11th Day of Christmas with Ruth Soukup {Living Well. Spending Less.}
From unrealistic expectations to traditions to your screaming schedule as well as those annual holiday encounters with the in-laws and outlaws, this free 5 Day challenge will allow your holidays to go from chaos to calm. Click HERE for the free 5 Day Challenge and they will automatically come to your inbox. Merry Christmas!
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IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember you may comment to win on all of the 12 Days of Christmas posts until Sunday night, December 15th at midnight EST so be sure to read through those you missed and catch up!
Welcome to the 11th Day of Christmas with my friend Ruth Soukup from Living Well. Spending Less.
Ruth is a writer, photographer, entrepreneur, wannabe DiYer, semi-frazzled mom to two beautiful girls,wife to her wonderful husband of eight years, and, above all, a child of a loving and gracious God. Her passion is her family, and creating a home filled with joy and purpose. She started writing Living Well Spending Less in July 2010 because her spending habits had become so out-of-control that her marriage was on the brink of collapse. She needed to find a way to hold herself accountable, and writing about the challenge of living well on a budget helped.
Now, meet Ruth!
Our Favorite Christmas Traditions
When my husband and I first got married we talked a lot about how we wanted to create special Christmas traditions for our children. He had grown up in a family with lots of traditions, while my own family seemed to do something new (though equally chaotic) each year. It was important to me to give our kids the stability my own childhood had lacked, and it was important to both of us to create memories that they would cherish for a lifetime, as well as to teach our kids that Christmas is about something more than presents.
Our first year together, my husband gave me a beautiful hand-blown glass ornament and said, “we should do this for our kids each year, so that by the time they are ready for a tree of their own they will have their own special collection to start with.” We have had so much fun each year picking out the ornaments that most represent an important milestone or passion from that year, and each year when we decorate our tree, the best part is opening the box of “special” ornaments and reminiscing over the years past.
We’ve added other special family traditions to our holiday lineup, including everything from a special Advent calendar filled with treats & treasures, collecting items to fill our Operation Christmas Child boxes, buying gifts for the local “angel” tree, eating Dutch Babies on Christmas morning, and ringing the Salvation Army bell outside the local Publix.
However, our very favorite tradition of all is delivering freshly baked & decorated cookies to the local fire station on Christmas Eve. We’ve done this since our youngest was just a baby, and every year we stop by on our way home from church to hand out cookies and tell the firemen thank you for working to keep us safe when the rest of us get to be home with our families.
It is a very simple gesture, one that requires so little time or effort on our part, and yet those firemen are always so kind and appreciative. In years past they have even treated us to a tour of the fire station and let the kids explore the engines and try on gear. Honestly, I think we get far more out of it then the firemen do!
There is a lot that we won’t do this year. We won’t go see the Nutcracker or any other holiday show that one of our children is not performing in, and we won’t give either of our kids a pile of the latest must-have toys. Our Elf on the Shelf won’t be the main character in a new elaborate scene each day—she’s happy enough just to remember to move to a new spot before the kids wake up—and I’m pretty sure our Christmas dinner will consist of frozen pizza and leftovers.
But that’s okay. We’ve realized that it is easier to say no to the things that don’t matter—or to give ourselves grace for serving pizza for Christmas dinner—because ultimately it is the traditions and the love that gets remembered far after the holidays have come and gone. Our simple family traditions remind us that the joy of Christmas comes not from the gifts we receive, but from the one precious Gift we have all been given.
For us that is the best Tradition of all.
TODAY’S GIVEAWAY:
Ruth is giving away a $50 Amazon gift card to one of you!!! To enter, simply leave us a comment with who you and your family or friends could bless at the holidays. One of my favorites was the year we gave the hard-working, mentally-challenge man at Target who rounds up all the shopping carts out in the snowy parking lot a twenty dollar bill on Christmas Eve. we told him it always inspires us what a hard worker and friendly person he is.
Now, your turn. Any ideas?
We are donating to the women and children’s shelter as well as a Santa’s Castle for the kids on post whose families can’t afford much. Just a little effort to show that there are people who care!
My work adopts a family each year. We buy the requested gifts and have a raffle to raise money for a grocery gift card.
We are trying to bless lots of people this Christmas season! My favorites so far have been packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, buying stocking stuffers for children at a local shelter…and I’ve made a couple of freezer meals for some mom friends of mine who could use a little break from cooking!
We are creating a special Christmas for a family that we know that’s been through way too much for way too long and needs to feel loved and appreciated and special once again. :(
We always adopt a family at the school I work at as well as do the individual angel tree gifts! :)
We adopt an Angel from the Angel Tree and purchase the items they are requesting for Christmas.
We would bless and support the families our church helps. thx
I try to always give to the Salvation Army. I see first hand how it helps people through my work. I would love to start a tradition of helping a family in need by adopting a family through Christmas angel or something in the future.
I’ve always enjoyed taking plates of Christmas cookies to the elderly people in our neighborhood….
Of all the gifts I’ve received over the years–the ones that meant the most were the gifts of “time”. Altho I hand-pick a few well-chosen gifts, the one I plan to give at the nursing home is the gift of TIME. I think the effort you spend on choosing with a personal touch, rather than just buying a gift because you should….shows you REALLY DO CARE.
Gift our local food pantry and Toys for Tots
Our kids participate in packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child each year and we also like to give to overseas missionaries and our local crisis pregnancy center. We like to give cookies to our neighbors and our garbage man and mail carrier.
We take cookies to our neighborhood firehouse, mechanics and host a neighborhood holiday open house .
This year my daughter is 2 1/2, so instead of only blessing our friends and family like always, we decided to teach our daughter to help take care of those other children who may not get presents. She helped pick out toys for a little boy and a little girl, gave our money to the cashier to by them, and then she walked them over to the county cheer box and put the new toys into the box. She didn’t even once ask if she could get one for herself; it was all about picking out for another kid. I was so proud that at 2 1/2 years old, she already was learning about sharing and selflessness. Warmed my heart!
I am a baker and love to make a plethora of goodies every year. So, every year, we make a beautiful package of goodies for each of the widows in our church. We also bless our pastor, youth pastor, and neighbors with a tray of treats. It’s something small that we can do to show them how much we love them. This year, we rang bells for the Salvation Army, too. We had so much fun!
God has given me a real heart for pregnancy crisis centers, so we have already and will be taking donations to our local one here. I love the concept of placing a ‘You’ve been blessed’ sign in someone’s yard along with groceries or other needs. Also, we love adopting seniors at our nearby retirement home.
An elderly lady in our church who broke her hip recently and can’t get out.
I buy stuff for a women’s shelter and kids every year. I can’t remember a Christmas where we didn’t do something for those who were less fortunate. I can’t imagine Christmas without that tradition.
Visits and gifts to shut ins or those in nursing homes. they also enjoy caroling.
Coat drive at our church.
My next door neighbor had an accident a few weeks ago (she feel and messed up her hip) She went from the hospital to a rehab center. She lives with her daughter and will most likely make it home right around Christmas; probably a little later. I will make her daughter a dinner or two to put in the freezer. She’s constantly on the go to either be with her mom or run her own errands(mom is in her early 90’s and the daughter is probably somewhere in her 60’s). I’m sure she’d appreciate a home cooked meal that she doesn’t have to fuss with. Thanks for reminding me to look outside my bubble of a family.
We help out kids in local children’s shelters and through a local organization called Country Santa.
This Christmas my son and I filled 3 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. It has become a tradition with this being our 4th year participating. Something so small can bring such joy to a child far away!!
We are planning on blessing a family that has been paying on a piece of furniture for their home for many months. We are going to pay off the remaining so they can have it to sit on during Christmas!
My cousin recently moved and is currently without a home. So we’ve completely incorporated her entire family with ours for the holidays (starting with Thanksgiving) even getting her 3 daughters Christmas. As well as trying to help her find a place big enough for their family.