2nd Day of Christmas with Courtney Joseph
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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Welcome to the 2nd Day of Christmas. Today our guest is Courtney Joseph of Women Living Well.
Courtney has been married to her high school sweetheart for over 16 years and classically educates her son and daughter at home.
Courtney is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute with a degree in Evangelism and Discipleship. After over a decade of leading women’s Bible studies, mentorships and workshops in her local church, she decided to move her ministry on-line at WomenLivingWell.org and WomenLivingWell.TV.
You can follow Courtney’s ministry on Facebook,Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube and Instagram under the Profile: Women Living Well. Join her, as you walk with the King!
Here is Courtney sharing what her family loves to do at Christmas:
Every year on Christmas day we get together with extended family. Before the presents are opened, we read the story of Baby Jesus to the children.
Each year we try to be creative. One year we used a birthday cake. Another year we used a nativity poster and stickers. Each child had a sticker and got a turn to place Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Angels, Wisemen, Jesus and the star on the poster.
A few years we acted the story out. Though we did not have costumes, each child had a role and even some of the adults were innkeepers turning away Mary and Joseph.
Here are our little actors getting warmed up.
Here’s baby Jesus:
And another tradition is for the papararazzi to show up!!! Look at all those cameras! Lol!
What joy it is to remember the Reason for the Season with both the little ones AND the big ones!
Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God with us’.”
NOW FOR TODAY’S GIVEAWAY:
Two winners will be chosen to receive a copy of Courtney’s book Women Living Well.
Women desire to live well. However, living well in this modern world is a challenge. The pace of life, along with the new front porch of social media, has changed the landscape of our lives. Women have been told for far too long that being on the go and accumulating more things will make their lives full. As a result, we grasp for the wrong things in life and come up empty.
God created us to walk with him; to know him and to be loved by him. He is our living well and when we drink from the water he continually provides, it will change us. Our marriages, our parenting, and our homemaking will be transformed.
Rooted in the Bible, this book includes tons of tips that are perfect for busy moms, including:
- Simple Solutions for Studying God’s Word
- How to Handle Marriage, Parenting, and Homemaking in a Digital Age
- 10 Steps to Completing Your Husband
- Dealing With Disappointed Expectations in Motherhood
- Creating Routines that Bring Rest
- Pursuing the Discipline and Diligence of the Proverbs 31 Woman
There is nothing more important than fostering your faith, building your marriage, training your children, and creating a haven for your family. Women Living Well is a clear and personal guide to making the most of these precious responsibilities.
To be entered to win, tell us your favorite family tradition at Christmas. Ours is having bbq chicken pizza and peppermint stick ice cream at my mom’s on Christmas Eve and then driving to look at Christmas lights.
And yours?
We always have the annual picture with Santa and we always have new jammies for everyone in the house!
we love to drive around Christmas Eve to look at lights after the candlelight service
My favorite tradition is playing carols while decorating the tree and wrapping presents. My next favorite is having everyone in my family over for a huge breakfast after praying together.
Going to dinner, then looking at lights, and then going to midnight service at church on Christmas Eve.
getting together with long life friends for Christmas Eve dinner and church
Our favorite tradition is decorating the Christmas tree and listening to Christmas music!
We have 3 kids so they take turns picking out the Christmas tree. It takes a few hours at a Christmas Tree Farm but it is by far our BEST tradition.
Favorite family tradition is Christmas Eve service at my mother’s church followed by a soup supper with the entire extended family.
Driving around and looking at the Christmas lights and visiting live Nativity scenes.And Midnight Christmas Eve services.
I really enjoy going to church. We used to go the children’s early service but now that my kids are older, we go to the 10:00 pm service. I play in a bell choir and I love to look out and see my family…
Mine is having candy canes in hot cocoa next to the tree the first night we put it up. And watching Elf!
One of our favorite traditions is reading “Twas the night before Christmas” aloud on Christmas Eve night. The kids love it!
On Christmas Eve, we have pizza for dinner, attend Mass, come home and get into a new pair of PJs. Then I read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and finish up with the Luke’s Gospel account of the birth of Jesus before heading off to bed.
Placing the baby Jesus doll under the tree in His manger. I have what was once my grandparents — a rubber (?) baby Jesus doll in a sturdy cardboard manger with hay. This is the same baby that was under my grandparents’ tree every year while I was growing up — I am now 50.
15 yrs ago we started a wonderful tradition! We purchased an artificial Christmas tree, that has a vintage look to it. During the Christmas season, we schedule an evening with our children & grandchildren & we all get together & make ‘handmade’ Christmas ornaments, string popcorn, make a paper chain & decorate the tree with what we make. We then play games, and have family fun & fellowship. As the Christmas season gets close, my adult children begin to inquire of the date for what we’ve termed our ‘Charlie Brown Christmas Tree night.’ The adults enjoy it as much as the children do. We now have 13 grandchildren to share this family time with. We are truly blessed!
Going to watch The Living Nativity play at our church (always amazing!) and driving around to look at Christmas lights. I also love going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service. We’re still making our traditions as a family. :)
Reading the story of Jesus’ birth with our children and cuddling with them in their new jammies on the couch while watching a Veggie Tale Christmas related video.
Christmas stockings!
Doing a Jesse tree!
Baking cookies with my aunt and cousin
Christmas Eve service and game time on Christmas Day with whoever shows up!
Our “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” party on Christmas eve
My favorite tradition is reading ” What God Wants for Christmas” with my kids and opening one special present each on Christmas Eve.
Traditions are what make the best stories and memories ! As a military family, my kids many not have ever had the same HOME, but we always had the same stockings, ornaments, and traditions. I have found out that my kids looked forward to the goodies hidden in their stockings the most every Christmas, and this is the tradition that they look forward to the MOST even as adults ! I am such a blessed Mom !
When my children were younger we would take the train to the city and hand out socks and gloves along with McDonald’s gift certificates to the homeless. My children are grown now and have children of there own and I miss doing this with them. Another thing we used to do was bring my sons keyboard to a nursing home before church and we would sing to the residents. Now my children sign at there church on Christmas eve.