Monday, December 2, 2013

Christmas Blessing Giveaway 2013

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love all of the lights, decorations, music, talking about the birth of my Daddy God and the memories made. I have so many fond memories of Christmas. Growing up we went to Grandpa and Grandma's (my dad's folks) for Christmas Eve. With such a large family there was always at least 40 people there. The house was packed, yet there was much laughter. Then on Christmas morning, Dad and Mom always made the morning so special for us. We had a slow and easy morning at home, just being with one another. We'd have mom's homemade oatmeal and m&m cookies for breakfast (yes for breakfast, it was a Christmas treat!). Then we'd head over to Papa and Mamaw's (my mom's folks) for Christmas dinner. There was so much love to be shared and beautiful memories. I will never forget those Christmases growing up. Each one so special.

Another fond memory I hold dear is of just a few years ago. My Mamaw, Mama, sister and niece and nephew came over to my home for a day of Christmas baking. Each person brought the ingredients for whatever treats they wanted to make. We listened to Christmas carols, had lunch together and spend the entire day baking. It was a beautiful time that my children and I will remember forever.

What is your favorite Christmas memory? What do you love about the season?


It is time for the 2nd Annual Christmas Blessing Giveaway! One blessed reader will win $200 in PayPal cash to help her family this holiday season.


This blessing giveaway is brought to you by these fabulous bloggers!
Awakened Anew


Disclaimer:
Giveaway Rules: No purchase necessary. Must be 18 to enter. Void where prohibited by law. This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or associated by Facebook. By entering this giveaway, you agree to release Facebook, Woman to Woman Ministries and all participating blogs of all liability. Contest ends at 12:01am EST on December 16, 2013. Winner is randomly chosen by Rafflecopter and will be emailed.




Linking with:
Wednesday Walk

45 comments:

  1. Jenifer, I remember that wonderful day. It certainly has a special place for my memeroies. Thank you and all the others there for being there to help make a wonderful memory. Love each one of you.

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  2. I so enjoy the Spirit of this season! The giving-ness, the abundant joy, the sensitivity to others, all wonderful things I see in my community around this time of year. Praying we "catch" and can't get over those characteristics all year long!

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  3. My favorite Christmas memory is getting up in the middle of the night and finding my parents doing what Santa was supposed to be doing! I was older and still laugh about it to this day!

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    1. Lol, Barbie! We've had that happen a time or two! VERY hard to explain what you're doing!

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  4. I love everything about Christmas morning- it was just so relaxing. No where to be but home and no one to be with but family… :)
    Thanks for putting this together!

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    1. I love a relaxing Christmas morning! We host family dinner at our house, so we are able to slow down and not rush out the door. I love it.

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  5. I love Advent. I love the build up to Christmas day, taking time to truly consider how wonderful it is that hope soared through the skies. I am so thankful for all He has done for me. :)

    Thank you for the blessing of your blog and for this giveaway.

    God bless

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    1. That's great! Last year was the first time we did advent and we loved it! Just started our new advent using Adventures in Odyessy with the kids) on Sunday!

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  6. I love Christmas, but I never had a Christmas as a kid that included anyone other than my parents and siblings. I didn't miss it then, but I feel like I did miss something when I hear lovely stories like yours that include grandparents and cousins. My folks moved far away from family to take the Gospel to the Native Indians in the state of Washington, then into Canada.
    I do remember waking up early on Christmas morning and feeling the sweet anticipation of wondering what was waiting in my stocking downstairs. And I still feel that today, the anticipation, I love it!
    The best thing about Christmas is the chance to share the miracle of the birth of Christ with our friends and family. God is still so good today, two thousand years after His birth in Bethlehem.

    I hope I was able to sign up for the give-away. I logged into FB but nothing happened after that.

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    1. Cindy, you can try to enter again. I've looked at the rafflecopter and I don't see your name, but with so many entries I could just be missing it.

      That is wonderful that your parents went to share the gospel with others!!

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  7. We have Baking Day too! We did it every year (they still do), but we had to move away, and that's what I miss the most! Great time of family, fellowship, memories and yummy goodies :)

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  8. Christmas eve is my favorite. We usually had Christmas Eve dinner, instead of Christmas dinner (divorced home, I went with my dad on Christmas) and that stuck as tradition, even though I'm an adult with my own child now. We always open one present and have hot chocolate and cookies around the tree. It's magical

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  9. Growing up we always opened one present (pjs, though one year mom let us choose between two boxes one was definitely the pjs but the other one was small). So, I've carried that tradition over to my family. The boys joke that they can't wait to open their Christmas PJs.

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    1. Cari,we have the same tradition with our kiddos! :)

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  10. Growing up we were allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve -- it was always our Christmas PJs (they weren't necessarily Christmasy but were new). I've carried that tradition on with my boys (now 20, 13 & 11). They joke about their Christmas PJs.

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  11. I do the Christmas pjs. every year, too ... love looking back and seeing my girls in their cute (often matching) pjs every Christmas Eve and how much they've grown from year to year.

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    1. It is kinda funny because my kids will wear their Christmas jammies throughout the year, and it is neat to see how they grow through the year. My 12 year old's jammies from last year reached her ankles, now they are mid-calf. :) Thanks for stopping in!

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  12. I liked your Christmas memories. We were poor when I was a child...but we always had a nice Christmas, full of love, food, family and fellowship!

    Linda

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    1. I am glad Christmas was nice for you! Blessings Linda!

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  13. My favorite Christmas memory is of going to my Granny's house when I was very young and she was still able to decorate for Christmas. She had a white tree and piles of presents underneath were stacked higher than I stood. I miss her now and love thinking about that early snippet of a memory.

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  14. One of my favorite memories, is when I spent Christmas with my sister and her family and I sat and read with all the children.

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  15. One of my favorite Christmas memories is the time my parents were having a hard year financially and my mom spray painted a bunch of her jewelry silver and gave it to me as a matching set. The paint came off pretty quick...but it was thoughtful! :)

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    1. That was so sweet of her to come up with a creative gift!! Thanks for stopping in Sarah!

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  16. My favorite Christmas memory is probably last year's carriage ride through the local "castle". It was wonderful weather, I was pregnant with our third child and it was an amazingly easy pregnancy (and amazingly happy baby now!), we were getting ready for my husband to start a fantastic job after graduating college that May, it was just so beautiful and a real turning point in our lives. We are hopefully going back this year and doing the carriage ride again because it was so lovely!

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  17. My favorite memory was last year when we took a beautiful carriage ride through the local "castle". It was a very optimistic time for our family looking forward to a new baby, a new job, and a new city to call home! :) We're hoping to go again this year because it was so beautiful!

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  18. I love when i get out the ornaments and see what my mom had made when she was alive, I love these on my tree nad sharing that part of her with my kids.
    mindingmomma at aol dot com

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    1. That is wonderful that you have those memories and treasures from her.

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  19. One of my favorite Christmas memories is going to my Grandma's house where the whole family would gather. Sharing an old-fashioned family celebration eating, opening gifts, playing games, singing and watching football games is something we looked forward to every year. Simple and peaceful!

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  20. My favorite Christmas memories are times with my daughters. They are such blessings. We love to bake cookies together. They decorate the tree since I did it so many years by myself when they were really little. I watch and enjoy now!

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  21. My fondest Christmas Memory is when my son-in-laws family came in from Australia for the wedding of my daughter and their son and they stayed with us during Christmas.

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  22. My favorite Christmas memory is when my son-in-laws family came in from Australia!

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  23. My favorite Christmas memory is waking with my cousins on Christmas Day - slumber party at grandma's was always fun!

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  24. I love going to Candle light Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in. I love standing around the sanctuary, looking at the illuminated faces of the congregation that I love, singing Silent Night and celebrating the birth of our Lord!

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  25. I love going to Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in. I enjoy standing in the sanctuary, singing Silent Night with the illuminated faces of the congregation I love, celebrating the birth of Jesus!

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  26. I love going to Candle light Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in. I love standing around the sanctuary, looking at the illuminated faces of the congregation that I love, singing Silent Night and celebrating the birth of our Lord!

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  27. Christmas has lots of memories. One of the things we did as kids we alway dressed in our very best clothes Christmas morning, then gathered in around 11:00 after all the farm chores were done and opened gifts after reading the Christmas story. There is 15 children in our family, and although we never all lived at home at once, there were plenty of us there. We lived far away from all family, so it was usually just us. We had a big dinner after that, then played games and enjoyed our treasures. We always ate fruitcake, cracked nuts, had eggnog, mincemeat tarts, and clemetine oranges on Christmas Eve.

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  28. My brother had a set of sleigh bells for his horse. He got up in the middle of the night Christmas night and went running through the house ringing the bells saying "Merry Christmas!"

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  29. Going to my grandmothers house on Christmas Eve and spending it with my unts, unckes and cousins. My grandmother made Christmas so very special for all of us. It was her Holiday. My grandmother passed away the beginning this year so this year willbe the first Christmas without her there. It will be so very hard but we all know she will always be there in our hearts!!

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Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts, I love hearing from you.