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?
Christmas eve services
Reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve
So many! Sledding, baking, all the movies we watch, all the songs we sing…
Decorating our tree and going looking at lights.
Scavenger hunts!
Decorating our Christmon tree with the kids and talking about each of the symbols.
Favorite tradition is a Christmas program on Christmas Eve giving by our adult children. Every year new stories, songs, and scriptures. and always so fun! I can hardly wait for this year’s version.
Letting my kids open one gift before bed on Christmas Eve. This is what I did as a child, too, so it’s fun to pass down this tradition.
After Going to Christmas Eve service My girls get to open one gift before bed. We watch a Christmas movie and then leave sparkly reindeer food on our front lawn :-)
Going to church on Christmas Eve and then going to eat at the local Chinese restaurant
gathering at mom’s on christmas eve after church
I loved having fondue with shrimp and bread when I was younger with my Aunts. I love decorating our tree now. I also enjoy listening to Christmas songs.
Children’s Christmas program…
attending Christmas Eve Service, then going to my Mom’s for snacks and opening her gifts for the children
We go to my parent’s house on Christmas Eve and play games, open gifts, eat and laugh a lot!
I love going to the Christmas Eve service. Then on the way home we drive around to look at all the lights. After we get home we open presents….so….the kids want to go straight home after church, but dad always seems to find a new neighborhood we need to drive through!
Big Christmas Eve dinner that my husband plans and prepares with the kids. Next Christmas Eve service at Church then opening one gift from a sibling that night.
we meet at my inlaws with extended family and cook home-made pizza (from the crust to the sauce) every year, then we have white santa gifts exchange. it’s so much fun because everybody likes to gather by the kitchen where the fresh hot pizza comes out of the oven
Church with the whole family on Christmas Eve and then back to my parents for ham and beef double decker sandwiches and presents!
My entire family ( cousins, aunt, uncle, everyone) get together one Saturday in December to have Christmas! We eat and just enjoy seeing each other! Most years we have up to 30 to 40 people! Love it!!