Hello again, Living My MoMent Moms! I hope you are enjoying the hustle and bustle of the season! Today, I just want to share with you an excerpt from one of the books I’ve written called “31 Family Devotions For Christmas.”
“As many of you do, I LOVE Christmas! From the Thanksgiving Day Parade all the way to New Year’s Day, I love everything about the Christmas Season! To me, Christmas isn’t just one day to prepare for, and it’s certainly not “just for children” as we so often hear. Christmas is an entire season of hope and love and joy! As Christians, we should be living this out every day of the year. However, we often get caught up in the hustle and bustle and before you know it Christmas is over and we end up stressed and tired with a pile of bills hanging over our heads.
Many of us are guilty of trying too hard to plan “The perfect Christmas!” This year, why not strive to spend more time together as a family reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas rather than worry over organizing a flawless holiday?”
Here are a few tips and ideas from my book to help you “de-stress” and focus on the true meaning of Christmas this season:
It’s always wise to buy a few extra gifts just in case you happen to forget someone or someone unexpectedly gives you a gift. Here are some impromptu gift ideas to keep handy: a cookie cutter with your favorite recipe attached, mugs filled with candy, or homemade fudge refrigerated and wrapped.
Can’t stand the thought of all that wrapping paper being thrown away after packages are opened? Have the kids trace cookie cutters and cut out shapes from the used wrapping paper. You can use the cutouts for scrapbooks and Christmas cards for next year.
Prepare for a relaxing evening at home. Eat dinner together and turn off the TV. Then bring out all the old family photo albums and relive some of the best memories you have made as a family. Take turns telling stories about the pictures and events. Then have everyone vote on the top five events in the life of your family so far.
A few more of my favorite Holiday Recipes:
Chocolate Pizza for Christmas
1 roll of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
½ cup of creamy or crunchy peanut butter
½ 12 oz package of milk chocolate chips
3 of your favorite candy bars
1 package m & m’s
Christmas sprinkles
Press refrigerated cookie dough in a round pizza pan. Bake as directed on package or until almost done in the middle, but not too brown. Let sit for 2 minutes. Spread peanut butter and chocolate chips on top. (let the peanut butter and chips sit on top of warm “pizza crust” for a few minutes until they start to melt to make spreading easier) Chop up your favorite candy bars and decorate the “pizza” with these, the m&m’s and Christmas sprinkles!
Christmas Morning Casserole
2 packages of refrigerated crescent rolls
2 tablespoons butter
8 eggs
½ cup mushrooms
1 small onion
1 green pepper
1 package of sausage links
2 cups cheddar cheese
Preheat oven according to crescent roll package directions. Press crescent rolls into a 9×12 pan, pressing halfway up the sides. Melt butter in a saucepan. Sautee onions, green peppers and mushrooms in butter. Set aside. In that same saucepan, scramble the eggs. Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, brown sausage links in a saucepan. Cool. Cut into small pieces. Layer eggs, mushrooms, onions, peppers, sausage and cheese on top of crescent roll crust. Bake as directed on crescent roll package directions, or until done.
It’s our family tradition to serve this with hot chocolate and blueberry muffins on Christmas morning!
Excerpts taken from 31 Family Devotions for Christmas by MariLee Parrish ©Barbour Publishing
And don’t forget to stop on over TODAY and any day from November 15th-December 15th during our Online Christmas Boutique! You’ll be supporting a Work-From-Home Mom. You’ll find $5, $10, $20 gifts and stocking stuffers. The best part? Shipping is INCLUDED! www.reallyworkingfromhome.com
*Also, check them out on other social networks:
-Facebook: MariLee W Parrish
-Twitter: MariLeeParrish
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