This week I’m excited to bring you some Christmas gift ideas– fun music from independent artists. Here are some choices you might be interested in. Continue reading
Category Archives: Christmas
>Pondering the Christmas Gift
>
Christmas is a time that people think about spiritual things. It’s kind of like Easter–many people go to church even if they don’t the rest of the year. Personally, I feel church is important so I do my best to attend as much as possible. But I’ve been thinking about Christmas and trying to give my heart time to be still (hard to do in this house!) and reflect on the amazing Gift God sent us–His Son Jesus.
What I’ve been thinking about is not from the traditional Christmas passage in Luke 2 or the beginning of Matthew. My mind keeps going to Philippians 2:5-11, a passage that talks about Jesus’ graciousness towards us in humbling Himself. If I really take time to just sit and think about it, I am amazed. I am awed that Jesus, who is God, would even consider lowering Himself to become human. Really, I can’t even imagine! Perfect God in human body living among sinners, being kind enough and patient enough not to zap them all for they way they treated Him and others. I can’t even be patient with my children and husband for a whole day, and here Jesus patiently lived among imperfect men for thirty-three years! I really cannot fathom it.
The passage in Philippians 2 explains the reason for Luke 2, the baby in the manger.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself
and became obedient to death–even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I would guess that most of us have heard the Christmas story of Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem. Most people are familiar with the angels and the shepherds and the wise men. We know “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger,” and “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!” I would also guess that many of us stop there. We leave Jesus in the manger, or think of Him as just a sweet baby who grew up to be a good man.
But Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus had a purpose when He came to earth. He “humbled Himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross!” This thought is humbling, too. Jesus loved us and sacrificed Himself for us. He knew we are sinners and cannot be in God’s perfect presence, so He, perfect, took our place. This reminds me of that very familiar verse, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God has given us the opportunity to accept Jesus’ sacrifice in our place. Again, this amazes me. It amazes me that God accepts our mortal repentance because of Christ’s sacrifice. Here’s another set of beautiful verses: Romans 10:9-11
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”
Wow! God tells me that if I confess my sinful state and believe that Jesus took my place, I will be saved from the consequences of sin and “never be put to shame.” What beautiful and hopeful words!
Returning to Philippians 2, the end of that section says, “to the Glory of God the Father.” This sounds like Luke 2, “Glory to God in the highest.” They are all linked together. Jesus’ humbling Himself and coming to earth, our confession that we are sinful men and need Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf–they all bring glory to God. Again, amazing to think that I can even do something that brings glory to perfect, holy God!
So, when I sit with my boys on the couch and read a picture book about Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus, my mind doesn’t stop there. When my little man points to baby Jesus in the manger and says, “He’s so cute,” I agree. But I also think of how that baby grew up in perfect manhood to give of Himself for me. I think of God’s amazing love and gracious gift.
>Easy (and inexpensive) Holiday Craft
>This past Friday was my oldest son’s Christmas party at his developmental delay preschool room. Family was invited, so my youngest, my mom, and I all attended. The kids did this project which incorporates a lot of sensory items, but is is SUPER easy and SUPER cheap! In fact, most of you probably already have all the necessary materials. You could adapt this to any season or any design you want to make, so think beyond Christmas and all the ways you can use this with your children.
Before I get into the details, I have to share an AHA! moment (to be trendy). My son’s teacher had copy box lids and plastic serving trays with sides for each child. The paper went inside there, and this contained the mess. Genius! If you don’t have copy boxes sitting around your house, I know your local dollar store probably has serving trays. You could even take your children with you and let them each pick out a different color or design and then have their very own special project space!
Materials:
Paper
White rice
Food coloring
Writing utensil for creating design
White glue
Rubbermaid-type containers with lids (smaller works better for little hands)
Bowl for glue
Paintbrush for glue
Box lid or serving tray for workspace
Directions:
1. Draw outline design on paper for younger children, or let older children draw theirs. We made candy canes with large stripes. You want something with large space, not too complex, so you’ll be able to see the design when done.
2. Place white rice in container and add some food coloring. Snap lid on. Let child shake, shake, SHAKE! This makes the rice change color. You could even sing a song and use the shaking as an instrument.
3. Paint the outline with white glue. Cover the ENTIRE design inside, as this will hold the colored rice on.
4. Use rice to fill in design. For example, we made green rice and red rice and filled in the stripes of the candy cane.
5. Hold up and let extra rice fall into tray. Place somewhere safe to dry.
>Christmas Traditions
>I have to share the link to Whatever State’s post on her grandmother’s peppermint pig Christmas tradition. For some reason it just struck me, and you can scroll down to see why. I’m the 3rd comment.
In our family, we sang “Happy Birthday” to Jesus before we went down to open Christmas presents. Often the night before my sister and I would sleep in the same bed, watching out the window for Rudolph’s nose. I was sure I saw it one year–probably an airplane’s safety lights. Feel free to leave a comment with your traditions here or on Whatever State’s post.
>Christmas Giveaway!
>Over at Chatter, Clatter, & Things That Matter, Heidi is giving away a DVD that comes with three art lessons! Sounds like a great way to get your children into the story of Christ’s arrival! Giveaway ends December 20th.
Save $ Monday–Spend Less on Christmas Next Year!
I am very pleased to bring you a guest post today. I asked my good friend Jessica to share with my readers how she has saved hundreds of dollars on Christmas shopping this year so they could use her tips to accomplish the same thing next year. Here is what Jessica had to say…
Ok, so I hope all you Many Hats Mommy readers out there do realize that Christmas is just 19 days away! Yep, that’s right, just 19 days. In regards to your Christmas shopping does that number send you into a panic or are you still breathing ok? Well, in the past I would have been hyperventilating just about now, but not this year. I mentioned to Jenny that I had almost all of my Christmas shopping done for a fraction of the original cost thanks to some online programs I participate in, and she asked me to share them with you! I am, most thankfully, completely done Christmas shopping. A big task since I purchased gifts for 37 people, including my immediate family, extended family, and staff & Sunday School teachers at church. My total would have been….drum roll please…..$1, 105.98. Praise the Lord I only paid $380.17! That’s only 1/3 of the original total!
Here’s how I did it:
1. I keep a very detailed spread sheet of my Christmas shopping. It has columns for the people I’m shopping for, the gift, the original price, the price I paid, my total out of pocket spending so far, and last year’s total. This helps me see each gift and price as well as keep an eye on the big picture so that I don’t let the budget get out of hand. My goal is always to keep things low cost and to beat last year’s total!
2. I stalk several blogs, including this one, to help me find the best deals all year long. There are so many online deals for things that make great gifts (photo mugs and calendars for instance) that you can buy at any point in the year and save for Christmas. I would never know about these deals if the great women who write these blogs didn’t post them for all of us. I am very thankful to them! My favorite money-saving blogs are:
Many Hats Mommy www.manyhatsmommy.blogspot.com
Spend Freely www.spendfreely.blogspot.com
Frugal Coupon Living www.frugalcouponliving.com
3. I get what is basically FREE MONEY online by participating in a few ABSOLUTELY FREE programs and earning online gift cards. I know folks can be skeptical about such things, but my 3 favorite ones I have been participating in for at least a year now, and I have never been asked to spend any money—I’ve only received it! Here is a rundown of these programs and links to get you started:
1) Swagbucks: Swagbucks is basically a search engine. First you register for a Swagbucks account which is free. I found it easiest to download their free toolbar and set your default search engine to Swagbucks. This way every time you search for something online you have an opportunity to win points. That’s it. Just use your search engine the way you normally would. You will be awarded points randomly. You can also earn points by taking daily polls, surveys, and online shopping if you wish. My favorite way to redeem these points is with Amazon.com e-gift cards. 450 points gets you a $5 Amazon.com e-gift card. These can add up quickly. I’ve only been a member for 15 months and I’ve earned $160.00 in Amazon.com e-gift cards! To get started just follow this link: https://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Iheartmykids
2) Mypoints: Mypoints is probably the least exciting of these programs to me, but still effective. I think it just takes longer to see fruit for your labors with Mypoints. With Mypoints you set up a free account and they send you e-mails. You click on the link in the e-mails and are awarded 5 points for each click-thru. You make a lot more points when you do online shopping through Mypoints. If I am going to buy something online, I always check Mypoints first to see if the company participates. You redeem your points for Gift Cards from various companies. I like to use these for Christmas presents. I have given Bath & Body Works, Sears, and Visa, etc Gift Cards as gifts that I got for free from Mypoints. To get started just follow this link:
3) Expotv: Expotv is a product review program. I get most of my online e-gift cards from Expotv. I LOVE THIS PROGRAM!! First you sign up for a free Expotv account. If I remember correctly you complete some surveys at the beginning so that they can send you invitations to review products you might already have or be interested in. Expotv will send you invitations to do short video reviews of certain products. These reviews only have to be about 1 min. 30 sec. long. Super easy and they tell you how to do it. There is also a monthly list of “Most Wanted” products you can choose from to review for extra points. I find items from this list that I already own. You upload your video and they reward you with points. Each video is worth anywhere from 500-2500 points. Again, I usually redeem mine for Amazon.com e-gift cards. So far this year have earned over $300 in Amazon.com e-gift cards…and I still have some points waiting to be redeemed! To get started follow this link: www.expotv.com/raf/twocoons
So, that’s the scoop on my Christmas shopping. I have found that the more I shop throughout the year, not only do I save money, but my holidays are a lot less stressful since I’m not worrying about getting gifts in time or how I am going to afford all these presents and still get my groceries for the month! I have been so thankful for these resources lately as my list of people to buy presents for continues to grow, but the budget does not! Just another way God continues to show me that He provides for our needs and sometimes even for our wants. There really is more joy in giving than receiving, and sometimes the giving is even sweeter when you know that you saved a whole lot of pennies!
>Wednesday’s Woman–Amy Puetz, Author
>
Technology has its pros and cons. One of the pros is that I get to make friends all over the country without ever leaving my home! Today I get to introduce to a gal from Wyoming! Today Amy is going to tell you about finding her niche despite her physical challenges. My friend’s children adore her books.
When you get to the bottom of the post, there is a link to her website. She has a book called “Countdown to Christmas” in the store that I think would be a great way to start a family tradition. When you get there, you can “view sample chapter.” I suggest you do, as the introduction’s first paragraph itself gives us something to think about! You can also shop in the girls collection or books for boys! There’s lots to peruse over there, so grab a cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate and spend some time with Amy Puetz (pronounced Pitts). And now Amy in her own words…
Hello! I’m so excited that Jenny asked me to share my story with you! When I was a little girl I had lots of dreams about what I would be when I grew up. I planned to be an archeologist who would make the most amazing discovery of the century. I longed to be a photographer who took phenomenal images that would make the world stand still and notice. Most of all I wanted to be a wife and a mother! Have you ever heard the saying, “If you want to make God laugh tell Him your plans”? Well I’m sure God had a few giggles over my well laid out plans, because He had other ideas. When I was fifteen my tonsils were removed and for some reason I never really recovered. Yes, the scars healed but I suddenly found myself suffering from severe fatigue and pain. Simple daily activities became difficult. Since my brain felt like it was in a fog all the time, doing school work became very difficult and it took me two years to finish my senior year. I was homeschooled, and this proved to be such a blessing because I could rest whenever I needed too.
After graduating I began wondering what God wanted me to do with my life! Finding something that I could do from home seemed like a good solution. In 2001 I finished a correspondence class to become a computer graphic artist. I began looking for jobs online, but had a hard time making the right connections. So, in my spare time I began writing a costume book. I always loved dressing up as a child and I took an idea from those days to create a unique book that only uses one dress to make historical costumes from different eras. This is when I discovered a gift I didn’t even know I had. I went through a writing class and found out I loved sharing my ideas with the world through writing. I love how God always gives a gift when other gifts are taken away.
Thus began my book business, now called Golden Prairie Press. I began writing a column for Home School Enrichment Magazine and last year I compiled those articles into a book called Uncover Exciting History. My most popular book is Countdown to Christmas, which has memory making stories and activities for every day from December first to the twenty-fifth.
God has also brought about a special gift over the last year. After thirteen years of living with a chronic illness, I’ve started to improve. God led me to a new doctor who found a parasite, a staph infection, a cyst, and bacteria in my liver. I’d been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2000, but now I’m beginning to think that I had all these other things going on, and they just didn’t find them. With a little bit more energy I’ve been able to participate in activities that would have been impossible a year ago. This has been such a huge blessing in my life that I can’t even find words to describe it. I still have a long way to go before I’m normal. It’s amazing how much a person can do with only eighty percent!
My greatest passion is history! I love doing research to find little-known facts about historical events. So often women are over looked in history books and I enjoy learning about these forgotten heroines. Every other month I share these fascinating stories in my e-zine called Heroines of the Past. I’m always inspired by the Christian examples I find hidden in the pages of history. There are so many neat ladies just waiting to be discovered. Women like Elizabeth Prentiss who lived with a chronic illness her whole life. Yet despite her physical limitations she wrote one of the most encouraging stories of the 1800s. A book that is still encouraging women today, it’s called Stepping Heavenward.
I also met a woman named Narcissa Whitman. She left all the comforts of home and served as a missionary in Oregon. While reading her diary I saw her devotion to God as she claimed Scripture to give her strength. She once mentioned Deuteronomy 33:25, which says, “and as thy days are, so shall thy strength be.” I’m sure I’ve read this verse many times but I never really noticed it before. Narcissa inspired me to hold onto the promise that God gives extra strength on the days we need it. Narcissa is best remembered for being the first white woman to cross the Rocky Mountains. I could go on and on about the inspirational women to be found in history, however, I’ll stop.
Yes, God does have a sense of humor. He changed my dreams and directed me down a path that I would have never chosen myself. There is so much peace in knowing that God is in control. Following Him isn’t hard, but it will prove to be an adventure!
Stop by my website at: https://amypuetz.com.
