8th Day of Christmas Giveaways with Leah DiPascal

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Welcome to the 8th Day of Christmas Giveaways!!!

Today my friend Leah DiPascal is here to share her favorite way to display Christmas cards! She also will be giving away a festive candle and holder to keep your home smelling inviting this season.  Leah is a speaker, inspirational Bible teacher and writer for Proverbs 31 Ministries.  She also writes for the First 5 mobile app which reaches over 500,000 people in 191+ countries each day. Her love of ministry centers around helping others engage, understand and apply God’s Word to their hectic and oftentimes stressful lives. Leah lives outside Charlotte, North Carolina where they stay busy running a family business and raising two teenage sons.
Connect with Leah on her blog, Whispers for the Soul, where she shares what God is teaching her, along with real-life stories of adventure that are helping women around the world.

To join in on the fun and be entered to win the various prizes, simply leave a comment on the post answering the question of the day. ALSO—one grand prize will be given to one person who comments on all 12 days.

The Grand Prize is a $50 gift certificate to Proverbs 31 Ministries store and a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com!!!

Now, here is Leah with today’s post…

My Favorite Way to Display Christmas Cards

Hi Friends!

Leah DiPascal here and yes, I am so excited to be a part of Karen Ehman’s 12 Day Christmas Celebration!

Gosh, it’s that time of the year already? How is it possible that 2015 has gone by so quickly? But don’t you just love Christmas and some of the special moments that comes with it?

Roasting marshmallows over the fire pit. Sipping hot chocolate with an extra layer of whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles on top. Listening to glorious tunes while stringing lights and hanging heirloom ornaments onto a freshly cut Frazier tree.

Christmas. It is the most wonderful time of the year … don’t you agree?

One of the things I love most about the holiday season is sending and receiving Christmas cards.

Since our family lives far from relatives, there have been many years when we were unable to travel “home” to be with our extended family at Christmastime.

But … each year I can count on my Aunt Elsie to send the first Christmas card of the season, which always arrives in my mailbox the week after Thanksgiving.

As days pass, I find myself waiting with great anticipation for the mailman to slide a new batch of red and green envelopes into my holly-and-bow draped mailbox.

My routine is always the same: I open each card, read the message inside, gaze and smile at the enclosed family photo, then proudly tape it to my kitchen pantry door.

As the countdown to Christmas continues, every white space on that door disappears as I tape a steady stream of cards and pictures over every inch, including the doorframe.

Smiling faces and seasonal attire are on display as I hang each card with loving care. Neighbors, friends, relatives, classmates, co-workers … even our mailman and dentist’s cards are included.

I used to bundle all those cards and tuck them away in a keepsake box once January rolled around. But the last several years, I’ve decided to make some changes to my Christmas card tradition.

Instead of tucking away those beautiful smiling faces (into a box I probably won’t open until the following December), I transfer them onto a decorative framed corkboard, which hangs in my laundry room.

You’re probably wondering, the laundry room? Yes, the laundry room, because for me it’s a central place where I’m guaranteed to be several times a day.

I strategically display the picture cards there, so every time I go in and out of the laundry room, I am reminded to pray for each person represented.

Even after the Christmas decorations are packed and put away, the cards remain and I am committed to pray for each family. Not just for one month or two, but all year long.

I pray for stronger marriages and godly children.

For daily provision and unexpected blessings.

For loving conversations and renewed appreciation.

For restored health and increased faith.

Every time I whisper a prayer, I’m reminded of how blessed I am and grateful to God for placing these special people in my life.

Though many miles may separate us, prayer instantly brings us invisibly together — right in the midst of some flowery-scented laundry detergent and spray starch.

Last Christmas I was surprised to receive a much smaller amount of picture cards and honestly, I was a little bummed it at first. Honestly, I think more people are going digital and uploading their family photos on Facebook or Instagram because of the cost factor. It is getting expensive, but that’s a topic for a whole other post.

The smaller amount of cards didn’t deter me. God knew my heart and my plans. I figured He sent me just the right photos of families I needed to pray for in 2015.

Ever consider changing your Christmas card tradition? Before you pitch or put away those seasonal cards, why not embrace the idea of turning them into an annual prayer collection? What a great opportunity to speak prayers of blessings into someone else’s life and experience a greater sense of gratitude in your own. Not just at Christmastime, but all year ’round.

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To show my gratitude for each of you I’m giving away a Bath & Body Works Candle Set. It’s contains a Joy candle and Christmas decorative holder. The candle smells divine!

All winners will be announced December 22nd!