After Christmas Traditions

There are so many fantastic "before Christmas" traditions, but I seldom hear about many "after Christmas" traditions. I wanted to share 3 post-Christmas activities that I remember from my growing up years and things that we try to incorporate in our family.

1. Christmas Card Prayers - Around new year's we would begin doing Christmas Card Prayers after dinner. My mom would pass around the basket of Christmas cards and each of us kids would get to choose one. We would read the card/letter, talk about any pictures or photos, and then my mom would tell us about who it was from. She would share how they knew that person, where they lived, and any other interesting facts. We would then say a prayer for each person or family whose card we read that evening. Sometimes it would take us until Easter to get through the basket but I always enjoyed doing it. I think this tradition may be why the Christmas cards we receive today are so special to me.

2. Share Piles - I grew up with three brothers and now have 4 kids of my own. Several years ago we started being more intentional about "sharing" old toys to make room for the new ones. We talk with the kids about the new toys they received and what a blessing it is to have new things and then we remind them that not everyone has as many toys as they do. We discuss the importance of sharing and then help them select toys to "share" with a local charity. Our goal is to select something similar in size/value for each gift that they received. It doesn't always work out exactly that way, but the exercise of sharing some toys is a healthy one.

3. Saying Thanks - I'm so grateful that my parents emphasized the importance of saying a proper thank you to people. Christmas time is one of the easiest times to practice this lesson because most kids have at least another week before they go back to school! I started having my kids "do" their own thank you notes when they were two years old. A simple way is type a short message in a bubble font and let the kids color it. You can also let toddlers or preschoolers color on a blank piece of paper (folded to make a card) and attach of photo of the child opening their gift or playing with the new toy. With older preschoolers, I often let them decorate the front of the card with stickers or pre-cut fun foam shapes, write a short message of thanks inside and let the child sign his or her name. By around age 5 or 6 kids can use those "fill-in-the-blank" cards that you can purchase from many stationery stores. Middle elementary age (and up!) should be able to come up with at least 2 good sentences for a thank you letter. Watch for sales on cute Christmas stationery that often goes on sale with the Christmas cards! Just a word of caution - keep in mind your child's personality and attention span and don't expect them to write too many thank you's in one sitting!

God bless you this new year as you begin some new After Christmas Traditions!

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas from Craig, Vickie, Josh, Annie, Max & Noah

I Dish You a Merry Christmas

I Dish You a Merry Christmas, A Recipe for being "MERRY" - a "Season" for the Reason

M - Make the season Meaningful
1. Choose traditions that will add spice to your Christmas season.
2. Too much of a good spice may spoil the batch.
3. Too little spice may make your season bland.

E - Evaluate each ingredient
1. Does the ingredient add flavor or does it overpower the recipe?
2. Does the ingredient add to the consistency of the recipe?
3. Do family members like the taste?
4. Sometimes family members will acquire a taste.

R - Remember to Kneed in the Savior
1. Do you have the main ingredient?
2. The Savior adds flavor

R - Re-write your Recipe
1. Consider what needs to be omitted.
2. Consider who or what needs to be added
3. Enjoy your new recip

Y - Yield: A Very Filling MERRY Christmas!

Notes from Terri Llamas' talk at Covenant MOPS tonight. Terri is a good friend and I LOVE this analogy of the recipe for our family's Christmas. What does Christmas taste like? Do I have too many ingredients, or is my Christmas missing something? What do you want Christmas to "taste" like for your family?

Please share what "spices" you add that bring out the flavor of the main ingredient!

Horizontal Humanity/Vertical Vicarious Vindication

Today's text was Luke 18:9-14

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Here are my notes:

I. Preface - Jesus tells a story of 2 men praying; the same action, but each with different motives, different prayers, and different outcomes

II. Pharisee - Considers himself one righteous dude...do I think of myself more highly that I ought? Do I realize how often I sin? Do I consider the sanctity of the sabbath when I plan out my week?

III. Publican - ceremonial unclean and unfit to enter the temple; a snapshot of who Jesus came to save. He saw himself as a sinner in need of a savior. Need to check how we are doing with sin and our view of ourselves? Simply check with Matthew 22:38-39, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

IV. People - "You are more wicked than you ever dared believe, but you are more loved than you ever dared hope." We ARE saved by works - Jesus' works. "When we are looking horizontally, we may never see ourselves in the same boat with other sinners. It is only when we look vertically that we see the utter hopelessness of thinking we are better than others and we realize we are all in the same sinking ship with only one Life-Preserver."

V. Purpose - we must recognize our own sinfulness and accept God's forgiveness of our sins

How simple. How amazing.

Today's sermon by Kevin Nolen, Covenant Presbyterian Church

Crucial Conversations (Colossians Conclusion)

I knew I was in for a great morning when our pastor opened his sermon by saying that the application for today's passage was TALK! What a great message for me!

Today's passage was Colossians 4:2-18. Paul wraps up his letter to the Colossians by telling them to TALK with God, TALK with the world, and TALK with each other.

God calls us to change the world for Him...three conversations at a time. (Three conversations that work together and happen at the same time!)

Verses 2-4
2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

In this passage we are instructed to pray. A question to ponder: Does prayer work? What if talking to God is like talking to my spouse? Do I always get what I want for it to "work"? Maybe the point of talking isn't always to get what I want...

Verses 5-6
5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Earn the right to be heard. But, be heard!

Verse 7 through the end are Paul's final greetings, instructions, and affirmations within the church community. They are heartfelt and specific, directed toward individuals living and worshiping in community. The message here: personal relationships with individual people are important.

Thoughts to ponder this week...How much are we talking to God about people and to people about God? Who are you talking to today?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this message and what you've been learning lately!


Message by Jay Hull, Covenant Presbyterian Church

Today's Message

Today's sermon was from Colossians 3:18-4:1. Instead of dissecting each verse and focusing on cultural controversy, Jay wisely guided us to three main principle's found in the passage.

#1 Down Home Holiness
Holiness is like rain. If it doesn't come down, it's just fog. Holiness is just something for super-spiritual people like nuns or monks. Holy lives are to be lived out in normal surroundings - in our family, personal and work relationships.

#2 Reciprocal but not Symmetrical
God designed human relationships to be reciprocal but not symmetrical. Responsibility and blessing go both ways, but fundemental inequalities have been built in by God to relationships between men & women, parents & children, and employers and employees. The real question is, what are you going to do with your strengths and gifts?

#3 90º to Jesus
The fastest way to Jesus' heart is through other people. What we do for others, we do for Jesus. Who can I bless today to show my love for Jesus?

How about you? What did you learn today?


(These are my sermon notes from today. Pastor Jay Hull, Covenant Presbyterian Church)

I love being a Superhero

I am a superhero. I have super hearing that allows me to hear a crying child several rooms away, over the noise the house fan and a movie at full volume. I can heal owies with a single kiss, and calm a frightened child by simply holding him in my lap. And now, I'm off to attack a rather large pile of laundry that is slowly trying to take over our house!

The Best Hug of My Life

It happened at gate C-11 in the Dallas Fort Worth airport. It was last Thursday afternoon, March 12. My grandpa had died that Monday. My grandma, his wife of nearly 68 years, was about to begin a second battle with cancer. I had spent much of the previous 3 days working on a video to celebrate his life, and I was exhausted physically and emotionally.

Thanks to a dear friend I was able to fly as a "non-revenue" passenger. For those unfamiliar with this term, as the official guest of an airline employee I was paying next to nothing...but was flying stand-by with no priority over paying customers. My flight out of Reno was great - plenty of seats...mine was even in first class. But the Dallas airport was FULL. It was the official beginning of spring break and lots of people were flying to or through St. Louis. Too many. I was number 27 on the stand-by list. The problem? None of the next three flights were looking any better and the visitation was already underway. The service was at 10am the next morning. And the video was in my purse.

As I waited hopelessly for my name to move up the list, I had an idea. What if my brother Kevin happened to be flying through Dallas too? I called and his phone was turned off. I called Scott to check his schedule and sure enough, Kevin was going to be on the next flight out of Dallas! I waited a few more minutes and called him again.

This time he answered. "Why are you calling me? I'm on an airplane!"

"I thought you just landed," came my reply.

"Are you at C-11?"

My heart skipped a beat. He was heading my way...

What was probably about 5 minutes - the time it took him to take the tram over from the other terminal - seemed like an eternity. I paced impatiently in front of the screen that listed the stand-by passengers and frequently glanced down the corridor toward the tram.

When our eyes met from across the airport our steps quickened. And then it happened...the best hug of my life. I wasn't alone. My brother was with me and everything was going to be okay.

We walked back to c-11 where my name ended at #5. Closer, but not enough to get on that plane. We had 2 hours until Kevin's plane was leaving so we went to get some lunch. Scott called while were eating to check my status. At one point I passed the phone to Kevin and all he said was, "I got her." He smiled, and hung up.

We decided to save the salad for later and went to check on the flight. I identified myself as a non-revenue passenger and inquired as to my chances for getting on this flight. "None" was the harsh reply. I had a shot at getting on the 9:30pm flight, of course missing the whole visitation. I gave Kevin 2 copies of the video so he could take them for me. Somehow I would still make it before the service, even if I had to rent a car and drive all night. Admittedly, not a great plan B.

A little while later Kevin got up to use the restroom. When he came back, he handed me a boarding pass and said, "We won't get to sit together." What??? How did he get a boarding pass? Why did it say "First Class" on it? As I started to put the pieces together he just looked at me and said, "This was the only way to get you on that plane and I wasn't going to leave this airport without you."

We cried, and hugged, and cried some more. Then we sat together in the back of the plane and shared our salad while some random stranger enjoyed a first class flight to St. Louis. I guess he thought he was lucky. But I'm the one with the first class brother.

What Time Is It?

Over the years I have often found encouragement in the verses from Ecclesiastes 3. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...a time to plant and a time to uproot...a time to weep and a time to laugh." These words have brought me comfort during hard times, as well as many smiles. Usually when I read this poetic section of Scripture I focus on all of the different specifics that are mentioned. It is so easy to find real-life applications for "a time to keep and a time to throw away." If you have a garage like mine you know what I'm talking about!

Recently I was reading these verses and one particular word caught my eye. One little, tiny word changed the way I read these verses. Which word, you ask? The indefinite article "a" that appears in each phrase has captured my attention.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Read it carefully with me. /There is A time for everything. /It does not say, "there is time for everything." As a mom, I am sure you feel the time pressure daily. How can you find the time to cook, clean, do laundry, feed, bathe and dress children, have quality time with each child and your spouse, shuttle kids to and from play dates or preschool, keep up with friends...some days I can hardly find time to go to the bathroom!

There is a time for everything. But the time I have right now, I will never have again. What am I supposed to do with this time? I have learned that I don't HAVE to do everything right now. I need to simply focus on what I am supposed to do right now. I don't have to tear down, build, mourn, dance, scatter stones, gather them, tear and mend all at once. Mothering young children is a wonderful and challenge season. Some things may have to wait for a different "time" in our lives.

All I really need to do is start each day by saying, "What time is it today, Lord?"

Growing Like Jesus in 2009

I have a favorite Bible verse for this time of year: Luke 2:52. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. At Christmas we talk a lot about when Jesus was born. Pretty soon it will be Easter and we'll be talking about when Jesus died and rose again. In between we may read about his miracles or his teachings or stories about his disciples. But aside from the story about him teaching in the temple as a young teenager (Great story to read when you're having a bad mommy day...if Mary and Joseph could lose the son of God for a couple days some of my problems start to seem a little smaller!) we don't read much about his childhood. But I love this verse that summarizes his growing up. I love it because it points out four different areas where we can grow too.

Look carefully and think about ways that you - and your children - can grow like Jesus in 2009. The four areas in the verse are intellectual (wisdom), physical (stature), spiritual (favor with God) and social (favor with men). Think of one goal for each of these four areas for yourself and your kids.

Maybe you'd like to take a class, start learning a foreign language or just read a book that doesn't have pictures in it! For your children, an age-appropriate goal might be to learn colors, shapes or the alphabet.

Choose a physical goal that is actually attainable - literally growing in stature doesn't work; believe me - I've tried. A physical goal could be in regard to eating healthier, adding more activity into your lifestyle, or learning a new sport, and similar goals could be made for things you want to work on with your kids.

A spiritual goal could have to do with reading the Bible more often, memorizing certain verses or praying FIRST instead of as a last resort. For our children it may mean taking them to Sunday School, starting them in AWANA, or teaching them to pray out loud by repeating after you.

Social goals for our kids may involve making new friends, practicing sharing or learning manners. For us adults, it may mean being more intentional about practicing hospitality or not gossiping.

Will you take the Luke 2:52 Challenge with me? Pick one goal for each area. Write it down. Tell someone and ask them to check in with you periodically throughout the year. Whether we like it or not, we will get older this year and so will our children. So let's be intentional in our growth for 2009.