The Inspired Room

Can you believe Christmas is next week? It has been a wild week for us here with the weather, we’ve been pretty much stuck inside the whole week. Which was fine, we have plenty to do around here! No school for the kids and plenty of hot chocolate to keep us warm!

Thanks to everyone asking how the move and the church plans are coming…things are coming together but we still feel so far behind! A lot will be happening over the next few weeks, so thanks for all of your support, friendship, prayers and encouragement! I’ll be able to share more in the days to come. Still a lot of details to work out before we leave!

Hey, are you all coming to BlissDom in February? I would love to meet you all! I’ll be looking forward to a little break after moving, and hanging out with all of you in Nashville would be so fun!

Once again it is time for Mr. Linky! You can link up to your holiday posts (please, no home pages and no pages that have nothing to do with the holidays). And if you want to do a 20 Little Things post, or do one in the next few days, this would be a great place to link it! Loving all the inspiration you share each week, so thanks for being a part of Holiday Linky Fridays!

Photo: Williams Sonoma

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You know how I love lists! Why? Because they slow me down and refocus my attention on all that is special in life. I love making my 20 Little Things lists because it takes the pressure off of being all fancy with amazing BIG ideas and BIG accomplishments.

That is the beauty of the little things in life. They are little. Manageable. Tiny moments. Easy to enjoy, but even easier to miss if we don’t take the time to notice. At first when I set out to write list of things to treasure, I am certain I don’t have 20 Little Things to Treasure about this season. But the wonder of these lists is I find out I have so much more to treasure than I even realize.

Go ahead, make your list! It is becoming a tradition. If you do make a list, you can link up to this post so others can make a things to treasure list if they would like to, and then add the link on Friday to Mr. Linky (I won’t overwhelm you with two Mr. Linkies in one week, once is enough for Mr. Linky). You don’t have to do a 20 Little Things post for Friday, all holiday posts are welcome. Hey, what are we going to do after Christmas? I’ll need ideas for Friday linkies! Let’s discuss! What should the Friday linkies be in January?

20 Little Things to Treasure at Christmas

(in no particular order!)

1. Finding special little gifts for my kids because I love to surprise them. I {heart} my kids.
2. Putting on Winston’s holiday sweater. He likes to be festive too.
3. Piling in the car to go get our Christmas tree.
4. Baking cookies with the kids and eating them. The cookies, I mean.
5. Hoping for snow.
6. The effort to get a traditional family Christmas photo.
7. The smell of hot cranberry cider filling the air.
8. The gifts kids make me at school. (Just one child left who still makes a holiday craft. SNIFF.)
9. Watching Charlie Brown Christmas all wrapped up in blankets.
10. Candlelight Christmas eve services and all the beautiful music.
11. Christmas lights shining at night on neighborhood houses.
12. Getting out the decorations and all the special memories.
13. Thinking about the first Christmas and how Mary felt carrying baby Jesus.
14. The days after Christmas when the rush is over and family can all relax together.
15. Watching Christmas movies.
16. Driving by “Rudolf” with the kids (lighted sign with deer with a red nose).
17. Getting Christmas photos from friends.
18. Christmas morning brunch and opening stockings.
19. Realizing how very blessed we are and helping others to have a merrier Christmas.
20. The few days before the holiday when I am overcome with emotion for what happened that first Christmas.

You know what I have been treasuring a lot this season? YOU! You all are the most encouraging supportive friends ever. {hugs}

Photo:

Country Living

Martha Stewart

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I popped around blogland a bit last night and WOW, so many of you are all ready for Christmas! Lots of parties and fun stuff going on. I love it! You guys are the best.

Me? We got our tree this weekend, even though to be honest, we didn’t have time or money for a tree with all the moving prep and expenses right now. It was just too hard to disappoint the kids, so we got a Charlie Brown tree. It is smaller and less lush than our usual tree, but it is cute and we let the kids decorate it however they wanted to. They even made their own star for the top. And it is all good.

I have no photos of our humble tree yet, but I found some photos that inspired me at Country Living so this is my attempt at being festive today.

We are doing the best we can to keep up our holiday festiveness and not be overcome with the stress of the move and all that goes along with it!

Here is what I am learning about enjoying the holidays when you are undergoing some stressful times:

Seize the moments.
You may not have the time or money to devote to amazing holiday festivities, but grab memorable moments while you can! Cut out paper snowflakes after dinner or have a quick hot chocolate break (with mini-marshmallows, of course). Look for little moments!
Keep some traditions.
Just downsize them! Simplify some of the things you enjoy about the holidays. Finding creative ways to keep your traditions or at least modify them will mean a lot to everyone and keep depression from setting in. Keep the traditions alive!
Lower your expectations.
During difficult times don’t put extra pressure on yourself to do more than you are able. Discuss with your family what they can expect and why this year might be different. It is a good lesson for everyone in living within your means and knowing what really counts.
Create new traditions for future holidays.
Those Charlie Brown trees and treasured moments creating paper garland might become the best memories ever.

All photos: Country Living

I’m going to be enjoying Kimba’s Holiday Open House during packing and stress breaks today, and you are all welcome to visit all the happenings going on over there! There are lots of other parties going on, so I added some links to my Tumblr page! If you are hosting something and I missed it (please forgive me), you can add a link to your holiday post on Mr. Linky Friday or wait until THIS Friday for the new one! Or leave a message in the comments! I like to stay in the loop!!

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