'Tis the Season... for Christmas Cards!

I'm just going to come out and say it, I absolutely adore Christmas cards. As a person who loves old-fashioned mail, period, the holiday season is especially fun for me because each new day brings the anticipation of more greetings. Every afternoon, I dash to the mailbox, excited to see whose card we'll receive. I look forward to photos of growing children, news of new babies, and kind wishes from loved ones we don't see often.

I start thinking about the card we'll send out long before Walmart starts playing Christmas music. With two goals in mind each year -- to show how much our family has changed and to express the love we feel for the recipient -- I pour over websites, searching for that perfect card that says it all. 

This year, Tiny Prints made my job a lot easier. Within the first 20 minutes of looking through their selection of holiday cards, I saw several that made it to my favorites list. This year, my choices leaned towards cards that reflected what Christmas really means to us - family, togetherness and the birth of Jesus Christ. I especially like the following two:

Hallelujah kind of sums it up!



I love the midnight blue color and the manger at the top.

For those of you on our Christmas list, you'll have to wait and see which one we choose! And if you haven't yet found the perfect card, stop on over to see Tiny Prints' selection. 

*In exchange for perusing their site, Tiny Prints offered me 50 free photo cards.  If you have a blog and would like to participate in this campaign, you can sign up here!

Common Graces

At eight years old, her lanky body was a little too big for my lap, but she curled into me just like she used to when she was a toddler. And with her hazel eyes blinking away tears, she told me what she didn’t like about herself.



“I’m too short. I wish I had blond hair instead of red. My teeth look funny. I don’t like my glasses…” she whispered.


That night we were participating in a mother/daughter event designed to reinforce the idea that we’re all fearfully and wonderfully made, but it was obvious her list was written in her head long before. And with each flaw that she pointed out about herself, my heart broke. I prayed that God would give me the words to combat her insecurity as my own tears flowed.

To read the rest, visit Common Graces.

The First Day

Overzealous, I woke up an hour before my alarm this morning to pray over the kids. The first day of school always brings excitement and some butterflies in the tummy. I asked for protection and peace and confidence for them. And patience for their teachers. Lots of patience.

I prayed over myself as I made breakfast. Please help me be a better mom this year. To not waste so much time online. To not serve cold cereal every morning for breakfast. To fold and put away laundry right out of the dryer. To be more consistent with... everything.

Then I whispered sweet words into their ears and rubbed their backs to wake them up, wondering if I'll be so gentle next week when none of us want to awake.

Most likely, this year will be pretty similar to last year, except that we're all a little older, bigger and wiser.

But we're still excited about today.

The 4th grader.

The 3rd grader.

The one who is never leaving me. Ever.

I'm linking up with JDaniel4's Mom's Back to School Traditions!