3 December 2013
Photos of Bucky in full finery were requested — I aim to please.
Hello, friends! Some of you may know that John and I are BIG fans of Adam Hamilton. We worship online with Church of the Resurrection every Sunday in addition to our local church, and we never cease to learn from and be inspired by his messages. Last year, I was moved to post 25 acts of kindness after listening to one of his sermons. (Here’s the list — we’ll be doing some of these this year, and I still think it’s a GREAT way to shine a light outward this season!)
Last year, COR’s Christmas season campaign encouraged members to give a Christmas Eve offering equal to the amount they spent on Christmas gifts. John and I were inspired by the boldness of this challenge, and ended up making a larger-than-anticipated offering ourselves. (Most churches give away their Christmas Eve offering to a particular cause — for example, COR splits theirs between building wells in Africa and working with low-income schools in Kansas City, and our church gives it to one of our main missions, Zoe.) We eagerly awaited the results of COR’s offering, knowing it was going to be exciting, but we were still blown away when they reported raising $1.2 million in one night — far surpassing the previous year’s amount of $650k. I actually cried when they announced it, I was so moved. Isn’t it amazing what God’s people can do when they lean into what He is calling them to?
We immediately set the goal of giving away as much as we spent on Christmas gifts in 2013 (in addition to our normal pledge). There are so many ways to be generous, selfless, and un-materialistic at Christmas, but there are a few reasons why I particularly love this way:
1) It infuses the spirit of Christmas back into our giving, and gifting. This way, they’re not two separate things — they’re interconnected. As we shop and plan, we keep in mind that we have three ways to meet our goal: we can either a) reduce the amount we spend on gifts, b) increase the amount we give, or c) do a little of both. It reminds us that there are trade-offs for every choice we make with our money.
2) It doesn’t require us to stop giving gifts. I LOVE giving gifts! I love selecting things the people I love will love, something that will make their lives a little happier or prettier or easier. I love supporting small businesses, and making handmade goodies, and I also LOVE wrapping presents.
3. It allows us to tell a new story. Signing on for this might require you to make some changes in the way you’ve traditionally given gifts — I know it did for us — which provides an opportunity to explain why you’re making said changes. We’re planning to include a little card with our gifts that says something along the lines of, “This is only half of your present! We also made a donation in your honor to help empower kids in Africa.” What story are you telling with your life? I want my story to be about generosity. I want it to spread light in the world. I want it to be about something much larger than ME.
4) It’s legitimately exciting! For me, it was an almost giddy feeling to drop that check in the offering plate on Christmas Eve. There’s something exciting about being “counter-cultural” and saying YES to what matters most in a tangible way. I believe God’s messengers are everywhere, in everyone… in you and in me. He’s just waiting for us to step into our role, and there’s nothing more exciting than making a small move in that direction.
And then there’s this:
Christmas starts with the poor and the nobodies. I think part of the reason God sent the angels to the shepherds first is because they didn’t have anything to celebrate. Let’s start with them. Let’s invite them to Christmas. We can celebrate every day if we want, and we have lots of reasons to celebrate. But to celebrate Christmas the way God celebrates it, we must start with the poor and the nobodies.
(That’s from Adam. See why we like him?)
In what ways are you planning to make light shine in the darkness for someone else this season? Would you consider joining in this challenge? Whether or not you think you can do it this year, I would love to hear your thoughts!
P.S. It turns out that after Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, today has been termed Giving Tuesday. Appropriate, no?
28 November 2013
John and I are prepping and eating Thanksgiving dinner solo today, which we’re actually kind of excited about. We LOVE celebrating with family, but for various reasons (mostly because of John’s work schedule and my older sister’s inability to travel — baby niece or nephew is coming any day now!!), it didn’t happen this year. It’s been a really busy few weeks (months, actually), and so we are relishing in a day or two to relax, eat delicious food, address Christmas cards, listen to our favorite Christmas music, and begin getting our decorations sorted out. I wish the same for all of you, no matter where or with whom you’re celebrating!
karinflowerstylelove
P.S. I am thankful for you all — for your encouragement, your emails, and for coming to check in day after day. Much love!!
4 November 2013
THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! Congratulations to our randomly-selected winner, RachelC!
Y’all know I’m the last person to breeze right past Thanksgiving on the way to Christmas (I believe my opinions on appropriate holiday music start times are well-documented). However, it is definitely true that preparing in advance makes the season itself so much more enjoyable… which is why Christmas cards have been on my mind! I LOVED sending out our first photo cards last year, and am looking forward to doing so again. Sadly, I don’t think it’s socially acceptable to use another wedding photo, so 2013 will have a hard time beating 2012. But I’m willing to give it a try! We are of course using Minted again, and here are the top five designs we’re considering:
We’re still deciding on a photo, but big thanks to our friends Graham and Meredith for these happy options!
1. Hand-Painted Branches | 2. Merry Scriptmas | 3. A Wonderful Life | 4. Merry and Bright Script | 5. Classic Merry
As usual, I’m loving the script and hand-lettered options! This year, I especially appreciated the ability to move almost every design element around in Minted’s software — it was so helpful when working with our photos. They also have some amazing foil-pressed options (I love this one, but it wasn’t a good fit with our photos) and lots of die-cut shapes.
Now for the extra-fun part: I have a $200 Minted gift certificate to give away!! To enter, just comment below with either your favorite option from our Christmas card finalists, or the Minted design you’d most like to order for your family! (Or both!) I’ll randomly choose a winner next Monday!
Minted has graciously gifted us our Christmas cards, but I chose to write this post, and the opinions are my own! I have loved everything about Minted — especially their crowd-sourced designs — for many years, and I love sharing what they’re up to with y’all.
1 November 2013
Whew!! October sure ended with a bang — just this week we hosted two friends overnight, had two more friends over for dinner, attended small group, had five more friends over for pumpkin carving and soup, and then participated in what was basically a neighborhood block party last night for Halloween. We had 109 trick or treaters!!
I am excited for November — we have much to be grateful for, not the least of which is my all-time favorite meal at the end of the month :)
How did I do on my October goals? Let’s see…
— Refinish dining room table. So. I did not complete this goal. However, I did make progress! We decided to buy a hand sander instead of rent one. I thought they’d have the one we wanted at our local store, but since we had to order it online, I missed the day I had set aside to work on this project. The sander is now in my possession, and I’m planning to tackle this to do this weekend!
— Volunteer at our church’s ham biscuit booth at the State Fair. Check! So fun.
— Deck out our mantel and front steps with fall goodness. Check! It’s hard to keep mums alive.
— Photograph and post about how + why I use my planner. Let’s call this one tabled. And hold me to it — I’m planning a series of three posts for the week of November 11th.
— Finalize and print our household maintenance tracker. Check! This will be covered in the planner posts, too.
On to November!
— Refinish dining room table :)
— Prepare for Christmas — specifically our cards and our gift giving. More about both of these topics soon.
— Organize our miscellaneous paperwork (it’s kind of been a mess since our move)
— Plan a Thanksgiving celebration a deux — John and I will be on our own for the first time!
I would love to hear what you all have planned for this month!