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12 Pearls of Christmas: Faith, Hope & Love
The Pearls We Pass Down by Holley Gerth Ten years ago my Grandma Frances went home to heaven in her sleep just before Christmas. My Grandpa carefully handed me a brightly-wrapped box on Christmas morning and said, “This is her gift. Now I want you to have it.” I opened the lid slowly and tears…
12 Pearls of Christmas: God Provides a Way
A Long Ago Christmas Memory by Patricia Crisafulli The old farm on a dirt road in the backwoods of northern New York State was described to me so many times, I can imagine the place, even though I never saw it: the big frame house with the wide porch, the pair of maple trees out…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Jesus Comforts
How to Cope with Christmas by Stacie Ruth Stoelting Last night, I dreamed that God resurrected my beautiful adopted aunt, Mary Jo Hoffman. But morning renewed my mourning for her: Christmas trees, snow globes, and music greeted my grieving heart. Relate? In previous years, my maternal grandpa (a.k.a. “Papa Ray”) died near Thanksgiving and my…
I Confess…I stole from Oral Roberts
In honor of “The Man” whom I grew fonder and fonder of with each year I attended Oral Roberts University, I thought I should come clean and confess. Yes, I did swipe a peppermint candy from his candy dish on his desk over twenty years ago. Oh, the guilt of it all… But I was…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Just God
A Tangible Reminder by Mary Byers Last year I read Me, Myself, & Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer, creator of the Veggie Tales video series. I was interested because my children grew up on Veggie Tales. But I was also interested because somewhere along the way I…
Hurry, Before it's Too Late…
and let me know you’re just dying to be on my newsletter email list (that I only send out about 3-4 times a year) which is filled with “must read” information about my currently nonexistent writing career and published novels! Of course, it’s stuffed with other goodies like contests, book giveaways, and interviews with successful…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Home
COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS by Virelle Kidder My mother had remarkable zeal for Christmas. Weeks in advance, she would come home from teaching school and bake late into the night. I helped clean the house and decorate the tree while my older brother Roger wired the house with Christmas lights, transforming our humble red house…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Life Beautiful
Life Beautiful by Margaret McSweeney During a quiet moment after Thanksgiving, I started reading my parents’ stack of love letters that I recently found in a storage box. As a Christmas gift to you, I would like to share my father’s words to my mother written to her during Christmas 1949. This incredible “hug from…
Saturday Christmas Tips: Wrapping Presents
Posts from the Past… Who couldn’t use a little less stress during the holidays. Hopefully these Saturday posts will ease your holiday chaos and please feel free to share your own ideas! Come back next Saturday for another great idea! In the past I had just wrapped my four kids’ presents and put the name…
12 Pearls of Christmas: Gifts of Purpose
Too Precious to Wear by Sarah Sundin One Christmas when my mother was a girl, she received a string of pearls from her father. Since her parents were divorced-an unusual situation in the 1950s-she treasured the pearls as a sign of her father’s love. When he passed away her senior year in high school, the…