Christmas With MUCH LESS Stress

You might say that I have lost my mind if I said that I have a stress free Christmas. Well, my sanity is still intact and we have had several Christmases that were stress-free in the past. I would like to tell you about the things I've learned to help reduce the stress during the Yuletide season.

AFTER WAKING IN THE MORNING, READ GODS WORD
Reading Gods Word seems to be the first obvious task every mom should do, but we sometimes forget that. I need to hear from Him & talk to Him everyday so I am invigorated to be the mom that He wants me to be. During mealtime, we do our family devotions and jumpstart our kids' day on the proper footing as well. Each of my children know that they are to read the Bible after waking up. There are times ,of course, that one of them needs a little more reminding than usual.

DON'T DO EVERY ACTIVITY THAT POPS UP
This seems quite evident, but it took me a decade to apply this. Actually, my marvelous husband helped me learn how to minimize the activity in our lives during the Christmas season. Back then, I wanted the children to experience everything available during Christmas. Instead, stress and nervousness crept up and finally would explode around Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. (I'm positive that none of you have gone through this before:-)

WHICH ACTIVITIES DO I SELECT
What works for us is to select 1 or 2 Christmas activities to go to outside our home. Other than those 2 activities, most time is spent in our home. This way I'm not harboring stress by bothering my husband to attend one more Christmas activity each week. He is still providing for our family and loving it. Therefore, he is much happier going to a few activities and enjoying being with family and friends at home.
We enjoy having other people in our home, so we take advantage on this. Our kids help in the cleaning and cooking, so our workload is minimized and I feel stressed when our visitors come.

HAVE FUN AT HOME
Back then, I would had more activities for us than we have time for. In our recent Thanksgiving weekend, I picked which activities will wait until next year.

REMEMBER: YOU CANT DO EVERY THING, EVERY YEAR.
I try to select activities that inspire my children to do something for others, instead of only thinking of themselves during the holiday season. One of the things we used to do is charity work by raising money for a missionary family. The kids would take orders for pumpkin bread loaves and chocolate chip cookies. After making and delivering them to their customers, they would pay me back for the ingredients and supplies used. The remaining money was their profit, which was used to buy useful gifts for a missionary family.
This season we will have other kids over to bake cookies so their moms can do some Christmas shopping, uninterrupted. A Christmas card stamping party for younger kids would be a great idea for an activity. Im still thinking it over how that will work.

I have some other ideas that are included in Advent, Christmas & Epiphany Celebration Ideas.

INCORPORATE CHRISTMAS IN YOUR SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
If you homeschool, drop some of your formal schoolwork and have fun during this season. There are myriad of ways of incorporating math, writing & reading concepts as we do baking, shopping and preparing for Christmas day. At home, we still read aloud each morning and then proceed to work on a Christmas activity. It may be handwork type crafts or other quiet easy to do activity.

DO YOU FEEL A TREMENDOUS NERVOUS STRAIN DURING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS?
Stop and take a moment right now and prioritize all the activities you and your family want to do. Pick only 1 or 2 activities that the entire family can enjoy and pass on the rest. Being at home with your family is enjoyable. Invite another family over to roast marshmallows and mingle with them. At the center of this Christmas activity, keep your hearts tuned to Jesus Christ. Without His love for us, we would not be celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

Kerry Beck offers free advent calendars with daily Christmas activities to prepare you for Christmas. You'll learn more about holiday traditions with some of the daily activities. You can get her FREE Advent Countdown at http://www.ChristmasCelebrationIdeas.com

--------------------
(c) Kerry Beck, 2008You have permission to reprint this article, as long as you don’t make any changes and include the bio below. Links in resource box must be clickable to reprint this article. If you can't click the link, please ask permission to reprint.

about Kerry Beck
Kerry Beck offers free advent calendars with daily Christmas activities to prepare you for Christmas. You'll learn more about Christmas around the world with some of the daily activities. You can receive her free Advent Countdown here: http://www.ChristmasCelebrationIdeas.com

Need Help With Your Christmas Cards???

Are you ready for the holidays? I’m trying to get organized so I don’t get overwhelmed. Can you relate??? LOL!!!

One thing that I start to feel guilty about is sending Christmas cards & letters.
…I wish I already had them done, but I don’t.
…I wish I had my pictures taken to insert into the cards, but I don’t.
…I wish I had a personalized message ready to send to each of my family & friends, but I don’t.

Why don’t I get busy & send them?

It’s too inconvenient. And it takes time.

Well, what if I could show you a way to AUTOMATE sending out PERSONALIZED cards very INEXPENSIVELY? Did you catch that? Three words that don’t occur in the same sentence very often!

And guess what?

There’s a way to get a recurring income while you stay in touch with your family, friends and customers…

How do I know about this system?
Last Friday I sent 111 Thanksgiving cards to Steve’s clients in about 30 minutes. I even wrote my own message on each card.

I know this year’s Christmas cards are going to be different for me and it can be different for you. I want to share this really cool way to get personalized Christmas cards sent with your family picture without even going to the post office. Really!!!

On Tuesday night, my friend Terry Wygal is going to share how it works. He told me I could invite up to 200 people to join us, so I wanted you to be the first to know. If you’re like me, you need all the help you can get to be organized during Christmas and this is just one way to do it.

Join us on Tuesday, November 25, 2008
You have to register so you can get into our private webinar. Here’s the link to register:
http://tinyurl.com/cccards

Actually, there is another reason you might want to listen to Terry on Tuesday night. Not only will he show you how to send personalized cards to your family & friends (from the comfort of your own home), he will be sharing a way you could make some Christmas money during this holiday season.

Why do I tell you this, if I normally talk to you about homeschooling?

-Because many, many families are looking for ways to teach their children entrepreneurial skills.
-Because many families want to find a way to bring Dad home.
-Because many families are looking for way to make ends meet during this economic downturn.

Go sign up for this very interesting webinar. You can watch & listen on your own computer. That means no long distance fees to hear what Terry shares.
http://tinyurl.com/cccards

See you tomorrow night,

Kerry Beck

ps. I’ll be putting some 2 minute videos on my blog (right here) to give you some ideas to prepare for the holidays. If you’re not already getting updates to our blog, sign up at the top of this page and you’ll get an email every time we put up a new video about Christmas

pps. One of those videos will be more info about sending holiday cards this year.
http://tinyurl.com/cccards

Christmas Eve Family Service Outlines Christ's Love

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we know what it means of having Christmas in our hearts, but do we glorify this fact and tell the world about it during Christmas time? It's time to softly challenge those who view Christmas as a time to make money while greed is in the hearts of many.

Share it. How about giving an unforgettable gift to a friend or fellow employee? Present them the gift of the Word. Tell the Christmas story, and make sure it's not "Twas the Night before Christmas". Brochure or leaflets recounting the birth of Jesus Christ can be bought from a Christian bookstore. Or, how about making your own booklet. A small token, such as a candle, can be included too. Envelope someone's tired heart with God's message.

Share His love. When a person invites you to their home, they want to share their blessings with you. When we integrate Christ into our very lives, his dwelling becomes our dwelling. Do something special by inviting a friend or fellow employee to church for an Advent worship or a family Christmas Eve church worship. They will not regret they came.

Share it. For people living in poverty, it gets a little bit harder during the Christmas holidays. There is an increase in suicides. Those in dire need, like the impoverished and destitute, become more helpless due to the worsening weather conditions of winter. God wants us to show His love, especially to these people.

People always welcome volunteers during Christmas time. Soup kitchens and food banks look for an extra hand to help serve hot meals and to hand out food boxes. The social service agency can provide particulars on families in the area that want to be "adopted" for Christmas. As a church body, everyone can pitch in and provide gifts and other necessary items. Churches can provide gifts for orphaned children. You may even see a need that has yet to be met, so be willing to begin your own program to provide it or just do it as a family.

The goal here is to let Christ's light shine to those around you. In his lifetime, Jesus saw each individual's need where they were. Someone whose been helped by you will be more likely to listen about the God you are serving.

Living Christ's life is a commitment to spread the Word and love to others. If Christ is always prioritized in your lives, your actions should be known by everyone. Being Christians, we have a chance to give to the world the true meaning of the Christmas season.

———————————–
© Kerry Beck, 2008
You have permission to reprint this article, as long as you don’t make any changes and include the bio below.
———————————–

Kerry Beck wants to give you a free advent calendars for your Christmas & Advent Celebration this year. a package also includes free ornament craft ideas you can use today.