Do Your Christmas Traditions Bless or Stress?

Got Christmas traditions?

Yeah, you do!

Tell me, do they bring you closer as a family and help you relax and drink in the true meaning of the season or do they cause stress, guilt and even a little holiday fighting around your place?

Today, over at The Better Mom today  I’m talking about traditions and telling the story of the year that we ended up with this as our Christmas photo:

If you want to read the post, you can by clicking here. 

Also, Candace Cameron Bure, who wrote the foreword to my book, is posting about it at Roomag. If you comment on either post, you might win a Kindle Fire!

Click here to see Candace’s post.

And don’t forget–if you sign up for my free 5-day resource: From Chaos to Calm: The LET. IT. GO. Christmas Challenge.

You might just win a Kindle Fire for participating!

This five-day challenge will allow Christmas to be less hectic and full of unrealistic expectations this year as you learn to control what you should and trust God with what you can’t. The result? Less stressing and more blessing!

This resource will come automatically to your inbox for five days beginning the day you sign up. That way you can pick a time that works best in your schedule.

Click here to join the over 7500 women who have already signed up for less chaos and more calm!

12 Comments

  1. This is a post for all 5 days. We have always done the 3 gifts for our children. Jesus received 3 gifts so that is what they get plus their stockings. We also make a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. This year we will be serving dinner for the homeless on Christmas night. I want our children to know that there are people right here in our city that have nothing. I hope to continue this every year. Financially this has been our hardest year. We can’t afford a big Christmas and I am thankful for that. It keeps me grateful for what I do have and focused on why we celebrate Christmas.

  2. I signed up today. Karen, I definitely can relate to Day 1 Devotion. I remember a time when I went to summer school to learn Vietnamese. Our teacher asked all the students to work in groups and make a poster board about friends, Viet Nam, or something else….. I can’t remember. So, I took charge and was taking a photo of this teen girl who was older than me. I want to make sure the picture was perfect. She told me I was like her mom always a perfectionist.

  3. I like the idea of the three gifts. I am raising my 3 yr grandson now and I think this would be a great idea. I have 5 children all grown and it was seriously stressful on Christmas in the past.

  4. Karen, I received an email saying I won a copy of the Let It Go book. Is this legit? I don’t feel comfortable giving my address before making sure it’s authorized.

  5. Holidays have always been stressful for me. Just finished reading Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst and have started your book Let It Go. Can already see the difference they both have made in my daily life.

    We too are going to use your three gifts idea for Christmas this year. Thanks so much for sharing!

  6. I just absolutely love your photo! My children are grown but I can imagine what such a photo would have looked like when they were youth. I found many gems in your 5-day challenge. Thanks for offering it.

    God bless your holidays with joy and laughter.

  7. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of the 5 day challenge! It was very helpful and insightful! Blessings to you as you continue to minister unto others!

  8. I’m taking the Christmas challenge and hope it leads to a less stressful holiday. Full-time and part time jobs, along with high expectations for everything to be perfect are my normal holiday experiences. I pray that this year it will change! Thanks for such great ideas. Blessings to you!

  9. We, too, had a picture tradition that usually ended with tears or the words, “Pretend you like each other!” Then one year I was looking through the many takes and found the perfect one. It somehow showed off each child’s personality. They weren’t all smiling the same or even dressed the same but it captured who they were. My favorite Christmas picture and a great lesson!

  10. Karen,
    I took your 5 day Christmas challenge. I loved the ideas. I asked my family for input on our ‘traditions’ and they wanted to keep them all and even added two more! (That wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for). However, my family loved the three gifts at Christmas and the symbolism–we are all so excited to incorporate this into our gift giving. I am grateful for your frankness and hope to use your idea next year for our Christmas photo. (Yes, mine was already done, submitted and ready to mail when I read your post). I appreciate how you let the Lord use you to minister to us. Thanks,

Leave a Reply to Karen Kay D. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *