Tag Archives: peaceful

Christmas with Little People – Part One: Building Special Memories without Losing Your Sanity

Christmas with little people- ways to make the most of your time and not go overboard.

We are about to celebrate our fourth Christmas with children in our family!  From our short time of experience, I know that it’s a delicate balance of making memories and keeping peace, joy, and sanity.  Our culture — especially the “mothers of young children” culture — is obsessed with making each waking moment a Pinterest-worthy occasion.  While I absolutely believe that we should make every moment count, I also would suggest that we might make sure we are making it count in the right way.  

Over those four Christmas seasons, we’ve slowly gleaned some tips that make this holiday as wonderful and meaningful as it should be, while making an effort to not go overboard on activities and busyness.  Your kids are worth the few minutes it’ll take to sit down and evaluate the pace of your holiday season.

1. Age appropriateness.  A cursory look at Pinterest quickly overwhelms me with hundreds of “must-do” Christmas activities with children.  Crafts, ornaments, printables, bucket lists, Elf on a Shelf, sensory activities, fake snow, and a comprehensive guide to every single Christmas event within a 30 miles radius of your zip code.  None of those things are wrong by themselves (in fact, a lot sound like fun to me!), but I would issue a loving word of caution: keep your child’s age in mind.  The need for naps and time at home with Mommy do not go away.  Their age may not make the newest “must-do” idea the best idea… a moment of honesty and you’ll admit that decorating Christmas cookies with your 10 month old will yield more mess and frustration than memories.  Hitting all of the Christmas parades, glamorous light displays, and sitting on the laps of at least 3 Santas is most likely to leave you with a tired and overstimulated todder, rather than a little one with eyes sparkling with wonderment.  Keep an eye out for all of those brilliant ideas and then give your self grace to say that it can wait until next year.

 
2. Quality over quantity.   Continuing with the foundation that #1 set, I’d like to encourage you to pick just a few activities and do them well.  I’d suggest picking one or two crafts, one or two special outings, and then one or two special things to do with friends.  This will keep you from running everyone ragged.  You’ll be focusing on making just a few things extra special, rather than filling each moment with wow factors.  Fewer busy days and late nights = more rested families that really soak in the special times.  And really…. nothing makes my toddlers more excited than the simplicity of a twinkly Christmas tree and a few mystery-filled wrapped gifts.  It doesn’t get much more simple – or magical – than that.  


3. Shop wisely. I love, LOVE choosing gifts for my children.  All the books, all the movies, all the toys, and more, please!  It’s just so much fun thinking of what would make them leap for joy on Christmas Day!  While the abundance is just plain fun to dream about, we’ve found great joy in simplifying our Christmas giving to our children.  There are a few rules of thumb out there that can assist in getting you started with this.  Our favorite is the Four Gifts of Christmas.  You give your children only four simple gifts: Something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.  (Teresa Swanson Anderson has a variation of this that focuses more on gifts of experience.)  A couple other methods are giving Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh (something valuable, something spiritual, and something for their physical needs) or the 5 Hands of Christmas (which focuses on experiences, ministry, and the thoughtfulness of handmade gifts).


4. Major on the meaning.  If I could give only one suggestion for giving more meaning (all while performing less) to your Christmas season, I would beg you to consider doing a simple Advent program with your children (we have several suggestions here!).  What could possibly be more meaningful than a few designated moments, spent each day, preparing their little hearts for Christmas and all of the meaning that it carries?  If you do this with your kids, way to go! If you haven’t started anything this year, don’t wait.  Jump in with something simple (maybe just reading one story per day for the remaining days of Advent from the Jesus Storybook Bible or Unwrapping the Gift of Christmas).  Feed their little souls and focus their minds on the true meaning and you will have the sweetest and most memorable season you could ever hope for.

Stay tuned for part two, where I’ll give some manageable Christmas memory-making suggestions!

Have you found something in particular that has helped make your Christmas season more peaceful or meaningful?  Leave a comment below and share it with us!

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Good Things vs. God Things | being wise about the things we put our hands to

Good Things vs. God Things

There’s something that’s been on my heart all year long: there is a time to say “yes” and a time to say “no” to everything.  Early this year, God started drawing my attention to a level of over-commitment in my life that was creating an atmosphere of stress & busyness in my life that was unhealthy spiritually, mentally, emotionally, & physically. While some changes were immediate, others have taken the course of the year and others have started migrating from a “yes” to a “no”. Today I want to share my journey with you.

Saying “no” isn’t something new to me- I’ve always managed to be fairly straight-forward and bold in what I allow into my life. However, after ending the year last year in a state of exhaustion, it became apparent to me that while I had my hands to many good things, they weren’t all God things. What’s the difference?

A good thing is just that- it’s a good thing to do. You believe in it, and you think it’s a wonderful activity, but the grace isn’t there to do it. It isn’t what you were created specifically to do, at least for this season of your life, and it isn’t something you feel God has directed you to be a part of. 

A God thing is something you’ve specifically seen God lead you into and not lead you out of. It’s something that goes towards your “why” in life, and for which you’ve been specifically anointed & set apart to be a part of in your life. This can include your vocation- not just “super-spiritual” activities.

I don’t know about you, but when I started looking at my life in that light this year, I could see where there was no grace, where there was abundant grace, and the places where God was beginning to lead me out of in my life.

I’m writing this today because I think there are a lot of us doing good things that cause us to neglect the God things. The God things are those things that make up your purpose, those things you should be doing in this season of life. The good things are those things that sound good, but that you know you’re only doing at this point because they are just good things to do. And there is a difference.

God things connect to your core while good things tire you on a deep inner level. This all has to do with grace. If you have three children, God has given you the grace to deal with them, and while it may be tiring, it’s purposeful. If you’ve decided to help your neighbor with her three kids and this isn’t something you’ve seen God lead you to do, you are going to be a different type of tired, because the grace isn’t there for doing it- it is literally just a “good thing” you are doing, not a God thing.

I challenge you today to consider the activities that make up your schedule. Walking away from good things can be difficult, especially when you feel as if you are leaving a hole behind for someone else to fill and when you really care about the way that good thing affects others. Yet, when you pray about it and have peace about leaving that activity behind, trust that God will fill that hole with the person to fill it for the new season. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been there, and He does it every time.

What are the God things in your life?

Look For The Lovely

Look

What makes the difference between a bad day and a good day?  Sure, the circumstances of the day have a pretty big bearing on how it goes, but I think much more than that, your mindset has the biggest impact.

Lately, I’ve felt like I have been in a bit of a funk.  The days have been full, draining, and long.  I’ve been needed from sun up until sun down (and usually once or twice between those, too).  A month or two ago – after a full week and a busy weekend – my husband sent me to a coffee shop for a few minutes of quiet.  I sat there drinking my coffee and read a passage from the book of Philippians.  It’s a passage we hear often…

“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

It’s a great “guideline”, but as I read it again and meditated I realized that there was much more to it than that.  This is not just a check list for “okay” and “not okay” thoughts – this is a command to purpose to set our minds on a certain genre of thoughts.  That changes the game a bit doesn’t it?  It doesn’t just happen.  It takes concentrated effort.  

What does looking for the lovely look like practically?

  1. Prioritizing time with the Lord.  We cannot know what is lovely unless we first look to the Lovely One.
  2. Make an environment conducive to finding loveliness.  Keeping clutter at bay, playing peaceful and worshipful music, and avoiding being busy at all times all work to open our eyes more to the lovely, beautiful, and peaceful moments around us.
  3. Control your mind. This can be so difficult.  Our minds race from one thought to another.  We started in our back yard and ended up on Pluto.  Purpose to focus your mind on the things that are “worthy of praise” and put away the thoughts that drag you down and away from what honors God.
  4. Pray! My desire in prayer lately has been that the Lord will aid me in seeing His greater purpose throughout my day and that I will act in grace and love as I face less than stellar moments.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1-2)

Leave a comment and tell us… In what ways do you look for the lovely?