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!
Heidi St. John has been married to her husband Jay since 1989. Together they have seven children and two grandsons! The St. John’s children range in age from early elementary school to adult. They have homeschooled the kids all the way through high school.**********************
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I believe God gave us tradition to be a gift. Something we can’t buy but we cherish in our hearts the longer time passes by. Your placemat tradition is lovely. Thanks for sharing your heart with us.
This is such a wonderful idea. As I am establishing traditions with my young sons, this is certainly one to consider! My family has decided to really focus on spending time on each other and not money this year. Thank you for the ideas!
BeAuTiFuL idea. One year I had a white construction oaper laid out as the table cloth with different colored markers so all our family could write messages on it. Some wrote poems or funny stories and kids would doodle…I then had it framed. Using the placemats is awesome because it’s more personal and everyone is able to keep and treasure their own. Thank you for the opportunity to win your book sounds like an extraordinary book.
Love this!
?? love the placemat idea ??
I love the place mat idea. Such a special keepsake.
I love this place mat idea!
I have to admit that I love to give gifts but ii also love to share memories and stories of God’s faithfulness.
So true. Christmas was never about the material gifts. It’s easy to forget that but such a blessing when we don’t and focus on our loved ones. Thanks for this reminder.
Always a good idea to let family know how much they are loved.
I love the idea 0f the personalized placemats . Another idea that we did for my moms birthday was have everyone draw their hands on a plane white table cloth and write a message to her, it meant so much to her. She passed away Nov. 24th and we put this over her lap so all her kids, grandkids and great
grandkids would continue to cover her with love.
What a wonderful idea with the placemats! With so many in our family now gone, I can only imagine how precious those messages would be!
Love the placemat idea. This is the first Christmas since my husband went home to heaven and my daughter is having a hard time. Will spend the holiday with her and her family. At Thanksgiving, she lit a candle in his honor and had it sitting in the middle of the table.
I love the placemat idea!
I LOVE this placement idea! I just might have card stock on my table for Christmas dinner! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Love this idea!
We always go look at the lights and listen to Christmas music.
What a beautiful tradition!
I love that idea! Placemats is a great one!
I love the idea of writing on placemats! What fun and what memories. I’m going to suggest this to my daughter for this year.
Memories are all we have left after a loved on moves on. Your simple idea of the placements is lovely and one I may include this year!
What a lovely idea! It would be good for other occasions as well. A great keepsake.
With a grown family…now a growing family with addition of daughter in laws…& 1 grandson I’m looking for ways to make our Christmas memories within their homes as well as our….thank you for the idea! And the reminder that memories are our lasting gift.
I am so blessed for all the people in my life!!
Thank you, Heidi, for writing this book!