Christmas is ... simplicity.

Good Wednesday Morning!
Day 3 of this fun little series, Christmas is { _____________} and today I am so pumped to have

Heather from Life Made Lovely.

She is lovely. inside and out. I met her in real life in September and I am so happy to call her my friend.

Hi there The Goat and The Kid readers!

My name's Heather from Life Made Lovely and I'm so happy to be here today!!

 

For me, Christmas is all about slowing down.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, life feels like a race, no?

A marathon of going, getting, and greeting.

For us it did, and while we ran that same holiday race for years, we eventually

became exhausted by it.  We began to realize that by the time January rolled around

we didn't feel more connected to each other or to Jesus...and seeing as how He IS

the reason for the season, we decided to make some changes.

Now we put our family first so that we can put Him first.  We don't say yes to every

invite we receive so that instead we can make memories together as a family.

We have crafting parties at the kitchen table and Christmas movie nights together.

My favorite thing that we started doing though is our Christmas book basket.

Each year, when we unpack our Christmas decorations, we also unpack our Christmas

books.  I pack them away each year as a way to make sure they stay special, and so far it's

worked like a charm.  They're one of the first things the kids look for when the boxes come

out!  And once we unpack them, we work together to find a special home for them.  The

only rule is that the books have to stay together and have to be out for everyone to enjoy.

Each night before bed time, from the day after Thanksgiving until

Christmas day, we read books as a family from our Christmas book basket.

I wish life could be like this all year long, but that's just not the case for us.

We always have story time, but it's usually a divide and conquer kind of thing.

This new holiday tradition is made all the more sweet because of that fact though.

Once the little ones are all cleaned up and smelling like sugary sweetness,

I quickly make our hot chocolates so we can curl up in the living room to read books.

Each child picks out a book or two, and we get to work reading about winter adventures,

reindeer, the birth of Jesus, and Santa Claus.  We laugh through silly stories and talk

about the night Jesus was born.  Time just seems to stand still.

Anytime I begin to feel myself wavering...feeling like I need to say yes,

I remember those nights and then the no seems to roll right off my tongue.

Thanks for letting come hang out with you today Nancy!

I think you are so very swell!  -XO  Heather
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Now, don't you just want to go wrangle up your kids, whip up a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy a good book together?
Heather is always so inspiring. I just love her.

Have you started your Christmas cards yet?
I went to Heather's Life Made Lovely Designs and had my card designed for me and BAM!, it was emailed to me within a day! Amazing and I love it. So many cute designs to choose from.

Do you see where this is going?

Heather is giving away a card design.
All you have to do is any or all of the following:
1. Comment on what design you would choose.
2. Become a follower of me, Heather or a fan of Life Made Lovely on Facebook.
3. Blog about how much fun Nancy is and what a hostess she is...
4. Have an extra large cup of coffee and think of me.....

So, do what you have to do.
But, you need to come back to see who is stopping by this afternoon.