Deadline Extended...But Only Until Monday!

Are you enjoying our Advent Countdown?  If you haven't gotten your free copy, go get it right now.  You'll get 25 daily emails with ideas to celebrate Advent & Christmas.

http://budurl.com/ChristmasCelebration    

As the week comes to a close, I want to remind you that today was suppose to be  the last day to get our Advent & Christmas  Celebration package on sale.  I won't go into all the details, BUT... we had email complications and have EXTENDED the sale until Monday, Dec 7. You can grab it for $27.  After Monday, it goes back to it's regular price of $37.  

When you sign up for our Advent Countdown, you'll get all the details and website to save money & time. 

 http://budurl.com/ChristmasCelebration  

Remember you get our Star of Bethlehem Family Study Guide and can print out as many copies as you need for your immediate family.  Here's what one mom had to say about this study:  

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"The Study is Called Star of Bethlehem Bible Study Ebook. Not only is  there a fresh focus on God's AWESOME communication with us  throughout time, but you will learn more astronomy than YEARS of  study in a text! Kerry takes you deeply into the Word of God to dig  out what God has to say about stars, astronomy, astrology, and  neatest of all, how God used STARS to tell about His plan for salvation through Jesus Christ!" 

Cindy Rushton

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And my other favorite book at Christmas time is our Celebrations book: Celebrate Advent, Christmas & Epiphany with Family Traditions  You'll get hundreds of ideas to put Christ back into your holidays. Here's what another mom said...  ====================================

"Thank you again. I really appreciate you providing all of these  items for such a low amount of money. We don't have any  Christmas traditions YET!  . . .I am like a sponge trying to  suck it all in so I can give the best to my children  (Get them spiritually grounded). God Bless and thank you for sharing your knowledge,  experience, and ideas with us."

 Teresa Pinnick 

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If you've ever thought about investing in this package, today's the day!  Save yourself both money & time and enjoy your family this Christmas season.  

Blessings, 

Kerry  

http://budurl.com/ChristmasCelebration  

Advent Activities To Celebrate the Holiday Season

Advent is the time period from December 1st to December 24th that identifies the days and weeks that come before Christmas. An Advent calendar or wreath is used to track the season, which represents "coming" as a derivative of the Latin word adventus. This time period celebrates the period leading up to the birth of Christ.

One way that Advent is prepared for is by use of a device known as an Advent calendar. A simple device, in many cases actually created by children, this device allows the celebrants to track how far they are along in the Advent holiday period.

Advent candles are the most popular way that is used to track the days in the calendar. Since Advent has 24 days, the calendar has 24 candles. The family celebrating the holiday gathers together and lights one of the candles each day of the Advent season.

Advent calendars come in all shapes and sizes. They also come in a wide variety of formats and designs. One common design of an Advent calendar is in the form of a Christmas tree. This design has 24 candles attached to branches that make up the tree and are lit each day.

Another Advent calendar design is a candy holder calendar. The candy holder calendar includes 24 pockets that are filled with candy. As each day arrives in the holiday season, someone, usually a child, takes the candy out of the holder and eats it.

You can also track the holiday season by using an Advent wreath. An Advent wreath includes 4 candles to track the weeks of Advent. You light a candle on each week of Advent to track the progression of the holiday season.

There are many ways that Advent is celebrated by the religious community. Special services are held where the congregants gather together for prayer, worship and to be edified and encouraged. The religious leader may specifically focus on a message of encouragement to remind the congregation of the coming Christmas holiday and why we celebrate the birth of Christ. The church may also sing special hymns and spiritual songs that celebrate and promote the birth of Christ as well.

For families that are looking to celebrate the holiday season at home, there are a variety of Advent activities that can be engaged in. Families with kids may have an Advent calendar creation time where the family makes and designs a calendar together. Other families may have their kids engage in Advent-themed activities, such as playing with Advent toys or coloring in Advent coloring books.

The Advent holiday season is a time of reflection, celebration, and rededication for the millions of individuals that celebrate it worldwide. As you can see, there are a number of different ways that you can choose to celebrate the holiday. You can use the suggestions and examples that we give in this article or you can use them as a starting point to come up with your own ideas. The choice is completely up to you.

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Copyright Kerry Beck, 2009

You have permission to reprint this article as long as you don't make any changes and include the bio below.

Kerry Beck offers free Advent calendars with daily Christmas activities to prepare your family for Christmas. Your family will learn more about the origins of Christmas with some of her activities.

Do You Have Your Advent Calendar Yet?

I have been quite concerned with the way America is taking Christ out of Christmas.  I'm working on editing a video about what's really happening to Christmas these days.  I'll be sharing some of my findings next week, along with solutions you can use with your family this Christmas season.  Watch your email for more details.  

In the meantime, I already have our Advent Countdown up & running.  

What's an Advent Countdown?  

I've created 25 daily emails that give you ideas on how to put Christ back into your Christmas celebration as you prepare for Christmas.  The season of Advent is upon us, usually  beginning the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I want you to be ready so grab your Advent Countdown right here.  

http://budurl.com/christmascelebration  

When you get your Advent Countdown, you'll also be signed up for our "first to know" list about our Christmas webinar -   

"Rekindling the Spirit of Christmas &  Overcoming the Commercialism in America"  

Be sure to tell your friends & family to get their own copy of our Advent Countdown.  http://budurl.com/christmascelebration  

Have a wonderful week...have you seen some of the new ideas on my blog to celebrate Thanksgiving?  

Blessings,  

Kerry Beck  

P.S.  Enjoy celebrating Advent with your family this year... http://budurl.com/christmascelebration  

P.P.S.  Remember to whitelist my email so you get all the Advent Countdown ideas.

The Meaning of The 12 Days of Christmas

At Christmas time, people often sing the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but few know of the rich Christmas symbols behind the words of the song. Everybody thinks that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" were the days preceding the Christmas festival. In reality, Epiphany is the time of the Christian celebration that starts December 25 and lasts until January 6, a duration of 12 days. This marks the Church's celebration of Jesus as the Light of the world and remembers the pilgrimage of the three wise men.

Each of these twelve day of Christmas were considered a part of the Christmas celebration. Meant to demonstrate mercy and compassion, each day was taken into account by people showing selfless acts of giving and tender charity. In many cultures, giving gifts was not done solely on a single day, but rather, as the song goes, through the entire season of the 12 days of Christmas.

From 1558 until 1829, the Church in England was not allowed to practice their faith openly. During that era "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song was written as a catechism that could be sung in public without the risk of persecution. The words to the song are, in essence, an allegory. The words to the song have two levels of interpretation: the literal meaning and the figurative meaning known only to members of the Church.

Each word in the song represents something in a religious context. God is represented as "true love." "Me" symbolizes the members called upon to receive these gifts as a Christian. The partridge in a pear tree given on the first day as a symbol of Jesus Christ coming to save mankind.

Try and discover the meaning of the remaining days as you go over the words to the song:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

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Copyright Kerry Beck, 2009

You have permission to reprint this article as long as you don't make any changes and include the bio below.

Kerry Beck offers free advent calendars with daily Christmas activities to prepare your family for Christmas. Your family will discover more about Epiphany through some of her activities. You can get her FREE Advent Calendar Countdown at http://www.ChristmasCelebrationIdeas.com.

Start A Consulting Business And Build A Client Base With Autoresponders

To start a consulting business successfully, you need clients, and an autoresponder is one way to get new clients. Potential clients need to feel confident in your expertise, and this is one way to demonstrate it to them. You can use an autoresponder to create a mini-course around your topic of expertise. You offer the course as an incentive to website visitors in return for their email address. They provide their email and sign up on your autoresponder.

After selecting a topic of interest, divide the topic up into several sub-topics. Give anyone that visits your consulting website a 5 or 7 day course where you cover each sub-topic on each day of the course. Day 1 should consist of an introductory message letting the reader know what will come next. The key is to build interest, clearly communicate your points and offer information of value so that the reader feels that he or she is getting quality actionable information. If you use a mini-course to promote yourself as you start a consulting business, make sure on each day you include the lesson number, the title of the topic that day and your company website. End the day by talking about the next day.

The key to making your mini-course a successful one is making sure you provide valuable information to the readers. If the information lacks value, you will be associated with a lack of value and your readers will not become clients.

As far as how you create the course, there are several ways you can do this. I suggest that you create it in a word processing application or a text based program so that you can have a central location for all of your content. After creating it and reviewing it, the next step is to transfer the course over to your autoresponder application. You are done! Now the mini-course works on your behalf. Visitors to your website automatically begin to build rapport with you and have a greater level of trust in your abilities as an consultant while you continue to build your business. As a result, you will find that it will help you land more clients as you start a consulting business.

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Copyright Stephen Beck, 2009

You have permission to reprint this article as long as you don't make any changes and include the bio below.

Stephen Beck helps families learn how to start a consulting business. Go grab his three free videos at http://www.8WeeksToProfits.com so you can start your business today.

Online Business Opportunities And How To Promote Them Using Autoresponders

Promoting online business opportunities effectively is impossible if you are not using an autoresponder. If you are not getting a big bang for your buck out of them there is a good chance that you are missing some vital elements that need to be implemented in your campaign if you want to get the maximum benefit out of them.

One of the best ways to utilize the power of an autoresponder is to make sure you use a signature. A signature is a way to promote your business. It is like a mini business card for email. It goes on the bottom of your email and includes your personal and business contact information.

You should never send out an email as part of your autoresponder without a signature. The reason why is because if you do you are missing out on a golden opportunity to promote your business. Promotion is all about impressions and each email that promotes your online business opportunities creates an impression for your business. An autoresponder signature also increases the perceived professionalism of your business.

To format a signature effectively make sure it is four to six lines and does not exceed 70 characters per line. Also avoid the lines in your signature breaking up. You should include in your autoresponder your name, the company name, the email address of your business, your phone number as well as any other contact information you feel is appropriate.

The last step is to include a short message about the actual online business opportunities you are looking to market. When writing this message it is important to remember that people only care about the benefits you offer that focus on them. You should include something in the PS section of your email signature similar to the following.

You want to include the PS section at the end of your signature. Do not leave it out because some people skip down to it. Make it interesting.

Using the power of a good signature and an autoresponder will maximize the profits from your marketing efforts. They are not hard to set up. You can set one up today and start making more money from your online business opportunities.

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Copyright Stephen Beck, 2009

You have permission to reprint this article as long as you don't make any changes and include the bio below.

Stephen Beck helps families start a home internet business. Pick up his three free videos at http://www.8WeeksToProfits.com so you can start today.

Break The Code And Make Money On The Internet

It is not hard to make money on the internet if you know what you are doing. The challenge that many business owners fail to understand is how marketing online works. As a result, they run into a number of common difficulties faced by people looking to make money online for the first time.

The first challenge is a lack of a product or service to market. One of the best types of products to market is an information product because selling information works very well online.

The second area that a lot of people struggle with when they attempt to make money on the internet is exposure. Marketing outside of where you are located can be challenging. This is especially true if you are marketing a service that does not work well for a national audience. As an example, there is not a huge demand for an attorney outside of the city he or she practices in. You need to have people you can market to in order to make money.

Another challenge to making money online is getting in front of the right people. Qualifying people over the phone can be challenging. When I used to do remodeling I know it was difficult to determine over the phone if a potential client was really looking to get a project done or if I was wasting my time. When you invest time with people who are not interested and will not buy from you, it limits your ability to make money.

You also cannot make money on the internet when you fail to capture the attention of prospective customers. You are not going to hold the attention of a person through traditional advertising like ads and commercials. This is even truer if you are marketing a complicated product or service, which are almost impossible to market outside of face-to-face interactions. This is true for financial professionals, real estate professionals, medical professionals and legal professionals. Your services require one-on-one interactions, which are difficult to book online.

Finally, if you fail to create a sense of urgency in the mind of your prospect to purchase from you now, this limits your income. Providing a strong deadline or incentive to purchase immediately allows you to make more money faster and acquire more customers.

These are the most common reasons why people fail to make money online. Now that you understand these reasons if you can factor them into your marketing plan you can make money on the internet.

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Copyright Stephen Beck, 2009

You have permission to reprint this article as long as you don't make any changes and include the bio below.

Stephen Beck specializes in helping families work from home. Get his three free videos at http://www.8WeeksToProfits.com so your family can begin today.