Lesson from a Kids Christmas Party

As I continue on this journey of being thankful till Christmas, I am finding my view is changing on many things in my life. This last week we hosted a party for my daughter's school friends and then last night I helped throw a party at church for the 3rd-5th grade girls. When I walked away from last night's party I felt exhausted and thoughtful. I want to share a couple life changing moments.

1. Starbucks is not the true meaning of Christmas: We had the girls perform songs or plays they made up for our evenings entertainment. One of the plays was about what we so often focus on for the meaning of Christmas. Some of the answers were presents, Santa, time with family, and Starbucks in a red cup. Yes, they explained were all parts of Christmas but the true meaning was the sacrifice God made to send his son to the earth to have a relationship with us.

2. Lonely in a crowd: we had a large amount of girls come out in their pj's to celebrate at the party. It was wild and a blast. As my daughter and I got in the car she was close to tears. I was not sure the emotion behind the tears, so after some digging,she explained how hard it was to be a room full of so many girls and not have a single friend. My heart broke! I was reminded that we so often stay in our comfort zones and do not reach out in "party" situations to someone who may be alone. I will be more careful to be a better friend to all those I meet.

3. Chaos is my jam: I love large crowds, lots of noise and crazy activities. Last night I was reminded that sometimes God also asks us to find rest and peace in Him. I find it easier to be in noise and ignore the pain under the surface. I can keep busy to "forget" the problems around me. I need to take time to be in God's presence and find healing and joy! I need to leave the chaos behind and seek His peace!

4. Find your place: I started volunteering on Wednesday nights on accident. I went to a meeting I thought was for new parents and it ended up being a volunteer meeting where I was now in a classroom with 2nd grade girls. I am not qualified to teach girls, to lead them or to guide them...I do it despite my shortcoming. And to be clear, I love every minute and every girl! They are the highlight of me week and they bring me joy to hear their stories. I cherish every giggle, song and tear. If you feel unqualified to step into a leadership role in a kid's life - you are in the perfect place to do so! Trust me you will not regret the decision!

This blog is a bit scattered but to be honest my life is completely scattered. I am learning to live in the moment and take time to focus on the true meaning of this season. My prayer for you (and myself) is that you find your place in 2018, find God's peace, and that you take time to see all that you can be grateful for in your life!

Derailed by Cookies

Thanksgiving till Christmas is my motto this season. I am trying to make life simpler, live in the moment and finding moments of gratefulness every day.

As the day of Christmas gets closer, the list seems to get bigger and more out of control. I am taking steps simplify shopping and gift giving. Yet for some reason, cookies have taken me to a place of chaos. Let me tell you how cookies have brought me to my knees...

I have been "breezy" this season with almost everything. I have enjoyed time I would normally be running around trying to make Christmas perfect, sitting on the couch reading Christmas stories to my daughter. Then I remembered a "must" for Christmas the cookies! Now to explain the stress of this seemingly stress free task, I must give you a rare glimpse into my life...

1. My family is gluten free - yes - no all purpose flour in our home, which means cookies are harder to make and less tasty (more crumbly). This leads to several problems: you can not go out and buy cookies and make them festive, you can not join a cookie exchange to get variety, or even use your grandma's recipes. 

2. I normally make dozens of kinds of cookies/bars. We have 3 people in this house and I bake like I am feeding a small country. I know this is my own expectation I have placed on myself since my grandma would bake dozens of cookies and mail them out to people -  which I have never done I still feel the need make tons!

3. Time and money - cookies need lots of both. Since I never seem to find the items I need for cookies I start fresh every year and find I now have 3 when I get home from the store. Stores are full of choices, crowds and high prices. The store is the reason for this blog!

Now the holiday meltdown...I was in a rush trying to fit too may things into my day off. Kevin and I made plans for me to be home at 4 pm, eat dinner and make cookies as a family to help with the stress.

Fast forward a crazy day to Target at 3 pm, I have not yet gotten groceries for the week or anything for baking in 1 hour, I am freaking out.(that may be a kind way to say what happened). I was at a new Target who seemed to have a rush on EVERYTHING I needed to make this tradition a reality. I was honestly loosing my mind, I felt like the biggest failure as I left the parking lot with half of the ingredients I needed, over priced GF flour, and only oranges for food for the week. Yes, tears fell on my way home knowing no baking was going to happen and I was 30 minutes late. I arrived home to have my husband so kindly bring in the bags and ask where are the pizzas for dinner? Oh my I even forgot the pizzas?! As the thought of everything I did not do that day started to overwhelm me, I looked at my daughter, her smile reminded me she did not care about the amount of cookies we baked, just that she wanted to be with her mom.

It was a humbling moment. I had stressed, cried and got upset over baking cookies to miss the bigger picture - making memories with my family! I took a breathe and we had a blast making Christmas Rice Krispie treats. 

My friends I once again was reminded to keep things simple, to find a silver lining and to enjoy every moment God gives us.

Challenge Accepted

A couple days before Thanksgiving I wrote a blog on the craziness of this season. I decided to try to stay in the spirit of Thanksgiving by slowing down and finding things to be thankful for every day.

Our Thanksgiving was very nice and calm...then the bottom fell out. I was having a lovely Sunday  and about 2 pm I had a kidney stone attack, the pain was severe. I have kidney stones often but this one was yucky. As I was standing over the sink vomiting from the extreme pain, I found myself praying and being grateful for this kind of pain only happens rarely.

Though out this past week not everything has gone well. Stress creeps in and takes away my thankful attitude. I have got lost in emotional toll this season can cause, yet I live in grace knowing I can start fresh the minute I remember my Thanksgiving till Christmas challenge.

All that to say, after arguably the worst week of my life, I learned a very life changing thing. Thankfulness produces Joy! I found myself emotional and physically exhausted, yet in the midst of this craziness I remained able to find something to be grateful for everyday. As I struggled to find a silver lining in life, when I found something to be grateful for in my life, I saw something to be joyful about, God has supplied so much to be thankful for and His love, grace and joy is some of the many.

Here is my list of things I have found this week to be grateful for:

~Gluten free lifestyle - this has brought heal to my daughter!
~Dinner with friends - refreshing time can help heal
~Doctors - They can give clarity
~Advent Calendars - fun to have something small to look forward to everyday
~Christmas ornaments - they remind me of fun times in my past and how wonderful my life has been!
~Free santa - able to do something traditional but not have to pay lots to get a good pic
~Simple gifts - this year I made a decision to not make gifts for teacher, I bought them!!!

As my journey continues with looking for ways to keep Thanksgiving till Christmas, I challenge you to join me. Let's find our Joy with God's help this Christmas season.