Welcome to the weekend, my friends! Can you believe we’re just a few days away from Christmas?? As I started writing this today, I realized this will be the 500th Little Things newsletter! This was never really something I planned to do. I just really enjoy sharing our life with you in this way and so I’ve continued writing these emails every Saturday morning.
The world of food blogging has changed a lot over the past 15 years and when I started writing these newsletters almost 10 years ago, it was my way of trying to stay connected with you all despite the internet’s push to “just share the recipe” and stop telling stories along with the foods we share.
Today, to celebrate both my love of Christmas and the fun of sending you this 500th newsletter, I’m giving away $500 in Amazon gift cards.
I enjoy celebrating the holidays so much and I love hearing about your family’s favorite traditions. All you need to do to be entered is leave a comment on this blog post and tell me about your favorite Christmas tradition!
On Tuesday, December 23rd, I’ll pick 5 of the comments that have been left on this blog post and send a $100 Amazon card to each of those readers just for the fun of it. The winners will be notified via the email used to leave a comment on the website.
(Unfortunately, as much as I enjoy receiving your emails, replies via email can’t be included in this giveaway, it’s simply too difficult to track entries that way.)
I’ll go first by sharing my favorite Christmas memory:
When I was 8 years old, I wanted roller skates for Christmas. My mom managed to find a pair of skates, the old-fashioned kind with metal wheels. These were nothing like the skates my friends had, but they were skates and she was so happy to have found them. She cleaned them up and set them aside for me.
However, the old skates needed new laces. She had no spare money for the laces, but she gathered all the change, mostly pennies, in the house and she went to the store.
She took her pile of pennies and a package of laces to the counter at the store and the young and impatient clerk told her that she wasn’t going to take pennies. My mom started crying, but she held her ground and told the clerk that it was still good money and she needed those laces for Christmas. Thanks to help from the gentleman in line behind her, the clerk finally sold her the laces and she brought them home.
When I opened my gift of the skates on Christmas morning, I had no idea how much work and how many tears had gone into those skates. I was just thrilled to be tying on my first pair of roller skates.
For that memory and so many others, thank you Mom. You taught me to be grateful for everything. You taught me that finding joy in the small pleasures of life is far more fun than always looking towards the next big thing.
I watched and learned a lot through my mom’s example over the years. I know for a fact that Philippians 4:11-13 is more than a Bible verse, it is a way of life. “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”
She showed me through a constant faithful example that happiness is a choice. We can choose to be happy and find joy in the little things or we can focus on what might be missing from the perfect picture.
If you are reading this today, my prayer for you is that you’ll find a special moment to appreciate something big or small in your life. Wishing you a beautiful Christmas week filled with little things that make you smile!
Mary
Giveaway Winners
Thank you so much for sharing your memories with me this Christmas. I loved reading every single one of them. They’ve brought me so many smiles this year.
Jessica Atkins
Every year a few days before the party my grandma would invite all the grandkids and we’d decorate all the sugar cookies that she had made. It was messy and fun and we all had special aprons that an aunt had made with our names on them. We loved showing them off to our parents at the party. And eating them of course.
Donald Mumma
I still find myself chuckling when I remember the time my mother used tumble weeds for a Christmas tree, she wanted a ‘Cowboy Christmas ‘as she put it. it was an interesting Christmas that year, when ever people came over they saw the tumble weeds with an old broom stick holding it up. Mom seemed to have taken the chuckles as a compliment too. the one problem with the idea was that we were picking thorns out of the shag carpet for months
Michelle Airheart
I loved walking into my grandparents very small house and smelling the smells coming from the kitchen, the tree decorated with silver “icicles”, and seeing what I thought was a mountain of presents under the tree.
Michael A. Koons
My Christmas memory is how my dearly departed Mother taught us about giving to others as a lesson about Christmas. After we 3 girls had opened all our gifts, we were told to each pick out our most favorite one. My oldest sister picked out her twirling baton, the next sister picked out her art supplies, and then it was my turn. It was a set of Play Dough modeling clay, which I had wanted so badly! Mom sat us all down and said we were now going to give these favorite things to a family with children who had nothing for Christmas. We all argued to give them one of our other gifts but that was not to be. My Mom emphasized that by giving up our favorite gift, that it was a true sacrifice and an example of true charity. We all reflected on that a bit and came to the conclusion that she was indeed right. At the moment it was a hard lesson but it made an impact on us like no other. We had many presents but this family had absolutely nothing! I will never forget that and it still makes me smile now at 70 yrs old to think how wise my mother was. I miss her kind and gentle heart that left this earth 38 yrs ago.
Sharon Breslin
We had four grandchildren born the same year. Each Christmas Eve my husband dressed up as Santa and came to the house. Kirsten was turning five and I heard her comment before Christmas that she knew Santa was Pop pop. So grandmom decided to call her bluff. I had a friend dress as Santa. Kirsten bragged that it was Pop, but was she surprised to see Pop in the kitchen!! We got a few more years of childhood Christmas wonder.
