Meanwhile Back at the Manger

Oh my, am I late with this news! If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook, or even Twitter, you should have heard the news about my picture book. It was released on November 18! But if your only source of news on Brenda Covert, Author & Editor is from my blog, you're hearing the news after Christmas. So sorry to have neglected blogging. I've had a death in the family, feeling all the feelings. 

I had my book launch at The Shoppes Off Trade in November and read my book from Santa's throne! How fun was that? So much fun! My publisher, Ambassador International, kept me going with promotional graphics, and I did a few podcast interviews and blog interviews. So other blogs shared the details of my debut Christmas picture book, but my own blog was neglected. That certainly wasn't the plan!

And incidentally, my book has been available locally at The Shoppes Off Trade in Greer and at Crossway Christian Supply in Easley, as well as online at Amazon, B&N, Walmart, BAM, and possibly others. And of course on Ambassador International's website! Hardcovers sold out, but the paperback version seems to be plentiful. I still have both in stock at home, intending to sell them in local Christmas markets, but this just wasn't the year to pursue those opportunities considering the family tragedy and being overly emotional this month. 

As sales slow down now, my next hope is for reviews. The more reviews a book has on Amazon, the more likely Amazon will suggest the book to people looking for similar books. If you had extra time and wanted to bless me a bit more, you might copy and paste your review to other book sites: Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Books-a-Million, and Goodreads. Reviews are like gold for any author, but especially a first-time author!

Thanks for your support, and here's wishing you a happy New Year!

 

A Surprise for General Gingerbread... and Me!

I'm pleased to report that I entered one of my short, children's Christmas stories in a contest and won an honorable mention blog badge and a $5 Amazon e-gift card, plus a personal message. The judges enjoyed my story very much, and it would have been a finalist, I'm told, if I'd followed the guidelines more closely.

The story was to be about a treat. My story features a main character who IS a treat, but there were no edible treats within my storyline. It was my way of distinguishing my story from scores of others that were entered in the contest.

Sometimes thinking outside the box pays off, but this time it kept me from a bigger payoff. However, I'm happy with what I received, especially the feedback. Feedback is not often given these days, as some writers tend to react negatively to even constructive criticism, but it's so valuable! Accept or reject it, but appreciate the offer, that's my advice to you.

I hope you've enjoyed the Christmas season and are ready to embrace the New Year. 2020, here we come!

Joining the Hodgepodge

Hodgepodge Questions  volume 254

A group of bloggers does “hodgepodge questions” every Wednesday, 

and I decided to join the fun for a change of pace! 

1. Describe love using all five senses.  

Love looks like a gift, shiny and exciting and new. You open it, and the aroma of home-cooked meals wafts out, and when you lift it from the tissue paper, it wraps a child’s warm, soft arms around your neck, and you hear laughter, tears, and soft sighs all at once. You press your lips to it and taste ... chocolate dipped strawberries. Okay, that last one may be a cliché, but love makes life rich and sweet like that Valentine treat!

2. February is Canned Food Month. What’s your favorite food that comes straight from a can?
Cherry Pie Filling! The perfect topping for cheesecake, and you can’t have cherry delight without it.

3. A principal in a UK school recently sent home a letter to parents requesting they (the parents!) dress appropriately when escorting their children to/from school (basically saying please don’t wear your pajamas) You can read the letter here. It’s gotten a lot of publicity, both positive and negative. Your thoughts? And do/did you ever make the school run (or hit Starbucks, Walmart, etc) in your pjs?
Noooooooooo! But I will admit to driving my daughter to work in my pajamas, before sunrise, because I was going right back to bed when I returned home. I did worry about what would happen if I had car trouble and had to look under the hood of my car in my flannel Coca-Cola pj’s on the side of the road.

4. Crew neck, V-neck, turtleneck, scoop neck...which is most prevalent in your wardrobe?
V-neck. It may be the most flattering neckline there is and makes a nice frame for a pretty necklace.

5. I read here recently a list of four things to avoid so you wake up happier. They were late night snacks, hitting the snooze button, social media just before bed/upon waking, checking emails. Are you guilty of any of these behaviors? Which on that list do you need to work harder at avoiding?
Oops. But not going to work at avoiding any of that. I don't generally wake up unhappy unless I had a bad dream.

Me and my brother in my favorite house

6. Share something you remember about a house you lived in as a child? Of all the homes you lived in as a child, which did you love best? 
I remember five houses. The white 2-story house with a big front porch was my favorite. I was ages 4-6 when my family lived there. After hearing the story of Mary Poppins, I took a little umbrella out onto the porch and jumped off. I did not fly. What a disappointment. A few years later, I took an umbrella outside during a strong wind. I didn’t fly then, either. And that was the end of that poor mangled umbrella and my dream of flying like Mary Poppins.

7. Your favorite movie based on a true story? 
Hmmm. Not a big fan of true story movies. I’m more of a Princess Bride/Willy Wonka kinda gal. But I did see and enjoy The Blind Side.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
You know what’s completely unfair? It’s how you lose an entire segment of your life when you end up divorced. Everyone else can reminisce and share any part of their life to their heart’s content, but the divorced individual is told to “move on,” and there seems to be an unspoken rule that to share or even just occasionally think about any experience you had during the time when you were married is unacceptable. How can it be right that 20 years’ worth of experiences have to be buried and forgotten for me to be healthy? I don’t think denying that those 20 years existed is healthy at all. They’re a part of what made me the woman I am today. What do you think of that?

And that’s the not-Christmasy hodgepodge for today! Gotta post it while it’s still Wednesday! Thanks for your comments!

Counting the Cost of Christmas Cards

On a 3-dimensional, metal, card tree with a star on top, I display Christmas cards as I receive them. I’ve done so since my children, now adults, were small.

This year when my son arrived for Christmas Eve dinner, he glanced at my card tree and then did a double-take. 

“What’s with your card tree?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“There are hardly any cards on it,” he  pointed out. “I remember when it used to be filled on all three sides.”

“People don’t seem to be sending cards this year,” I told him, “or else they’re waiting to receive a card before they send a card.” I went on to tell him that I sent mine out the week before Christmas, and two of the cards on the tree were from my mom, who forgot she had sent the first one and so sent the second one.  Those two cards were the first of the season to arrive in my mailbox.

I’ve seen Facebook posts where folks have confessed that the near-fifty-cent price of stamps has forced them to forego mailing Christmas cards. Not knowing what kind of mailing list these friends have, I can’t say how much they would have spent had they sent cards. I bought 40 stamps in November and sent 32 cards a month later. So, it only cost me $15.68 to put some holiday cheer in the mailboxes of 32 friends and relatives. ... What’s that? ... You say I forgot to add the cost of the cards themselves? No, I didn’t. 

You see, I never shop for Christmas cards in November or December. I think ahead. I buy them after Christmas when stores are selling them at a 75% discount. I seek them out in thrift stores, which incidentally also have 50-75% off already low prices after Christmas. I can get an unused pack of cards for as little as 25-50 cents then! I bought cards off ebay one year when I wanted to have a vintage theme. If you or someone in your immediate family is artsy, you might craft your own cards and envelopes. One summer I painted tree cards and made envelopes out of the previous year's leftover gift wrap. No matter where the cards come from, I prepare in advance and then keep the cards where they are easy to find when the time comes to continue my Christmas card tradition.

Buy/make your cards soon, and come next Christmas, your only expense will be the stamp. Is 49¢ too high a price to pay to deliver holiday cheer to a loved one? If so, you might consider sending Christmas postcards for 35¢ a stamp.

And remember, to receive cards, you need to send cards. Not everyone will reciprocate (I send cards to a few people who never send me a card in return but who I’m sure appreciate being remembered). Hopefully enough will so that you can display festive cards on your mantel, a shelf, desk, card tree, or card wreath. 

When counting the cost of Christmas cards, remember to consider what is lost if you cut them out of your traditions. Plan ahead, and you (and your loved ones) won’t have to miss out!

To-Do List for July

q Shop the Independence Day clearance sales for items suitable for Christmas use: red plates (paper or plastic), napkins, tablecloths, star-shaped ornaments, star garland, candles, patriotic items that can decorate a Christmas tree, and stocking stuffers such as flag or star pencils, etc.

q Experiment with a new recipe that you may want to serve during the holiday season or to give as a gift. I found a recipe for microwaveable divinity candy a few years ago. I plan to test it to see if it is as good as my mother used to make.

q Plan your Christmas newsletter. We’ve passed the halfway mark of the year. Make note of memorable happenings so that you’re ready when it’s time to type up your newsletter to add to Christmas cards.

q Plan your Christmas photo, if you plan to include a family photo in your Christmas cards or as a gift for family members—or even as part of a calendar.

Photo Gift Tip: My daughter makes personalized calendars for her grandma, father, and me each year. She carries her camera in her purse and snaps pictures throughout the year so that she has some good shots to represent each month on the calendar; most are family shots, but some are nature scenes with quotes or verses added. The calendars become keepsake items. Plus, you can add birthdays to help scatterbrained people remember them! You can use computer software to design a calendar, but you can also upload photos to a site that has calendar templates to help you create a calendar. Any store that prints photos probably offers templates online. We’ve used Walgreens and Walmart, as well as a local printer.

This list offers you one activity per week, if you intend to do all four. All are doable, as none require a lot of time. If you choose to do less, that’s fine too. Just do something! Don’t let our favorite holiday catch you unprepared!

Word for 2014 ... Intentional

Last year I chose Joy as my word for the year, and 2013 did its best to squash the joy out of me! So after giving more careful thought for 2014, I’ve chosen Intentional as my word for the year. 

I’ve always had good intentions, so I hope nothing catastrophic happens this year! But I don’t want to live each day merely with good intentions. I want to make intentional use of my time. Why wait for good things to happen when you can make good things happen? 

A Christmas-related business project that I started last year, but then set aside, has been tackled again. I’m tickled with how much I’ve completed in a short amount of intentionally-used time. I hope to tell you more about it in the coming months. 

For now, I’ll just wish you all a happy New Year and ask what you are doing intentionally with your time?

Christmas Confession: I'm Having a Blue Christmas

Another Blue Christmas

I have a short list of things to accomplish in the next 24 hours: polish my nails, finish decorating the two trees downstairs (the main floor trees were done weeks ago, lest you wonder why I waited till the last minute), make a gingerbread train from a kit (won’t take long), experiment with microwave divinity, go to the Christmas Eve service at my church, and visit a Christmas tree display in a nearby town. It’s a doable list, so I am not hyperventilating tonight. If I don’t get to the divinity, I won’t be upset. My mom sends divinity every year, and I’ve been enjoying this year’s batch since last week! Even so, I am having a blue Christmas.

Confession time: while I love Christmas, it’s the whole season and not the day that puts joy in my heart. The day itself is kind of depressing because the anticipated feast is consumed and gifts are revealed, bringing the celebration to a sudden end—especially if the people in your family turn their attention to their electronic gadgets and cease to participate in your festivities. On the next day, no holiday music will be played in stores or on the radio. Christmas lights lose their magic. There’s nothing left to anticipate ... unless you have more family to visit. Around December 22, I start to dread the looming end of the Christmas season!

When the children were young, I could make Christmas Day last all day long. When the children were young, we also traveled long distances to be part of big, happy family gatherings. Nowadays, it’s just me and my two grown children. Traveling is too costly and risky considering the ice and snow in the mountains that separate us from our Midwestern relatives. These days, no one is interested in singing Christmas songs or reading the story of Christ’s birth. Only one is interested in watching the Christmas parade on TV. Watching anything else on TV together won’t likely occur. Neither will group participation in games. Blah. Who are these people and why are they raining on my Christmas parade?

Why can’t Christmas last all year long? Or at least all winter long. January is so cold and lifeless without the colorful lights and decorations and music. Christmas should last until Easter in the Northern Hemisphere. Once the flowers start blooming, I’d be willing to pack away all my Christmas things and replace them with bouquets and pink and purple ribbons.

Part of the blue mood is because I was unable to host a party this season. I wanted to, desperately. My party friend and I tested all kinds of appetizers for our second annual Christmas mystery dinner party, but then summer arrived and circumstances changed for both of us. This has been a difficult year in so many ways! I joined a social group to have more Christmas party opportunities, and would you believe I was prevented from attending the two I signed up for? And an annual party by my former writers’ group didn’t happen this year after the hostess moved to another state and a popular member of the group passed away. My church didn’t have its usual Jingle Jazz event either. A lot of good folks are struggling physically and/or financially.

(I’m considering a January party if I can enlist some help rearranging my dining room and office. Throwing a mystery party on short notice can be done with the help of downloadable mystery kits and online sites that allow guests to RSVP and sign up for food to bring. I’ll share what I have found in a later blog.)

When everything seems to be going wrong, it can be difficult to focus on what’s right. Tonight I went to a church’s community event called “Bethlehem Revisited.” It was a good reminder of God’s love for us. Christmas decorations and gifts and sweets are fun, but it’s a good idea to think about the humble town of Bethlehem and the people who were going about their daily business, struggling to make ends meet and pay harsh taxes, living in simple homes without the benefit of central heat and air, whose feet were the surest form of transportation. Wants were simpler back then, but the needs were the same. We’re all in need of a Savior. We all need hope. According to the Bible, “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” That night long ago, Hope came down from heaven, bringing love and light to a dark world.

May you focus on what’s right in your life and enjoy the best that this season has to offer. Merry Christmas!

Check out My Guest Blog at Action Plan Ministries!

local tree lighting ceremony 2013

Sorry I’ve been absent; I’ve been juggling jobs, battling sickness, and seeing my mom (500 miles away – I wish we lived closer). Of course, I’ve also been decorating for Christmas! Remember the bags of decorations I posted about last summer? I’ve been having fun finding places for all the new-to-me items that a friend gave me.

I’ll be blogging for real, soon. I’ve been blogging in my head for several weeks now. LOL  In the meantime, click this link to my guest blog for Action Plan Ministries: Dump Christmas Clutter — No Trash Bags Needed.

How far along in holiday preparations are you? Are you having fun yet?

Why are Christmas Items Displayed for Sale so Early?

For some reason, the sight of Christmas decorations lining store shelves in August brings out the Scrooge in some people. While those of us with OCD (Obsessive Christmas Disorder) skip down the aisles, squealing with delight at the sparkly holiday displays, others show signs of annoyance, saying, “Let me enjoy summer! Let me enjoy autumn! Let me enjoy Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day! I don’t want to see Christmas stuff till after the stuffed turkey is served!” These complaints run through the month of October, as if December 1 is much farther than just five-six weeks away!

Let’s imagine for a moment that no sign of the coming holiday was evident until December 1. (It couldn’t happen much sooner due to Thanksgiving and preparations for Black Friday weekend.) Now the normal chaos of the season is ratcheted to a higher level as businesses and charitable organizations must scramble to get out and buy decorations and supplies for their various Christmas events, most of which occur in the first two weeks of December. Budgets are strained because of the inability to check prices early. Lines are even longer, and tempers are shorter because of the increased number of shoppers and the disappearance of desired items from shelves. Crafters are in tears because they were unable to purchase holiday-themed supplies early for the decorations and gifts they planned to make and don’t have the time necessary to make everything! Oh the humanity!


Here’s the bottom line: if you aren’t in the mood for Christmas shopping, then assume the displays aren’t meant for you. They exist for others: those who need to browse early, plan early, and purchase early. Don’t begrudge those Christmas-minded others their early shopping opportunities. Life’s too short to be a Scrooge who, as you know, changed his attitude by the end of his story and lived a much happier life because of it. As Charles Dickens wrote in A Christmas Carol, “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”

Newsletters: Try a Template

I love Christmas newsletters. I’ve lived far away from family my entire adult life, and reading those newsletters allows me to catch up on the lives of my loved ones. A well-done newsletter will share the good, the bad, and the funny highlights of the year. You might want to keep one from each year for yourself as a sort of brief diary of your family’s life and growth.

After I had been married a few years, I began including a newsletter in our Christmas cards, patterning it after the one my aunt and uncle sent out: newspaper column format with short, newsy items following a different theme each year. It’s fun, it’s quirky, and it’s creative! The year I didn’t send one out, I got notes telling me how much my newsletter was missed.

I created my own template more than twenty years ago. I change it up a bit each year to keep things interesting, but if Christmas chaos gets the best of me, that template enables me to pull my family news together quickly and in time to get my Christmas cards in the recipients’ mailboxes before Dec. 25. If I had not created it in a now-defunct desktop publishing program, I could share it with you but, alas, I still use PageMaker while the rest of the world has moved on to InDesign. No problem, you can find templates for Word, and probably Mac too (but you’ll have to do your own research if you need a Mac template). There are sites that sell templates, but you can find free ones available that will suit your purposes.

Here is a Microsoft Family Christmas Newsletter template that will help you place photos and text in place as it offers ideas for news to include.

This Holiday Family Newsletter template from Microsoft has Christmas graphics instead of photos. It’s six pages, which is awfully long, but can be folded over and mailed in place of a card. This one would probably be most useful to send to a few close but long-distance relatives who would be pleased to read all about your year’s adventures; your children could add poetry or short stories to it to add some extra holiday cheer. Or, this template could work as a holiday template for a business newsletter.

WordDraw.com has five free templates with a variety of holiday designs for Christmas Newsletters in Microsoft Word. One of them is in letter form rather than a newsletter format if you prefer writing a letter to laying out articles. Another even goes with a template for matching return address labels!

October is a good month to start on a newsletter. You have time to make a list of events and accomplishments to cover; you have time to start planning your layout and choosing any photos you want to include. You may wait until mid-November before you wrap it up, but getting a headstart will ensure that you can finish easily.

Might I make a suggestion? Ideally, newsletters should be limited to one page—two at the most. Don’t waste precious space on news that is the same every year. There’s no need to share that your kids are honor students and that you are so proud year after year after year. People want to know what else they are doing.

For additional tips on writing newsletters, click the “newsletter” link in my word cloud in the righthand margin.

[Note: I ended up using one of the WordDraw templates for my 2013 newsletter. It used a lot of color ink, but it turned out great. I tried something new and liked it! How about you?]

UPDATE: I'm designing my  2020 newsletter in Canva. Yes! Canva has Christmas newsletter templates too! It's wonderful to have so many options for a pretty newsletter, especially in the year 2020 when we all stayed home and had no exciting adventures to share...

Don’t Procrastinate! Here’s Why...

Where was I in July? Why wasn’t I here, reminding you to shop the After-Independence-Day sales for bargains on star decorations and napkins and things that could be used for Christmas decorations? What happened to my Celebrate Christmas in July cheers, encouraging you to plan your holiday gifts, menus, and parties in advance?

My nails were painted
for a party, not a stay at
Club Hospital

I was in the hospital, escaping death. That was my surgeon’s take on it, anyway. If my daughter had not rushed me there in the “dead of night” (pun intended), I might have died. I thought I had a nasty intestinal virus, but the surgeon believes I had a hole in my colon. Fun stuff. Writhing in pain and unable to take it any more, I arrived at the ER hoping for a shot or something on the cheap and quick side, but they knocked me out and sliced me open to see what was what. Nine days later, I was released to come home and shuffle from the guest room (closest to the bathroom) to the living room and back. I truly wondered if I would ever feel normal again. I still wonder as I feel a twinge now and then and imagine the cause. For someone who has never experienced surgery or a hospital stay before, this is all new and frightening. Being told it could be 3-6 months before I’m back to normal—and a year for my insides to be completely healed—is not very comforting. Why is my body procrastinating??? Heal already!!!

I didn’t know that July 2013 would not be mine to enjoy. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. So, if you wait until after Thanksgiving to prepare for Christmas and you get hit with the unexpected, what will happen to your favorite holiday? Will you miss out on some yearly fun? Stress yourself out by trying to do too much with too little time? Face disappointed children and beat yourself up mentally?

I lost July, but that’s okay. I already have some gifts stashed away, and the one I intended to purchase in July can be bought in August (it’s just $5 — shhhh). I have new-to-us decorations stored in my holiday closet. I have my Christmas cards that will be ready to mail at the beginning of December. And of course, my good friend Beth and I already spent several months testing new appetizers to serve at our 2nd annual Christmas mystery party, so skipping appetizers in July doesn’t affect our plans.

Because I’ve made Christmas all year long a way of life, losing an Entire Month hasn’t ruined my plans. Even if, heaven forbid, I spent December in the hospital, all would not be lost. My family would still have gifts. I might have to ask a close friend to go to my house and wrap the gifts in my gift cabinet for me, but due to my advance gift purchases, I wouldn’t miss out on the joy of giving. I could direct my daughter to our craft closet, where the cards are stashed, and have her put the labels on them and mail them for me.

Please don’t leave things till the last minute. Don’t procrastinate. Before you know it, November will be here, and time will seem to speed up. If you do what you can now, at a more leisurely pace, you won’t find yourself anxious and stressed later. You will have saved yourself some time that you can spend enjoying your family and friends and the traditions of the holidays. Isn’t that the goal? To create beautiful memories that we can enjoy with our loved ones? Make sure you have the time. If you haven’t started yet, now is the time to make plans, set goals, and look forward to a warm and wonderful holiday season.

WWYD?

WWYD = what would you do?

Items were removed from the plastic bins and placed
in garbage bags, but they are definitely not garbage!

What would you do if someone offered you bins, boxes, and bags of miscellaneous Christmas items? If you’re anything like me (and you have a holiday storage room to stash it in), you say yes, please and thank you and dance a happy Christmas jig. And that is one of two things that happened to me this past weekend that made it feel like Christmas in June!

A friend of mine was having a three-day liquidation sale after closing her café, and I was helping by posting photos of the sale items online. On the third day, I noticed that no one had touched her many Christmas decorations, and I mentioned it. Then she said, "If you want ’em, take ’em. I’ll just give them to you.” You know how much I adore Christmas. I couldn’t turn down a deal like that!

Now, did I need it? No, as my daughter so obnoxiously proclaimed. But would I use any of it? Oh yes! And would some of it replace some tired old Christmas things I’ve used for years? Of course! And do I love digging through boxes of other people’s Christmas stuff? Are you kidding??? I’m like a kid in a toy store!

My daughter and I brought my haul home, and she left me to examine what I had. I almost cried—honestly!—when I unwrapped some holiday figures of cardinals perched on snowballs and some snowmen. Those are two favorites of mine, because I can display them throughout winter (when they aren’t too Christmas-y).

I now have new-to-me ornaments, figurines, and Christmas table runners. There was a dainty red tree skirt for a small tree. (I have six Christmas trees of various sizes, so that WILL be used come December!) There were never-used Christmas tins that my daughter will use for Christmas candy. There were some wall wreaths, table and candle wreaths, and greenery garland and picks. There were also colorful Christmas arrangement picks and some ribbon of varying widths and lengths. Part of the magic of this stash is the creative possibilities! As I told my daughter, if she wanted to create a new table arrangement or wreath, she could! For free! Wheeee!

That wasn’t the only thing that made last weekend feel like Christmas. The other was a launch party I attended for a new business called (here’s the link) American Echoes. I knew the mother of the company’s founder and went to show my support. I put my name in the bowl for a drawing, not believing I would win anything because of the great turnout. After we enjoyed a lovely buffet and impressive video, they drew names for hats, t-shirts, and the grand prize: American-made flag wall art made from reclaimed post-industrial wood and eco friendly paints. And I won a flag! I was so thrilled to hear my name called that I nearly cried! It felt like Christmas in June! They had a variety of flag art there, and I chose the Betsy Ross design.

There was one girl who had her heart set on a t-shirt. When her name wasn’t drawn, she was disappointed. So, when she met the company’s owner, she told him that she had wanted to win a t-shirt. And, he gave her one! I really like him. :-)  I think he’s going to be successful.

So, what would you do if someone offered you miscellaneous Christmas decor?
What intriguing Christmas projects have you seen for artificial greenery and picks? Have you ever attended a launch party or won a prize that made it feel like Christmas? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

June: Let's Think about Christmas Blessings

Blessings for Christmas! Who doesn’t want those? We can give and receive Christmas blessings, and it won't take much time or money. Here’s how:

Glass candy box with lid, lined with holiday tissue paper
plus an angel pen and a stack of note paper

1) Give the gift of a blessings box. Take any box with a lid, be it wooden, ceramic, cardboard–you get the idea. It could even be a handmade container or something unusual you find in a thrift shop. Fill it with slips of paper on which you have written or printed blessings: special quotes, Bible verses, and memories of ways in which the recipient has been a blessing in your life. This is something that you could make a family affair, with everyone contributing their own little notes on slips of paper. Collect 365, and you'll have a blessing to offer for every day of the year. What recipient wouldn't love such a heartfelt gift of love? 

Metalwork bowl lined with holiday tissue paper

2) Bless yourself (and your family) during the holiday season with a blessings bowl. You don't have to use a bowl; a candy dish or wide-mouthed vase would do just as well. Put it near the door you all regularly use. Beside it, place a small note pad and a pen. Starting at the beginning of the month, family members can stop by the blessings bowl to jot down blessings that come to mind. As guests drop in, ask them to take a moment to write a blessing on a note and drop it into the container. Save them all for Christmas Day. Some time in the afternoon or evening, after gifts have been opened and the holiday feast has been devoured, when the day's festivities have otherwise ended, you can extend the celebration by reading the blessings that you've collected. What a heartwarming way to end the day–reflecting on the blessings of Christmas, God's love, family, and friends!

Craft-project candy bowl with notes inside

#5 - April: Your Christmas Stash and Items to Stock Up On

This month I want to focus on your Christmas “hiding place” and the things you can start filling it with. Do you have a place where you stash the gifts you make or buy throughout the year? Do you need a place to store materials for gift ideas? Without such a place, you probably hide things and then forget where you put them. One year it was two months AFTER Christmas when I found a big gift I’d gotten for my son. I’d hidden it behind a chair that sat behind my bedroom closet door that always remained open. He never looked there — but neither did I after I chose that as my hiding place!

Now I have an old, black metal, two-door supply cabinet with three shelves inside. It sits in my home office, where I spend most of my day. That’s where I stash gifts. My kids are old enough not to care what’s in there (or maybe they’ve never figured out what I keep in there besides old coloring books and boxes that once held office software), so I don’t lock it. If you have junior detectives in your house, you may want something that you can lock. Do you have a closet, cabinet, or shelf that you can use (and even disguise) as your Christmas storage? A solid color (not clear) plastic storage bin with alid is better than playing hide and seek for your gift stash. Having everything in the same place will save time later.

Now let’s turn our attention to items we can stock in our storage place. Gifts already bought or made are a given; any sewing supplies related to your gifts could be placed there, as well as any recipes that you’ve gathered for making a family cookbook. Maybe you are gathering supplies for making pretty soaps or candles. What else? This month we enjoyed the Easter holiday. What does that have to do with Christmas? Baskets are for sale now at clearance prices! If you want to make gift baskets for Christmas, stock up now. Easter grass is also on clearance and would make nifty packaging material in gift bags or boxes in place of tissue paper. You can also use the grass in clear plastic ornaments - hiding a small gift in the middle. What a pretty and unexpected surprise!

Some items may be readily available now but hard to find in the fall. Canning jars are such an item. One year I wanted to bake jar cakes as Christmas gifts, but I couldn’t find wide-mouth jars for sale anywhere in November! If you want to can homemade food items as gifts or make mix-in-a-jar gifts, now is a good time to pick up a supply of jars and stash them where you can find them. Don’t forget small jars to fill with bath salts or other homemade bath supplies as well.

Do you have a special place where you store your Christmas gifts and craft items? Share it here! This blog is set to post all comments, so feel free to comment, offer advice, or ask questions of your own.