12 Days of Christmas (2017) – Day 7

GRAND PRIZE!!!

One of you WHO COMMENTS ON ALL TWELVE POSTS AND ALSO SHARES ABOUT THE SERIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA will win a grand prize from me, pictured here.

REMEMBER…in order to win the grand prize, you must leave a comment on all 12 posts. You can start with Day One HERE.

OK, let’s get started with our seventh day’s guest, Heidi St. John!

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A {simple} Christmas to Remember

Sometimes, creating Christmas memories isn’t very much fun.

Is it okay that I said that? Can I say that out loud? My friend jokingly refers to this season as the “hollerdays” but I think we all know there’s an element her cute description. Late nights of wrapping presents we couldn’t really afford and a strained bank account dot the landscape of my early years of marriage and mothering.

This year, I’ll celebrate 29 Christmases with my husband. It helps to put things into perspective. As the mother of seven and grandmother of two, I have a few Christmases to look back on. Growing up in the 80’s, Christmas was all about the gifts—but the funny thing is, I can only remember a few of the gifts that I received. Most of my favorite memories center around people: that time my grandpa took us out to see the lights and grandma put her special hot chocolate in “cold” Dixie cups so they melted all over the car… yes, most of my favorite memories are more “Griswold” than “Norman Rockwell…” and I’m glad.

I want something more for my precious family than a mad dash to open presents. My prayer for our family is that we look back on Christmas with a sense of grateful remembrance. I’ve lost both sets of grandparents to the arms of Jesus now—but the smell of hot Ovaltine and the sound of Carol of the Bells playing reminds me that I too am just here for a little while.

About twenty years ago, when I began to notice my grandparents beginning to decline, I decided to do something that would help my children remember how precious our time with loved ones is. I had a simple idea: to use letter-sized cardstock for placemats.

Each placemat had the name of a guest at our table. I carefully wrote one name on each placemat, and our five kids got in on the action by lightly decorating each placemat with small cutout stars, snowflakes of leaves, depending on the celebration.

After dinner, I put pens on the table and we passed the placemats to our right until every person had written a note to the owner of each placemat.

This season, if you come to my house, you will see our placemats from years ago displayed for everyone to see. Messages from my grandparents come to life—a note from my father-in-law reminds us of the wonderful legacy he left us, and the handwriting of a six-year old who is now a mother herself reminds us of how quickly time goes by.

People will always have priority over possessions in God’s economy. This Christmas, if you feel the financial “pinch” or you’re searching for a little more meaning to add to the celebration of the birth of Jesus, look at the faces of those who will gather around your table.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

Merry Christmas, friends.

Day Seven Giveaway

For the 12 Days of Christmas series, I am giving away my book, Becoming Mom Strong and the necklace pictured below!

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12 Days of Christmas Giveaways Rules

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3. One daily winner will be chosen from each day’s comments and all winners (including Grand Prize) will be announced on Wednesday, December 20.
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