 free photo cards, to three of our readers this year!

If you’d like a chance to win one of these codes, here’s what you do:

Required:

Go to Shutterfly and take a look at their greeting cards and come back here and tell me which one is your favorite in a comment

For extra entries

- Share this giveway on facebook, twitter or email. Come back and comment telling me how you shared.

- Write your own blog post about this giveaway and what you’d pick if you won. Be sure to link back to this post and come and comment with a link to the post you’ve written.

Things to note:

1. Giveaway will close November 1st.

2. This giveaway is open to everyone! Shutterfly ships international, with a few exceptions. You are responsible for the shipping cost of your order to your location. If you are outside of the US, and want to get an idea of how much it’d cost to have an order shipped to you, before entering, please check out Shutterfly’s shipping page to make sure it is reasonable enough to be worth it for you.

3. If you don’t use an email when you leave a comment, I won’t be able to reach you!

4. I will use a random number generator to pick three winners and will email you to let you know you’ve won. If I don’t hear back from you within 48 hours, I’ll pick someone else.

Are you a blogger? Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here.

Freedom

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.
–Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Bells on Christmas Day

Tomorrow is Christmas. This world may be full of hate, of bitter disappointments and pain, but the bells still ring on Christmas day, and I pray that with those rings, that peace on earth- no matter what we’ve gained or or what we have lost this year, we will find that peace He brought to earth and carry it in our hearts.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair, I bowed my head:
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said,
‘For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.’

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men’.

The story behind these words has always moved me and given a lot more meaning to the words written. You can read a little more about it here.

A Christmas Carol

If life is a song that we write with each new day, today I want to be a Christmas Carol.

I want to bring cheer to those around me.

I want to bring good tidings and great joy to the hearts of those who are waiting outside in the cold for good news.

I want to bring hope to hearts growing weary.

I want to bring peace, goodwill.

I want to remind that He was born a Savior. That He is still our Savior, and that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I want to be a song that leads to Him, just like the star of Bethlehem.

I want to be that kind of song- a Christmas Carol.

let it be christmas

making sparkles

GreaThings 2011: T is for…

GreaThings 2011: A is for…

GreaThings 2011: E is for…

4 Ideas for Adding More Thankfulness to Thanksgiving

tis the season

Freedom

The Bells on Christmas Day

A Christmas Carol

Forever Love

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