Those of you who have been regular readers for a while know my tension with Christmas. I absolutely love it, and yet sometimes feel like we’re missing the point. Tradition is not bad, but even well-intentioned and meaningful traditions can also become idols.

So, when I received 25 Days, 26 Ways to Make This Your Best Christmas Ever to review, I was skeptical but hoping for the best. The book is written in short chapters that are intended to be read one at a time from December 1st through the 25th. This is not a devotional, but rather a light “reflective reading” book from a Christian perspective.

I have to say, as I began reading this little book my hopes were lifting. I really enjoyed reading Ace Collins’ accounts of the historical “Good King Wenceslas” [I never knew he was a real person!], the church’s historical observance of advent, the way Christian missionaries in years long ago used mistletoe and evergreen trees to share the gospel, the roots of some of our most beloved Christmas carols, and Martin Luther being the first to add candles to the Christmas tree to symbolize Jesus as the Light of the World. Collins’ historical tidbits really did add a new layer of understanding and appreciation to Christmas traditions for me. I also appreciated the emphasis he rightly placed on giving and generosity, and that we should be seeking to emulate the love and heart of Christ.

BUT. I found Collins’ approach to refocusing on the meaning of the season to be shallow and scattered. His approach to lessening stress during the holidays seems to be “do more and be happy about it.” I felt like my hand was being slapped [albeit jovially] for not being a person who typically sends Christmas cards – and in fact, that I should be picking out individual cards that reflect the tastes of each friend and family member I send them to. I should pick out more gifts more thoughtfully. I should put up more lights more carefully. I should bake more cookies and give them away. I should take more pictures. Oh, and if I’m finding myself too rushed I should slow down and ride my bike. If I feel stressed about these things I should hum a Christmas carol and “turn my frown upside down.”

No matter how meaningful the roots of our Christmas traditions, I still contend that those very traditions can become idols that can overtake our focus on Christ. They aren’t bad – Christmas cards, lights, decorations, music, shopping, baking… all are enjoyable and fun and can create lovely memories. But perhaps instead of doing more and feeling guilty about not embracing a Clever-family Christmas, we should consider doing less. Perhaps we need to free ourselves a bit from the guilt of all of the “must-do” items on our agendas this time of year that really don’t matter in the lens of eternity.

In short, if you’re looking for a light and mildly interesting read about Christmas traditions, this might be what you’re looking for. Just please take it with a grain of salt and banish the guilt of feeling that you must do more.

Consider learning about traditions, carefully choose what you will do, and do less… with more purpose. :)

**For more information or to purchase a copy, click on the image above to be taken to the Amazon listing. I am an affiliate and will receive a small percentage of the sale of this or other products. I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review from Zondervan. The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.

Thanksgiving is a small affair at our house this year – my parents are in town, and it will just be the 6 of us for Thanksgiving dinner!

AG is VERY excited about watching the parade and wearing her pilgrim costume all day (correction: all weekend), but I wanted to have some fun crafts ready for us to do together during “down moments” to make this day extra special.

Here’s what’s on the craft docket:

Jolanthe’s paper strip pumpkins are so cute and easy. I’d like to do these together tomorrow and have everyone write things that they are thankful for on each strip of the pumpkin.

I love this mayflower made out of an orange juice carton! If my dad doesn’t mind that we dump his OJ into a pitcher and use the carton, I’m thinking we’ll have a Mayflower centerpiece. :)

To go with our Mayflower centerpiece, these pilgrim hat napkin rings would be darling…

These clothespin turkeys that Leigh came up with are ADORABLE!! Oh. my. word. I am so bummed that we don’t have any clothespins on hand… we might have to come up with another version.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

As we’ve been discussing in our “How Could a Good God…” series, our world is truly, dreadfully broken. While I think that it is imperative that we be honest and take a sincere look at the brokenness and pain that surround us, God doesn’t intend for us to be walking around like spiritual Eeyores!

One of the many things I love about Ecclesiastes is that Solomon deals honestly and openly with the broken state of our world, and yet he urges his readers to enjoy the good life God has given us. Throughout the book, there are some repeating phrases that you should notice. He often will say, “then I looked/ then I turned my thoughts…” and he will notice all the yuck of life under the curse in a sin-filled world. He doesn’t hide from it, he doesn’t deny it, he doesn’t pretend like everything is A-ok. But then he will shift and say, “there is nothing better…” and will admonish his readers to enjoy the small graces of life that God surrounds us with.

If you are approaching Thanksgiving with a heavy heart, consider these beautiful gifts of God’s grace that Solomon wisely instructs us to be grateful for:

•There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? (Ecc. 2:24-25)

•I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor–it is the gift of God. (Ecc. 3:12-13)

•Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. (Ecc. 4:9-12)

•Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart. (Ecc. 5:18-20)

I don’t know what your life circumstances are right now. I don’t know if you’re dealing with unemployment, death of loved ones, chronic and debilitating illness, persecution, or deep wounds from sin and injustice committed against you or those you love. Life is hard. You don’t have to pretend that it’s not.

However, true gratitude is not limited to when life is easy and beautiful and good. True gratitude comes from a deep-seated trust in God as sovereign, loving, and good – even when we don’t understand how our life is unfolding. That deep trust in His goodness allows us to recognize the good gifts that He places around us each and every day and respond to Him with thankful hearts.

• I am thankful for God’s lavish and unnecessary gifts to us that make life so sweet. I am thankful that we can smell the pungent odor of burning firewood, the sweet aroma of cranberries cooking on the stove, the smells of fall that surround us. I am thankful that we can taste – why did God make food so enjoyable to us? He made food much more than a functional to keep us alive – He made it full of smell, taste, color, texture… and gave us the senses to take it in. I am thankful that fall leaves turn a gorgeous array of colors instead of instantly turning brown and falling off the trees. God is extravagant with His good gifts – even in a fallen and broken world.

• I am thankful that God has given me meaningful work to do in my life. I am thankful that we have so many toys and clothes and so much food that it is difficult to keep everything orderly and organized. I am thankful that there are so many good avenues to minister inside and outside of my home that it is difficult to keep my priorities straight. I am thankful that my husband has work to do that challenges and engages him, even when it is stressful and draining.

• I am thankful to be married to my best friend. I am thankful that although we are walking through a valley, we are walking through it together. I am thankful for friends who listen to me and laugh with me and cry with me. I am thankful for a church family that I love and who loves us in return. I am thankful that we are far from alone. I am thankful that even when I feel alone and feel that no one understands, that God sees. God understands. He has not abandoned us – ever.

• I am thankful for the many little things that God fills my life with that I enjoy. I am thankful for hot coffee in the morning, and that even though our coffee pot is broken that I can make it with boiling water. :) I am thankful for a warm and cozy bed. I am thankful for my children’s happy chatter, even when I feel like my ears are tired of listening!! I am thankful for a beautiful and safe home that I can make warm and welcoming for those I love. I am thankful for the endless opportunities to sew, cook, craft, and produce beauty around me. I am thankful that I can read, that I own many copies of God’s Word that I am free to study and teach from, that I can write and that some are even kind enough to read what I have written. :)

Life is hard. God is good.

True gratitude is not based on the denial of the difficulties of life. True gratitude will whither away if I choose to morosely look only at those difficulties. True gratitude comes from honestly acknowledging the reality of our broken world, while finding in the midst of pain that God is good and His small graces surround us each day.

What are you grateful for today?

Give thanks to Him and praise His name – for the Lord is good and His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100:4-5


All the posts in this series are indexed here.


Image from freefoto.com

No deep thoughts to write today… they are floating around in my head, but my hands have been busy. My sewing machine and I have rekindled our relationship during the month of November! Starting with that pilgrim hat project and the pilgrim dress, we have plunged headlong into crafty wondrousness in anticipation of Thanksgiving.

I really love Thanksgiving and wanted to spruce up our decorations a little more with some nice things that I will enjoy pulling out for years to come. (Not that AG’s construction paper/feather turkey isn’t GREAT, but you know… we’re looking for classy.) :)

I started with this banner – I must say that I love how it turned out!!

I had seen an idea in Family Fun for making a glue batik banner. It looked easy and fun – so of course I made it more difficult. That’s the way I roll.

I wanted to paint the background of the muslin a darker brown, but didn’t have enough paint. We resorted to staining it with leftover coffee [grounds and all!]. My husband is brilliant! After we had finished step 2 of Family Fun’s project, we then went over all of the background area with strong coffee and let it dry.

It isn’t drastically darker but it did make it look more brown and weathered, which I like.

After I finished step 4 of the directions I ironed it flat, cut the edges more precisely, and then cut strips of 4″ wide fabric long enough for each side of the banner. Next, I just ironed everything, pinned the strips of fabric on, and sewed them with a 1″ seam allowance. Now I pressed the seams flat, and hemmed the outside edges with a 1″ seam allowance again.

To make the letters, I took a letter stencil we had and painted the letters on backwards with a sponge brush. I didn’t want the paint to show on the finished project, but this was way easier than trying to trace out all those letters with a marker or something on that dark felt.

I let AG help a little. Ie: long enough to take this picture. Mommy was having hard time sharing her project. ;)

After cutting out all the letters, I just glued them onto the banner with liquid stitch and then hot glued a dowel rod to the back to hang it from! Time consuming, but easy project considering how much I like the results!

I liked it so much that I started thinking about placemats!

We all trooped back to JoAnn fabrics (affectionately known as “the green store” at our house) and I got 3/4 yard of dark brown, 3/4 yard of heathered brown, and some pumpkiny orange thread and embroidery floss.

I cut the dark brown to the finished size I wanted using another placemat I had as a template, and then cut the heathered brown rectangles slightly smaller. Then, using my paint/stencil technique I stumbled onto with the banner letters, I painted leaf shapes onto my leftover medium brown felt (from the banner project) using a leaf template my husband drew. I covered the paper with packing tape so that the paint wouldn’t bleed through while I used it. Drawing the leaf was a bit of a pain, so if you want to make these, feel free to download our leaf pattern here.

After painting the leaves, I ironed on some two-sided heat-n-bond to the back and then cut them out. Then we adhered them to the heathered rectangles with the other part of the heat n’ bond, and then I hand stitched around the leaves with embroidery floss.

Yes, that was more work than I had anticipated. [Hence, no thought provoking blogging coming from here lately!!] :)

After the leaves were stitched on, I pinned the heathered rectangles onto the dark brown rectangles and stitched around the edge with my sewing machine. I don’t know how to describe these stitches… so – to make the edges look like this:

I used my machine’s D and G versions of the “SS stitches” – D around the heathered, G around the edge of the dark brown.

Now, I must say that I am not good at cutting out rectangles that are perfectly square and even. Just doesn’t happen. The stitches around the outside not only helped these look more finished, but they also helped camouflage my weird shaped placemats.

While sewing around the dark brown edge, I kept my presser foot lined up with the edge of my stitches around the heatered rectangle. Sometimes I was right on the edge of the fabric, sometimes I had almost an inch to spare. :| After I had stitched around the entire perimeter, I carefully snipped the edges even with the outside of my stitches, being cautious not to clip the threads. So, my rectangles might be a little wonky, but visually they look good since the width of the dark brown is even all the way around.

I have enjoyed having a home project to work on, and I love how the banner and placemats dress up the dining room for Thanksgiving.

And don’t they look stellar with my new fabric napkins my sister made me?

Hope you’re enjoying your Thanksgiving prep! God has blessed us abundantly – give thanks to Him and praise His name!

To see what others have been tackling, click over to Tackle it Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom!