Greats Posts Of Christmases Past

I can hardly believe that it’s already December and the Christmas Season is fast approaching. Even though we add new posts almost daily, I wanted to take a quick minute to share with you some of the great posts on Moms In A Blog from past Christmases.

Yummy Recipes & Meal Planning

Christmas Meal Plan – Do You Have One Yet?

Recipe For Christmas Joy

Holiday Quick Loaves

Christmas Tree Shaped Appetizers

Easy No Bake Christmas Deserts

Christmas Morning Breakfasts

Lick The Bowl Good Fudge

Holiday Appetizers

Snowball Candy

Christmas Decorating Ideas

Easy, Affordable Christmas Decorating Ideas

Keeping The Kiddos Busy

Kids Holiday Cookie Party

Christmas Craft Projects for Kids

Christmas Activities to Keep The Kids Busy

Educational Christmas Activities for Children

Gift Ideas

Stocking Stuffer Gift Ideas for Teen Girls

The Re-Gift Exchange

Green Holiday Gifts

Five Best Ever Christmas Books for Young Children

Money Saving Tips

Sylvia’s Money Saving Tips for Christmas

Lisa’s Money Saving Christmas Tip

Bible Based Living Favorites

The Expectation of Christmas

All I Want For Christmas

Carol of the Bells

The Christmas Song

The Christmas Shoes

O Holy Night

Silent Night

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Writing the Perfect Christmas Letter

I don’t know about you, but I always look forward to receiving Christmas letters from family and friends during the holiday season. Often it is the only news you receive from some of them throughout the year.

I started sending out our family Christmas letter the year after I got married. Some adult children are content to share their family news in a letter from their parents, but I wanted to start our own family tradition with our own annual Christmas letter.

Sitting down to write a letter can be an intimidating task. It’s easy to put off until the last minute if you’re overwhelmed with the idea of trying to figure out what to say. There are several things to take into consideration when writing your own family Christmas letter.

Some people get very creative with their Christmas letters. There are a variety of formats to choose from. You can buy holiday printer paper at any office supply store. Just print out your letter on the decorated paper, and you’re all set to go. If you’re printing out a lot of letters and don’t want to spend as much on the paper, you can also just choose colored paper with no design…red or green paper look festive all on their own with your letter printed on them. You can also copy your letter on to the paper with a copy machine instead of printing each one on your printer. If you are into rubber stamping, you could also hand-decorate your letters after you print them.

Or, you can go paper-less! You can email your letter to family and friends if they have Internet access. This would allow you to insert pictures into your letter and not worry about having to print them. Some families have web sites set up to post family pictures and happenings. This would also be a great place to post your Christmas letter for all to see.

So what should you write in your letter? Keeping things short and to the point is definitely a fine art. I try to keep my letters to a page, if possible, a page and a half at the most. It also depends on how large your family is. The point is not to lose the reader’s interest with too many pages to read.

I start my letters out with a greeting, and then a paragraph or two of major family happenings, like births, deaths, weddings, etc. This is also a good place to briefly describe any favorite family vacations for the year. I then write a short paragraph about each family member to get everyone up to date about who just got their driver’s license, braces on or off, started their first job, etc. I just try to hit on the major milestones that people would be interested in knowing about.

You’ll find that once you sit down to start your letter that the words will just start flowing and you’ll be done with it in no time. Who knows better what happened in your family this year than you? It’s also a good idea to let someone else read it before you send it out to make sure you got your facts straight. Especially about your kids! That could definitely come back to haunt you later.

Try to send your letters and cards out during the first week of December. I love getting letters and cards at the beginning of the season. Hearing from family and friends is a great way to get into the holiday spirit, and once you have those letters out the door your time is freed up for other important tasks.

Make sure you keep a copy of your Christmas letter for yourself. I place a copy of mine in a binder in which I keep all of the holiday letters I receive. Someday this will be a wonderful keepsake for my children and grandchildren.

Article by:

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What’s for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, organizing tips, home decorating, crafts, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at www.creativehomemaking.com.

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Silent Night

One of my favorite things about the season of Christmas are the carols that we sing.

Each Christmas Eve we would sing Silent Night at the midnight service, with the lights out and candles lit. There was always a feeling in the air that I could not describe. Reverence, peace, hope, love, all those feelings washed over me as we sung the lyrics of this carol. Ironically, my son Matthew loves this song too. My thought is for the same reasons…the feeling of hope and peace the falls over him.

Silent night, Holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, Holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia
Christ, the Savior is born
Christ, the Savior is born

Silent night, Holy night
Son of God, Love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth

This carol was heard for the first time in a village church in Orbendorf, Austria. Rumor has it that the village church pastored by Josef Mohr was without their organ for the upcoming Christmas season. Mohr penned the words to the poem after being inspired during an evening walk. Shortly after writing the poem, he took the words to friend and musician/schoolteacher Franz Gruvber, who composed a guitar arrangement to be played with the song at Christmas Eve mass.

A master organ builder and repairman, came to the church to help with the repairs, and heard the carol. Impressed with the song, he took the composition and had two traveling singing groupa the Strassers and the Rainer family perform the song during their tours. Eventually the Rainer family performed the song before royalty and other great musicians of their time, and the carol grew in popularity and recognition.

I can only imagine standing in the village church during that Christmas Mass and hearing this song for the first time, sung with love, hope, and expectation of the season that was at hand. The hope of a mother holding a baby in swaddling cloth, a baby that would inspire peace and unity among mankind. The majesty and joy of the angels and shepherds as they witness the birth of the Christ child, the promise that has been testified to for years by the prophets. The feeling on earth as the Redeemer is born, and the promise of grace is about to be fulfilled.

That one night. That silent night promising hope. That holy night promising God’s grace is at hand. Revel in the peace and hope of the season today.

Silent Night – Aaron Neville – Linda Ronstadt

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Connect By Giving

As a mom, you want to connect with your children, you want to be able to relate to them, and for them to relate to you.  A great way to connect especially during the holidays is through giving.  Whether you’re giving to the needy, giving to those near or far, such as to members of the military, or to children around the world through programs such as Operation Christmas Child, there are many ways to give.  The act of giving is one that will leave you feeling better than you ever imagined and you’ll also be able to feel a connection with your own child as you both share in the “joy of giving”.

The act of getting togehter the gift in itself will give you and your child meaningful time together that will allow you to connect in a meaningful and powerful way.  Set up a time to make your “shopping trip” to stuff your box or pick out the perfect toy for a child or items for a soldier.  Talk with them about the act of giving and help them to understand its importance.  All the while you’ll be strengthening your own relationship with each other and learning to reach out to others too.

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