White Christmas

No, we didn't have one. But we watch the movie year round. One of the great songs in that movie says, "When your worried and you can't sleep, just count your blessing instead of sheep. And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings."

This is Hollywood's way of saying what God's word says.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
   and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
   and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
   and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
   I will be joyful in God my Savior.
 ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
   he enables me to tread on the heights.

This has been a hard Christmas for me. I have had some tough stuff to deal with. Yet, when I sit down to think about my life. There are FAR more good things than bad in it. Sometimes it is hard to see past the one, two, three really awful things going on. While those things are legitimate, it is easy to let them overcome the good in our world.

This is true especially for us Americans who live better (materially) than most of the world. When we strip away all of the glitter, extras and unnecessary things, we have what really matters, our blessings, not our stuff.

My life may be falling apart but I am secure in more ways than I am not. It is currently 2:30 pm. If I were to sit down, uninterrupted, and write all of the ways I am blessed, I would surely be writing until evening and could easily fall asleep doing it.

When you are stressed, about worthwhile things or not, remember that your blessings will always be greater than your current strife. In some cases, you may HAVE to stay awake listing your blessings because the junk in your world is significant and hard. NEVERTHELESS, God is with you and your blessings are numerous.

The Information Age

I am writing this post from Daddy Don's (my step dad) computer. I have the day off from being a mommy so I am over at my mom's house wrapping Christmas gifts.

All alone in a quite house with a methodical chore in front of me gave me time to let my mind wander and thing about the most random stuff.

As I was making a bow for one of the packages, I looked at my finished pile and down at my bow and realized something. I am my mother...at least when it comes to wrapping gifts.

My mom has a knack for wrapping beautiful gifts. As a chick, I really appreciate her pretty packages. When I have time, resources and energy, I love to wrap a pretty box too. I got it from her.

However, in making my bow I realized that I wrap packages in a few simple but consistent ways. The exact ways my mom does. I flashed back to the time when she taught me to make a multi-looped bow. I don't remember the occasion, the gift, or the wrap. I do remember, watching her hands and studying what she did.

If you have ever received a gift wrapped by me, you have received a gift wrapped by Laurie. I do it just like my mama.

Now, why did I title this post The Information Age you ask? Well, I was thinking about my girls and how I look forward to teaching them how to wrap pretty packages (if, Lord willing, they are into it) and pass on the bow making abilities. Then I realized, when I was a kid, things were much simpler. We used encyclopedias or went to the library or took a class to get information. Kids in my generation learned this kind of day to day "skill" from the adults in our world. That is what we had and we didn't know any different.

Today, you can Google, Pinterest, Youtube or Blogher to find tutorials, videos, etc on how to wrap gifts, make bows and do all kinds of fabulous things with gifts. Heck, you can probably learn to make your own paper and weave your own ribbon if you wanted to. My point being that, my girls, should a love of gift wrapping come upon them, will have resources beyond their needs to learn how.

As I write this, other worldly, spiritual and relational extrapolations come to mind. To keep it simple, I am gonna be teaching my girls how to make bows before they get the urge to search the World Wide Web! They may find Martha's way too but at least I got in there first! How random and competitive of me?!

REWINED

I would like to tell you about something super cool. When I was visiting Charleston, SC this summer, I happened upon this retailer. I thought it was genius.

Established in 2009, this company works with local retailers and collects their used champagne bottles. The bottles are then cut down and filled with premium soy wax candles. The scents are all wine flavors! I bought Sangria but they had Chardonnay, Merlot, Champagne...the list goes on.

I would not consider being "Green" a trait I have but I do appreciate how creative and resourceful this idea is. Plus, they texted me my receipt and that was just too cool.

Check them out. It would be a really great gift for the holidays and not the same ol' same ol' candle. Just a thought!

http://www.rewinedcandles.com/