Happy New Year! (Tradition!)

What traditions help you ring in the New Year? At Boom Travel and Wellness Julie wrote up a short list of some interesting celebrations around the globe involving food. Here's to a wonderful 2023!

Busy Day and Busy Week Ahead

Just a quick blog entry this morning before I head out. Like the blogs of old when it was more of an online diary! (Which I enjoy, and why a lot of my posts are random and cover a variety of topics.)

So what's in store for today?

Image by Jeff Jacobs at Pixabay.

First, I'll be heading to our church building just before noon for a "Drive-Thru Christmas" event where we will be collecting items for a local pregnancy center. 

Baby clothes, diapers, bottles, that kind of thing. We'll be handing out thank you gift bags / stocking stuffers as well. 

The organization we support then distributes these resources to those in need throughout the year. It's a great ministry. 

Pro-lifers, by the way, pretty much always care for moms, and dads, and babies for months - even years - after birth. Anyone who tells you different is schilling for the pro-death industry. 

Big bucks in abortion, so corrupt politicians and their cronies have a vested interest in smearing those of us who believe in giving women and families a choice to give birth to and support their babies. 

Loving God will result in loving our neighbors in need, which includes the unborn.

Plus, at Christmas time, when we celebrate the birth of our Savior, think about this. If Mary's friends all suggested she 'terminate the pregnancy', welp, there goes the promise of peace on earth.

(insert pregnant pause...get it?)

Anyway, after the event at church, we'll get ready for a birthday dinner. Heading to an adult child of ours for a meal and presents later this evening. Tough on those with birthdays so near Christmas. For many, the occasion is skipped altogether or simply melded into a holiday gathering. 

Merry Christmas and, by the way, happy birthday.

So we try to separate them out and make the occasion special in and of itself. 

Then tomorrow, of course, we'll celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Advent and light the final candle of the Advent wreath. Do you have any church, ministry, or holiday traditions that you are gearing up for this final sprint week before the main event? 

~*~

"Tip a buck, get a book."

(via PayPal.Me - an e-book from Tule Fog Press.) 

This blog is reader supported. Thank you for your support!

Christmas Gift Exchange

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay.

Past few years, the seven of us have done an Elfster gift exchange. We all put up our wishlists at this website; I click the random Secret Santa generator; and then everyone is notified who they are to buy for this Christmas.

It's worked in the past, but now we've sort of reached the point where we've all bought gifts for each other and, since we're all adults, we've kind of run out of gift ideas.

Is this a problem in your household? Maybe not a problem. Maybe it's a blessing. We have everything we want, need, or could imagine. We live in the most prosperous era of world history, in the most affluential part of the world...

Stuff just doesn't mean much to me anymore.

Oh, I'd for sure use a gift card to a good steakhouse or some coffee place that shall not be named. But actual gift items? Umm, let me think. Nope. Don't need anything.

Even books. Yikes, am I actually saying that? I'm realizing that my bookshelves just don't hold the appeal they once did. I can't keep collecting things forever. Mayvbe it's post-mid-life-crisis thinking, but I'm starting to realize that you can't take it with you. Hunh!

So we're starting to downsize instead. I'm selling books. We're giving away clothes. We've got items for sale on Nextdoor and Facebook. Which gets me thinking. If you're still buying Christmas items for your family, give me a call. I might have something for you to purchase!

What are some of your gift-exchange traditions? Any annual holiday routines your still enjoy? Comment below. And Merry Christmas!

~*~

"Tip a buck, get a book."

(via PayPal.Me - an e-book from Tule Fog Press.) 

This blog is reader supported. Thank you for your support!