Category Archives: Christmas

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Sip of Christmas Java – Plus My Wassail Recipe

Well, hey there! I wanted to share some love with you—plus, my favorite Christmas recipe.

So, I paused from munching on some Harry and David’s Dark Chocolate Moose Munch and sipping some Starbuck’s Christmas Blend to hang out with you for a bit. Thanks for pausing to join me for some Christmas java!

Jennifer drinking coffee image

I’ve been wrapping gifts—actually, I’ve stuffed them into the crumpled gift bags I saved from last year!

And, girl, I’m loving Christmas songs by Kathy Troccoli and Michael O’Brien while I breathe in the warm cinnamon fragrance of the wassail simmering in the crockpot. Sister, it tastes as good as it smells.

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A Prayer to Help Your Heart Prepare Him Room

I bet your world is full of holiday hustle about now, right? Christmas is just a few days away and your life may be crammed with parties and wrapping and baking and caroling and shopping and traveling… and… uh…. deep breath… and more wrapping and more baking and… okay, that’s enough!!

Prayer to prepare Him room blog image

I need to stop and breathe. Do you? I mean, I – we — need to stop and breathe in the beauty, the meaning, the radical impact of Christmas. So, I wrote a simple prayer to center me, and maybe it will help you, too.

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Why You Can Stop and Smell the Roses This Christmas

I’ve got an old mason jar tucked away in my jewelry chest. Some of my most precious possessions are inside.

Now, if you saw it, you may think the jar is full of dried up, tired, mismatched potpourri, all different shades of faded brown and gray — not very attractive! But I’ve been intentional about what I have put in this jar for the last 30 years.

To me, this old mason jar is beautiful.

Stop and smell the roses blog image

Within the antique blue glass are the petals from the first roses Phil gave me on Valentine’s Day when we were dating. Mixed in with those are rose petals from my bridal bouquet along with petals from the roses he gave me on our first wedding anniversary. They are joined by petals from the dozen roses he brought me when our first son was born.

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Noel Is There Somewhere

I had just unswaddled — is that a word?!?! — all the members of the nativity set. They were each wrapped in crinkled tissue paper… all crammed together in a box from the past year.   As I unpacked, I found a wise man’s foot jammed into a shepherd’s nose; Mary’s veiled head shoved under Joseph’s arm pit; a camel’s hoof wedged into a lamb’s mouth!

It was funny to think that this motley crew coming out of my Rubbermaid tub was about to stand tall on my mantel!

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