May the peace of the Lord be in your heart this Christmas season…

Iris

Current Mood: Blessed †

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(Luke 2:11-14 ESV)

The last couple of years have been really low key at our home around the Christmas time. I haven’t had a Christmas tree up for years; actually since our son moved out in 2007. I am not sure why, but it seems like we don’t have a need for it anymore.

Every year though I pick a Christmas devotion that I like to follow for the season. No different this year; I subscribed to Sarah Young’s ‘Jesus Calling – Christmas’ offered by Thomas Nelson Bibles. The devotional has really helped me to keep the focus on the Reason for the season.

Every year it amazes me anew that Jesus left heaven to be born in a lowly manger so that we can spend eternity in heaven with Him. Why would He go through all the trouble? Because of God’s great love for all humankind! Amazing, isn’t it…

I have enjoyed the peace and quiet around our home; no hassle and bustle. Even my shopping is all finished (except for groceries); I love shopping online for Christmas ?…

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by this week; remember: keep your focus on the Reason for the season.

Merry Christmas my sweet friends…

Iris

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Current Mood: Blessed † & Thankful

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(Luke 2:14 ESV)

In 1965 CBS contracted Charles M. Schulz to create a Christmas special. The executives of the peacock station were horrified when Mr. Schulz presented the Christmas special. They thought that the animation film would be a flop. They even wanted Linus’ monolog ‘chopped’ from the film.

Thankfully for us, Mr. Schulz stood firm, not taking out Linus’ monolog about the true meaning of Christmas!

What are you thankful for this week? Please share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: sometimes we need to take a stand to share the truth.

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Current Mood: Blessed † & Thankful

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ~ Luke 2:10-12 (ESV)

Ah, Christmas. What a wonderful time of the year. Are you ready for the celebration? I was done 3 weeks ago with preparations. The only thing I did not get done this year? Sending out Christmas cards. Maybe I will send out New Years cards this year with an encouraging message for 2011

This year I have been very calm around the season, focusing completely on the reason for the season. I read (and still do) Max Lucado’s “Life Lessons Christmas Devotional”. It is/was great and I know I will refer to it often in 2011.

I am thankful this Christmas that I can bless people who are less fortunate than we are. God is good, and it is wonderful to be able to share His blessings with others.

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving your link to your post below.

Thank you for stopping by this week. Remember: when you get a little frazzled, take a deep breath, drink some cocoa and open up your Bible to Luke 2.

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Current Mood: Blessed † & Thankful

Last year I read Me, Myself, & Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer, creator of the Veggie Tales video series. I was interested because my children grew up on Veggie Tales. But I was also interested because somewhere along the way I noticed Phil Vischer was no longer with Big Idea, the company he founded. I knew there must be a story there, so I picked up the book.

Though millions of children can sing the Veggie Tales theme song, Big Idea no longer exists. After expanding too quickly, the company was forced into bankruptcy. Vischer writes about the experience in his book, which is part memoir and part business tutorial. And it’s a touching example of how one man encountered grit and allowed it to be turned into grace.

At the end of the book, Vischer outlines the lessons he learned from the rise and fall of Big Idea. In part, he shares, “I was ready to be done, if that’s what God wanted. To just rest in him and let everything else fall away. At long last, after a lifetime of striving, God was enough. Not God and impact or God and ministry. Just God.”

His words convicted me. As an author and speaker, I realized that I’m often more focused on my deadlines or my next speaking engagement than I am on God. I have it backwards. God first, then everything else will fall into place.

It’s a powerful message for us as women, too. When we focus on God first, we’ll have everything we need to handle whatever is happening in our families and our lives. As Vischer reminds us, God is enough. As we approach Christmas, I’m reminded that this is the time when God shared his Son with us-a tangible reminder of his love for us. And a reminder that when we have him, we have everything we need.

Mary Byers is the author of Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family Under One Roof. She offers advice and encouragement for moms work from home for profit at www.makingworkathomework.com.

A three strand pearl necklace will be given away on New Year’s Day. All you need to do to have a chance of winning is leave a comment here. Come back on New Year’s Day to see if you won!

Current Mood: Blessed †

By the way, you can get this song as a MP3 download for free on Amazon.com or you can purchase the entire Christmas album at a low price…

Peace to you and yours this Christmas…

Current Mood: Blessed †

Before I share my Christmas Thankful post with you, I would like to ask you to reflect on this past year for next weeks Thankful Thursday. What or who had the most impact on you in 2008? I would love to read your thoughts on 2008 and what it has brought/meant to you…

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
~ Luke 2:13-14 (ESV)

Oh, I so love Christmas. How about you? I had asked you last week if you are willing to go down memory lane for this week’s Thankful Thursday post. Do you have some precious memories of Christmas past from your childhood? If not, that is okay…

I like to remember my childhood Christmases. They were filled with traditions, family time and remembering the true meaning of Christmas. Let me share a little about my childhood Christmases…

The weeks leading up to Christmas were filled with Sunday night gatherings around the Advent wreath. My dad would play his little home organ, my sister would play the guitar, and my mom’s voice would fill the air with her wonderful voice. My favorite song her singing was ‘Holy Night’.

On Christmas Eve morning my dad would ‘hunt down’ the best live Christmas tree his money could by. They were not majestic trees, but they always smelled good – just like a forest . My favorite part of the tree were the wax-candles and the angel. When we were older, my sister and I took turns to place the angel on top – what a special treat

After we decorated the tree, we all took a little afternoon nap (most of the time my sister and I didn’t sleep because of the excitement building ). The supper on Christmas Eve was preceded by the Children’s Christmas service at 6pm.

Upon our return from church, we had a little supper that consisted of potato salad and Wiener Wuerstchen. My mom changed that over the years to fondue. I think as we got older, we rather had the family gathering than the gift giving. Yes, we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve. We didn’t hear a “HoHoHo”, but the soft sounding of a silver bell. My mom told us that the silver bell announced the arrival of the Christ child…

Yes, the memories of my childhood Christmases still warm my heart to this day. I am thankful that my parents taught us that Christmas is about Christ. The greatest gift ever known to mankind.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: Christmas is not only once a year, but 365 days a year if you have received His freely given gift – the Christ Child.

Merry Christmas – Glory to God in the Highest…

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Current Mood: Thankful & Blessed †

Laurie Ann, I will be contacting you go get your snail-mail address. As for the mystery gift; I chose a Christmas movie:

Now I hope that the movie is not already in Laurie Ann’s movie library .

I had mentioned a couple of times the book “3:16″ by Max Lucado. As you can see, it vanished from my sidebar. Yeah, I finally finished it (wish I had more time reading). Anyway, hopefully I will be able to write a review on this book this up-coming week. This book stirred up so many thoughts…but more about that later.

Thank you for stopping by today…be blessed today and as always…

Current Mood: Happy

If you are an avert reader, you know about Laurel’s monthly column “Book Buzz” at Christian Women Online. This month Laurel had again some marvelous reads, so I asked for her help to pick out two of her favorites — “The Shape of Mercy” and “Out of her Hands” were Laurel’s top two picks for the month of December.

What else is in the December gift package you might wonder? Laurel is adding a CD to the package. The CD is by Bill Gaither; this wonderful compilation album includes hymns like Amazing Grace, Rock of Ages, How Great Thou Art and 9 other well known hymns. The CD is an exclusive only available at Cracker Barrel’s.

The other two gifts are a “Pray like a Girl” tote bag and one ‘mystery’ gift (its good – trust me)…

Now you are wondering what you need to do to enter my little give-away? Not much, just leave a comment below that you would like to enter. That’s it…No promo, no links required. Oh, and you don’t have to have a blog to enter, either. Just a valid email address…Deadline to enter is Sunday, December 14th.

Thanks for stopping by today…Christmas blessings and as always,

Current Mood: Playful