Light 'em Up!

I really wanted to focus on giving this Christmas season.

Last year, I decided on my word for the year but I cheated a little and chose a phrase. "Give more, spend less."

I tried all year long to focus on giving and less on spending. Looking back, I feel like I failed miserably in so many way but the point is not to make yourself feel guilty, it's to inspire you to do more. And I definitely did. Yes I could have done more. But the point is, I stepped out of my comfort zone and found some new ways to be generous.

 I started tithing at my church....yup, until this year I had not been tithing regularly. Now I've firmly gotten myself into the habit. I adopted a Compassion child; we write letters every month and I just sent her a Christmas and a birthday gift. I gave money to a family whose house burned down this spring. I did a little bit of volunteering, and I baked a lot of things for moms with new babies and some funerals at our church. Just little, everyday things like that. Things I should already be doing, but always found excuses not to.

I knew that when Christmas rolled around I wanted to find some ways for Brook to experience the joy of giving. I brainstormed a few ideas and we have been talking a lot about how excited we are to give gifts to other people, versus focusing on what she will be getting.

And then I found this blog post.

It was exactly what I was looking for, exactly what I wanted the holidays to be focused on for our family. What I want her to grow up remembering most fondly.

I read this and had tears welling in my eyes. She managed to write down exactly what had been laying on my heart for so long, but for some reason I couldn't verbalize it.


This year, I am participating in the Light Em Up campaign! And I am super, super excited! I cannot wait to show Brook how good it feels to give, and to find ways for her to live out her faith. No lectures, no boring lessons....just real life. Real giving. Real joy.

We are starting tomorrow. I will share a few of our activities, but I won't be blogging about all of them. I thought about making it a daily post, but it just didn't seem right. I want to share some of our ideas with you guys, in hopes it will inspire some of you to join in. But I think this quote from the blog says it best

"Don’t forget to be sneaky and anonymous when possible. Whenever we get the credit or glory, we get further away from true service and generosity."

 

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

I sat down one night with hot chocolate and watched the new episode of Oprah's Favorite Things. I always loved that episode of her show every year - I never cry at movies but I would always tear up watching this show for some reason. It was so fun to see the surprise and joy on the audience's faces!

I was really excited when I heard they were doing a special episode on the OWN network, I think I set the PVR to record it twice, just in case.

And it was awesome. No screaming crowds, no elves bringing in armloads of packages, but still awesome. I just love seeing these people be showered with all sorts of luxuries they could never afford on their own. Some of Oprah's choices have me rolling my eyes and their extravagant price tags when I could get a similar version at Walmart for $9.99, but that's all part of the fun.

I'm not Oprah so I can't give anything away. But just for fun, here are my favorite things!

Sigma eye makeup brushes. They are softer and more precise than M.A.C. brushes, and for a fraction of the price. I only have a few brushes, not a complete set, but all my future brush purchases will without a doubt be Sigma.

This candle from Voluspa. I was gifted this scent, and at first I thought it smelled nice but wasn't anything amazing. And then I burnt it and fell in love. I have since found a local retailer that carries Voluspa and I spent about 10 minutes smelling every scent they carried...I think they all smell amazing and I will definitely be picking up another one as a treat to myself when this one is gone.

David's Tea. I cannot sing the praises of this tea chain enough! I am a huge tea drinker - my favorites include Chocolate Rocket (pictured above), Pumpkin Chai (a fall limited edition), Cream of Earl Grey, and Bear Trap. I currently have probably 15 or 20 different bags and tins of tea, it seems every time I am in the mall I end up in their store asking the girls behind the counter to bag up some of this, that, oh, and some of that one too. My husband laughs at me because an entire shelf in our kitchen has now been taken over by their silver bags, tins, and random tea accessories.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Best book I've read this year!

Ocean Salt from Lush. I am a huge fan of Lush Cosmetics, and this scrub is probably my all time favorite product of theirs. I use it on my face when my skin is particularly flaky, and it makes the best hand scrub. They recommend it as a whole body scrub too, but I find it's a bit harsh for my sensitive skin to use that way. It makes a great hand treatment combined with their Lemony Flutter cream; slather your hands with Lemony Flutter, and then scrub with Ocean Salt. Rinse with warm water, and your hands are left feeling softer than they ever have!

The Vileda Promist mop. Love this thing! It has a refillable spray chamber that you can fill with your own floor cleaner, and mop pads that velcro onto the head and rip off to go into your washing machine. No batteries either, like a lot of mops that have a sprayer (cough Swiffer cough). I love that this mop doesn't cost me money with every use - the pads are washable, and I use my own homemade mop solution that costs pennies at best.







What are your favorite things?? What would make the list if you were throwing a Favorite Things party?