I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. (Ecclesiastes 3:12)
Christmas time is my favorite time of the year. I know for many the spending, the doing, and the chaos can make this season less than. We can easily get so distracted from the Christmas Story – the longing for a savior and the rejoicing over His coming. Instead of being grateful for what we do have, we covet what others have and we long for our wish lists to be fulfilled. We overspend to impress. We focus on ourselves and miss the needs of those around us. One of my frequent prayers this holiday season is that I would see needs and have the desire to meet them. That I would be reminded again and again to get out of my own head and love those around me well. I am far from perfect, however, I have found that in slowing down, making & sticking to budgets, and simply looking for the joy has made this season magical year after year. Especially as our family grows and I watch Christmas through the eyes of my three little ones and I get to help them create peaceful, joyful, meaningful Christmas memories.
We build Christmas Cards into our budget because it is truly one of my favorite things to create and send out to our friends & family. Bruce and I not only spend time putting our favorite photos into a well designed card, but we also pray over a verse that we include in the card. We started this in 2020 because we felt like it was the year to include a little something extra. Now it is a tradition we have eagerly embraced! This year is no exception but instead of a verse card, we made a sticker!
Be joyful and do good! God’s encouragement to us, through the wisdom of King Solomon, is to rejoice and do good in our lives. The following verse (Ecclesiastes 3:13) tells us to eat, drink, and enjoy the good of our labor because these things—the food, the drink, and the ability to labor—are gifts of God! We have the choice to look for and seek out the joy (over bitterness, worry, discontentment) and are called to look outside of ourselves and do good to those around us. If we reword these verses into the first-person voice, it reads, “There is nothing better than that I should be joyful and do good as long as I live, and to eat and drink and take pleasure in all my work—this is God’s gift to me.” And what a verse for this Christmas season and for the new year to come! Be joyful! Everything you have is a gift from God. Do good! Put that joy to action and do good.
Our cards, like many years before, are Artifact Uprising. I love their quality and have used them on countless photo projects over the years. They have so many designs to choose from but I am absolutely obsessed with the one we picked out this year! We went ahead and uploaded our address list to AU so that they could print the addresses on our envelopes which really helps with the mailing process! I found these stickers on Amazon to help seal the envelops and I love how the Holiday Joy stamps match our theme both in color and name!
We have saved a card from every Christmas we have had together as a family (starting in 2012 – our first Christmas!) And I have laminated them to protect them from the hands of my little children who love to look back on the photos and marvel at the changes in both our family and our appearances! Our Christmas Cards are not only a gift to everyone on our mailing list but also my own children as they see our Christmas’ chronicled!
I always order my cards early, but it is not too late to order yours! Head over to Artifact Uprising now and see what card fits your family this year! Merry Christmas!
