Thanksgiving is Over: Now What?

I hope your turkey day was blessed!

Whether you were at home surrounded by friends and family,

whether you were overseas in another country missing your family,

even if you might have been sick or in the hospital with someone who was,

I pray that you remembered how fortunate we are to simply be alive.

We all get another day to love, dream, share, enjoy, and "do" life.

I spent my day with Mark and my girls Miss S (Sophomore in college) 

and Miss A (Sophomore in High School-we homeschool),

in Atlanta, GA, at another sister's home.

I have 3 sisters (Stephenie, Amy and Ana) and through a series of wondrous events, 

I was reunited with 2 of them (Amy and Ana) after 35 years!

And this was our first Thanksgiving (or any holiday for that matter) all together!

It was memorable, to say the least!

As my beefcake and I were cleaning up Ana's kitchen last night,

I reflected on the events of the day, 

and how we move, during this time of the year,

from one event to the next, without much more thought 

than checking off what's on our TO DO list.

Mine looks like this:

Leslie's Holiday TO DO List:

1. Get through Thanksgiving.
2. Send out the Fondue Festivities and Happy Holiday Hunting party invites.
3. (Will talk about this next post).
4. Get down the boxes of Christmas decorations.
5. Get a new-to-me outfit for the parties we're attending.
6. Put lights outside.
7. Decorate the outside of the house.
8. Make a few new crafts.
9. Put the tree(s) up and decorate them.
10. Clean house.
11. Design the mantle decor and centerpieces.
12. Make sure the pantry is stocked with baking supplies.
13. Family volunteer with Salvation Army Toy Drive.
14. Bake cookies and make candies.
15. Wrap presents.
16. Etc.
17. Etc.
18. Etc.

~

Then, I remembered a piece of paper that gets packed up into 

one of my Christmas Rubbermaid storage boxes after Christmas every year,

and then rediscovered every year as I begin the preparations

for the new Christmas season.

It gets hung on my refrigerator to remind me of what's more important
than checking off a TO DO list.

~~~

A Home Maker’s Christmas Guide

~1 Corinthians 13

If I decorate my house perfectly with satin and velvet bows, 

strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, 

I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, 

preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, 

but do not show love to my family, 

I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, 

carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, 

but do not show love to my family, 

it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, 

attend a myriad of holiday parties 

and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, 

I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return 

but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. 

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, 

but giving the gift of LOVE will endure.

                  -Author Unknown

~~~

I have saved A Home Maker’s Christmas Guide as a (safe) .pdf file.

To print it, click here.

(Under the Title is a print button)

~~~

I also found a handy dandy 
Christmas To Do List from Life as Mom to print.
Click here.






Let's remember to LOVE this season!