The 12 Ways of Christmas..Part 1 WONDER

As you may know I purchase books for our church library. And as Christmas approaches I was looking for some great Christmas themed books. I came across "The 12 Ways of Christmas" by David Jeremiah (Christian author and New York Times Best Selling author).



As I read through it (before putting in the library next week) I thought I would make notes to help during the season to keep focus on the right things...

1. WONDER

What do you wonder about during the season? Is it (as a child) - "I wonder how Santa gets down the chimney", or (as an adult) "I wonder how I will budget for the Christmas gifts" or "I wonder how I will find time for it all".

There were so many things to wonder about on that first Christmas...
• Mary wondered how it was possible for a virgin to give birth to a baby (Luke 1:34)
• The shepherds in the fields wondered about the angels and their message (Luke 2:13-15)
• The Magi must have wondered about the meaning of the star they saw, and the baby they took gifts to (Matthew 2:1-12)
and David's list goes on with all the wonders.

If we would have been present at the first Christmas I'm sure our focus wouldn't have been on the wonder of Santa or gifts, but rather God's gift - Jesus. Why did he come to earth? Why was he born in a stable? What did it all mean?

The true wonder of the season.... what God did for us.

TO PONDER: Reflect on the wonders of the true Christmas story. Ask the questions, study the scriptures, give thanks for what you know and pray about what you don't.

Frustrated....its almost Christmas!

Ok I'm not frustrated that its almost Christmas....but rather that I am sick and having issues with enjoying that Christmas is less then a month away! I feel like I have been sick for the past three months... sick of being sick. As I sit in my bed typing (in between coughs) with my hot tea and puffer I just finished goggling how to deal with a bad cough. Others advised to avoid cold beverages (hot tea it is), sleep on lots of pillows (check), have a teaspoon of honey (check) and to use steam to help clear things up. So I just boiled some water, placed in a bowl and sat over the steam. It felt really good. And I did the honey and now the tea. So I'm hoping that it will all help. I know both Fred and I would love to get some sleep tonight.

So to past time I am watching Christmas movies and cartoons. I rented Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby on itunes. It was cute. It had one of my fav Christmas songs in it - White Christmas. And now I'm watching old cartoons on a site that I just found. I complete forgot about the cartoon Twas the Night Before Christmas - so cute with the little mice. I have so many movies taped that I watch every year: Frosty the Snowman, Mickey's Christmas Carol, The Muppet Christmas Carol, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph, Garfields Christmas, Bugs Bunny Christmas special, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the Claymation Christmas special (thanks to April and Aaron), Santa Claus 1 & 2, It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, National Lampoon's Christmas vacation, Mr. Bean's Christmas special, The Nativity (this is fairly new to the list) and wow I'm sure there are more.

So my goal for this week was to get things ready for Christmas...but that all slipped by as I have no energy and am coughing every two seconds. So this weekend I hope to rest myself up so 1. I have energy to go to work for a full week 2. So I can be ready next weekend to put up the Christmas tree and decorations.

Enjoy your weekend!

Let the Count Down Begin...

38 days until Christmas! Can you believe!

Christmas is approaching really quickly. I have so much on my list I want to do - most of which are my homemade gifts. So I decided to start looking into how to get and stay organized for this busy season. When I searched around I found a great idea -- a Christmas planner. For anyone who knows me - you know I LOVE to be organized and LOVE to make LISTS! Yes I my name is Amy Grendel and I am addicted to making LISTS.

So many helpful sites out there to get you organized:
I am using this one for my binder sheets: http://christmas.organizedhome.com/printable/christmas-planner

And get some great tips from this fellow organizer:
creativeorganizing.typepad.com
I really love the tip to get clutter free in the Kitchen, Family room etc. before the holiday season gets crazy - makes it easier during those busy times.

And now that our class on JessicaSprague.com has started - Holiday in Hand, there are more tips and advice on how to make this Christmas the best yet.

The first assignment is to write about our values and goals for Christmas. For me the value of this season is found in Christ. We celebrate his birth - but more importantly what His coming to earth meant for us ~ dying on the cross to pay the price of MY sins. The gift a GRACE and MERCY and LOVE were the greatest gifts every shown to us and we celebrate those. My Goal for this season is to remember Christ through the season and show that love to family and friends around me. I want to spend less energy focusing on commercial side of things - again I'll mention Advent Conspiracy...

And then for the class we are to COMMIT to spending 20 mins a DAY on either photographing, scrapbooking, journaling, cutting/pasting or whatever for the month of December. This seems like a lot doesn't it? Above I'm saying I'm cutting back and then now I'm adding to my daily tasks. So I think they way I'm going to handle this is taking pictures (which is easy and quick) and journaling online and putting together an album like I did last year - December Daily (which I also wrote more about below). No pressure on getting this done by December 25 or even 30th - but rather to put it together in January. For me this is better - taking all of the things I learn from Jessica and Ali Edwards and having fun with it rather then stressing over it now or rather all of December.

So I just need to stay COMMITTED to journaling/blogging every day so I remember everything - even the not so important details. And taking pictures or keeping things such a receipts/brochures/catalogs to use in future layouts.

Most important I don't want to ADD to the everyday STRESS in my life, but rather make things simple and enjoyable. I'll let you know how I do on this ;)

The last assignment for the Day 1 was to get organized! Yes my favourite word ORGANIZE! So as I said before I have already started that - now just to finish it! I will share pictures later of what I put together.

So there it is - the count down is started and lots to do but the most IMPORTANT thing is that we remember why we celebrate this season.

We Remember...

I just wanted to take this time to say thank you to all those who fought for us in WWI and WWII and for those who continue to fight for us today around the world. I thank you for our freedom.

I am especially thankful for the freedom of religion. The fact that we can go to church and worship our God is amazing. There are many Christians around the world we can not do this. They can't meet in homes to pray together, they can't gather in a building to worship, they can't own a bible to read God's word. I take this all for granted.

Thank you Grandpa McCann for serving and for Uncle Dennis for serving. We remember you on this day.

Dare I start to talk about...

Christmas!?!?

Well Halloween is over! And stores are putting up the Christmas decorations and stocking up (I know I have been at work!) so I think its time to start thinking about December Daily albums and handmade Christmas cards!

So much on the web right now to give you inspiration too! If you are interested in a December Daily album Ali Edwards has a great one that you can follow along with. And Jessica Sprague has a FREE class that you can follow along with - registration just opened..

And for Christmas cards there is so much, but one of my fav designers is doing a daily video until December of 25 cards she has made - check it out!.

I have purchased my stamps and papers for my Christmas cards and December Daily album and have started to put both together. I would also love to make a lot of Christmas gifts this year. I really want to cut back on the amount I spend. Fred and I have been discussing Advent Conspiracy It's an organization who's goal is to bring Christmas back to what it is all about - and our services at Bethel will be geared towards this movement which I think is awesome. For a few years now I have been trying to make myself more aware of what Christmas is all about ~ celebration of Jesus -- who died for my sins! Not just his birth but everything about Him, and now with this movement I feel even more encouraged/convicted to get away from the commercial side of things.

So are you as excited about Christmas as I am!