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How I will nourish my soul this Advent
It would be so easy to fill the Advent season with all the amazing holiday activities and brilliant resources available but end up missing the point entirely. Instead of feeling nourished and connected, our souls can end up being overwhelmed and wishing for it all to be over. With so many good opportunities, it can be really hard to find what is best for your soul in this particular time. What works one year may not work at all another year. I want to give you (and me) permission to keep it as simple as we need to, to say no to good things, to tweak and make any suggestions…
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Advent: Your invitation to savour (and a free gift for you)
Can you feel the shift? The tip over towards Christmas? That usually leaves you feeling either excited or completely stressed. The to-do lists seem endless. The expectations on ourselves and our circumstances seem beyond reach. The wealth of opportunities can feel like pressure to add more and more in our days. This doesn’t have to be the case. For the past several years, I have intentionally engaged in Advent. Far from being the out-dated tradition that I thought it was, Advent has become a time of intentional focus for me. It has become my invitation to slow down and savour the season. It has become the opportunity to help us…
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Christmas is coming! Free gifts for you to help get ready
When you read the words “Christmas is coming!”, did you feel a bubble of excitement or stress or maybe a bit of both? If I think about the gifts that need to be bought and the tasks that need to be completed by then, I start to feel overwhelmed. When I think of Advent, though, I am re-energised. It will soon be time to start the December celebrations and focusing in on the meaning of Christmas for myself and for my daughter. If you have been around my writing for a year or more, you will know that Advent holds a special place in my heart. This year, I am…
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Thankful Thursday
Thankful Thursday is here for another week. This will be the last link up for this year with the fullness of the Christmas and New Year season. Join me in noticing the good in the midst of a potentially busy and stressful season. I know for many Christmas brings a lot of pain and heartache. The privilege of having a child to do Truth in the Tinsel with or make a sheep costume for, or even to be woken up in the middle of the night by. My heart aches for those who battle infertility and I am reminded to be so thankful for my daughter and all the aspects…
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Advent as a family
The catalyst for me looking into celebrating Advent last year was my desire to instil the real meaning of Christmas in my daughter’s heart and try to drown out some of the commercialism and focus on Santa. I have come to love it for my own heart preparation and focus on Jesus in a busy season too. Last year I tried to pack so many ideas into how we celebrated Advent that it did become overwhelming and another to do at times (you can read about these plans in this post). This year, I am streamlining my plans. I wrestled a little with wanting to create traditions in our family…
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Advent Week 3: review and reflection on a mini-breakthrough day
There are only THREE days left until Christmas. In fact, I would say two as we celebrate with my husband’s family on Christmas Eve. I know many people say it, but this time has come so quickly. I still feel like it has crept up on my even though I was organised for Advent and have been doing Advent activities. I definitely was not as organised with Christmas presents this year, which has had the potential to be very stressful. More on how my stress levels are going later in this post. If you have missed any of my Advent posts, you can find them linked below:Advent plansWeek 1Week 2…
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Advent Week 3: review and reflection on a mini-breakthrough day
There are only THREE days left until Christmas. In fact, I would say two as we celebrate with my husband’s family on Christmas Eve. I know many people say it, but this time has come so quickly. I still feel like it has crept up on my even though I was organised for Advent and have been doing Advent activities. I definitely was not as organised with Christmas presents this year, which has had the potential to be very stressful. More on how my stress levels are going later in this post. If you have missed any of my Advent posts, you can find them linked below:Advent plansWeek 1Week 2…
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Advent week 2: Keeping my peace despite plans failing
We’re over half way through the Advent period already. Last week, Week 2, was hectic with unplanned for meetings, play dates and shopping trips throwing out my Advent plans. I had two choices, be upset that my plans weren’t being followed or keep focused on the present and getting the most out of each day. I would love to say that I was peaceful and loving all week, with an angelic like nature. I would be lying! Overall though, it was a good week, which ended in an amazing night away with my hubby celebrating our 10 year anniversary and my favourite Christmas event- Heathridge Carols in the Park run…
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Advent week 2: Keeping my peace despite plans failing
We’re over half way through the Advent period already. Last week, Week 2, was hectic with unplanned for meetings, play dates and shopping trips throwing out my Advent plans. I had two choices, be upset that my plans weren’t being followed or keep focused on the present and getting the most out of each day. I would love to say that I was peaceful and loving all week, with an angelic like nature. I would be lying! Overall though, it was a good week, which ended in an amazing night away with my hubby celebrating our 10 year anniversary and my favourite Christmas event- Heathridge Carols in the Park run…
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Advent is almost here!! My plans….
This post may contain affiliate links that help to support me and my family. Thank you for your support.I never used to pay much attention to Advent. I didn’t buy an Advent calendar or engage in any other traditions, apart from putting up our Christmas tree at the beginning of December. My daughter changed that for me. Last year, we used a Little People Nativity set to go through the Christmas story each night with our then two year old. I heard of some other Advent activities that interested me. I figured that three years old would be a good age to start setting up some new Advent traditions that…
Encouragement for women in leadership
