Week Five Shopping Spree and Giveaway!
December 17, 2009 by jillnovak
Filed under The Girlhood Blog, Uncategorized
Eric and I were trying to decide what to give away when he said something about a shopping spree. I said, “Yes, that’s it!” So here we go again. We’re giving two “blessed” participants a $50.00 shopping spree each on Remembrance Press products, plus we’re giving away four more “Comfort and Joy” Christmas Issues.
The contest starts 12/17/2009, ends midnight 12/20/2009.
Here are the rules:
Leave a comment here about a favorite Christmas experience you’ve had (past or more recent) and tell a friend about this giveaway.
Blessings one and all,
Jill and Eric
Remember, leave us a way to get a hold of you if you don’t have a blog.
One of my childrens and myself favorite traditions is getting all bundled up on Christmas Eve to to go our local park next to our library and wander around underneath all the large 100 yr. old trees that are all decorated with lights. We sing Christmas carols together in what seems like a deserted winter wonderland all decorated just for us. There is a nativity set us in a drained cavelike pond that seems so real that I bring our scriptures and retell the Christmas story after we’ve wandered around the lights. We then head back home for hot chocolate and opening one out of town present from Grandparents before heading to bed to wait for Christmas morning. It helps us remember the real reason for Christmas and is a fun bonding time that is very positive.
one of my favorite memories as a child was setting up our Nativity and the proper placement of every person and animal… today I still love setting this up at Grandma’s house with my children! always a great memory and would be blessed to win ! Merry CHRISTmas
One of my favorite Christmas memories was when my brother asked his sweetheart to marry him. Her last name was Daisey and my brother wrote out the child’s song, “Daisey, Daisey, give me your answer, do! I’m half crazy all for the love of you. It won’t be a stylish marriage, I can’t afford a carriage. But you’ll look sweet, upon the seat, of a bicycle built for two.”
She was so overwhelmed and completely surprised. It was one of the rawest expressions of joy and love, all mixed together, on her face, that I have ever seen. Every year we think about that wonderful surprise and what a blessing true love and marriage is. We thank the Lord for the gracious gifts He gives us with His True Love first, then the love of family and friends. God is so good.
My favorite Christmas experience … probably this year. The chaos of small children has settled into having a new 8 year old and new 5 year old, which means we get to be more purposeful in creating our holiday traditions. The kids’ favorite right now is our Lego Advent calendar. Another tradition we’ve adopted is assembling a (pre-made!) gingerbread house.
Also special … we’ve taken to marking ornaments that are tied to memories. We get lots of gift ornaments, for things like Christmas pageant participation and classes and random things, and it’s hard to remember from year to year what each one represents. THIS year I am trying to be handier with a pen, to mark (on the ornaments that can handle it) the date and event and child it is for. Very special! And someday the kids can have these memory ornaments for their own family trees.
When I was 9 years old, we lived in an old farm house that was drafty and in much needed repair. Money was tight and a new baby brother had recently joined our modest family. My sister and I didn’t have a Christmas list, but we secretly wished for a doll trunk filled with doll clothes that was advertised in the Sears catalog.
Christmas morning came and there were no wrapped gifts. BUT, there were some homemade doll clothes, and some colored pencils tied together with a package of paper. We were thrilled! We spent the rest of the day trying the clothes on our dolls and making Christmas decorations from our new “art supplies.”
I still remember that particular Christmas, even though it was 39 years ago!
My favorite memory is my first Christmas with my newborn twins. They had been born prematurely that December and we didn’t think they’d make it home before Christmas. It was such a joy to have both my beautiful Christmas gifts with me that year. Kathleen
What a generous giveaway! I have to say that my favorite Christmas memories are of my girls, for the past 6 years now, putting on a little at-home “Nutcracker” and then acting out the Nativity story, on Christmas Eve. Now that their little brother is two, he wants to be in on the show!
Love,
Marqueta
We were asked this a couple weeks ago at a Christmas party and as I thought about it, I realized it wasn’t about any ‘thing’. My dad worked late on Christmas eve and would get home around 4 am. He would come in and wake us up by banging a big pot with a spoon and shouting “merry Christmas, ho ho ho!”
Then we’d wake up and share an early morning Christmas time together.
Now that he is gone.. I treasure the memory that I now know he was trying to instil. Thanks Dad.
My favorite Christmas memory is watching my children play Christmas tree hide and seek! krlabelle@msn.com
My most cherished memory is when my children were younger, and they memorized and acted out the birth of Jesus for extended family. It was precious!
Thanks for the contest!
My favorite memory is of my dad and mom packing us into the car and going Christmas light seeing. We sange carols, oohed and awed over all the pretty lights and found the one garrish house in the city. There was peace in the car for at least a night!!!
Every year we set up the manger and a bonbon dish of gold straw. For every especially good deed, we place a piece of straw in the manger. By Christmas Jesus is surrounded by our loving acts of kindness.
Thank you for your generosity in offering this contest!
When I was a little girl I used to be so irritated by the shadow of a bare tree peeking through my window at night. For Christmas my brother bought a porcelain kitty with a night light inside for me. On his note he put ‘now you have a cat to climb that tree. I still have the kitty part of the night light. Thanks for the opportunity to enter this contest.
Neither my husband nor I grew up in a Christian home. When we got married, we decided we wanted to create a Christmas celebration that centered on Christ. That first year we purchased a small nativity set to display and planned a special Christmas Day menu. Each year we’ve added something new like a wise men wall hanging, a nicer nativity, etc.
Last year, when our daughter was two, we discovered the Jesse tree (Christ is the root of Jesse). I made a paper tree on the wall and each day leading up to Christmas we had a devotion and then added the corresponding paper ornament (printed from the internet) to the tree.
This year we found a similar advent devotion called the Jesus tree. It focuses on the prophecies that are fulfilled with Christ’s birth. Eventually we hope to make 3D items and use an ornament tree as we tell the story of the coming of Christ via the Jesse/Jesus Tree.
We are so excited that we are building a meaningful celebration of Christmas for our family!
I think that would be this morning. I spoke with my husband very briefly on his lunch break and he told me 2 things. 1st the water pump on our van was going out but he could make it home and 2nd that this was his last day of work because he was being laid-off. My first thought after hearing that he was laid off was how happy I was that he made it this far. In the spring almost 2/3rds of the people where he works were laid off and in our christmas card this year, that I mailed yesterday, we were able to say how blessed we were to have had work thus far. I also ordered his Christmas present yesterday so he will be able to have one!! God Truly has blessed us and will continue to provide!!
I think my favorite thing is our tradition of putting on our Mannheim Steamroller CD’s and driving around neighborhoods looking at lights with our four kids. Going to Christmas Eve services are special as well! Thank you for the opportunity to win this contest!
My favorite Christmas tradition is attending a outdoor living Nativity with my husband & four children and a college student or two that we bring along. Watching our children’s faces and even the young adults’ faces as they see the actors portray the evening Christ was born is incredible! It brings the reason to our Christmas season back in a tangible way.
I’d have to say that i have many favorite childhood christmas memories…making cookies with my mom and siblings each year, decorating the tree together with the muppets christmas and chipmunks christmas songs playing,and driving around and looking at christmas lights. But my fav was going to my grandparent’s house on christmas eve to see all of the family together…aunts, uncles, cousins,etc. My grandmother would pass out little booklets of christmas carols and she would have the fireplace lit. We’d all squeeze into the living room by the fireplace and sing carols together. Then, my grandmother would take my sisters and i and my one cousin into one of the bedrooms to record carols for my uncle (who was mentally and physically disabled, but LOVED christmas and Santa!!). THEN, Santa would visit (a family friend dressed up) and pass out ONE gift for each child present to open that evening before Christmas. It was so much fun!! Then we’d enjoy all the food that everyone brought. It was always a joyous night together. I miss it a lot. Though my grandmother is still alive, my grandpa is not. The family no longer gets together like that, now that all us children are grown. But it is one of my most cherished childhood memories…my family all together for christmas.
My favorite tradition is when we put on Christmas music and decorate our tree. We have four children who just love hanging all the ornaments. Their grandmother gets them each an ornament every year. The kids especially like to hang “their” ornaments. Of course, the four year old can’t wait until she has as many ornaments as her big brother who’s ten
What a wonderful giveaway!!
My favorite Christmas memory was when my dear Dad gave me a purity locket (since then, he’s given me a purity ring…). It was a very special time because I had been wanting one – from him, specifically – and when he gave it to me, it was the least expected gift (I had been asking for one for a while, but thought that they had forgotten!
and I was just thrilled!! That was…two Christmases ago, but I still remember the moment I opened my locket box and found a beautiful locket laying in there – waiting for me! My Mother had cut out a picture of my Dad and had put it in one side of the heart. The other side, I’m saving for my Prince Charming. 
I am doing a post on this giveaway on my blog, and since my blog has 54 followers, I am telling 54 friends.
Blessings!!
~Miss Raquel
One of my favorite Christmas memories was going caroling with friends two years ago. I also enjoy making Hidden Treasure Cookies every Christmas with my family, and recieving new ornaments from my parents. And this year, one very exciting memory was getting my Girlhood in the mail!
Thank you for another great giveaway! I mentioned this on my blog.
One of my favorite Christmas memories involves my childhood. I was about 10 years old and my family was visiting my grandparents and my (youngest) aunt, who was only 4 years older than me. I loved being there at the big white farmhouse, even though it was always cold when we got out of bed in the morning. My brother is 6 years younger than me, so, at that time, both of us firmly believed in Santa. I’m sure the words, “You need to go to bed, so that Santa can come,” were uttered at least once that Christmas Eve. At one point, someone noticed a red light traveling through the sky and excitedly uttered, “It’s Santa’s sleigh!” Oh boy! My brother and I were so thrilled and my aunt played along nicely. After watching the “sleigh” cross the sky, we all ran inside and jumped into bed super fast! We must’ve gone to sleep fast enough because, sure enough, there were presents under the tree for us on Christmas morn.
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I think that our favorite memory is being made this year as we begin our first year celebrating Advent with a beautiful Nativity calendar and a story that keeps us on the edge of our seat every night as we learn more of Jesus’s birth. We are experiencing details of the “Christmas Story” that we have never thought about before! It is wonderful!
Every year, my family goes and looks at Christmas lights, and my husband makes thermoses of hot chocolate for all of us. We sing Christmas songs in the car all the way. It’s so simple, but I love this time with just the 4 of us.
Hi
My favorite memory is when we had are best friends over and stayed up till midnight talking, laughing and playing games.
Thanks ~Abigail~
I loved last Christmas. We had so much snow that we didn’t know what to do. Our family of 6 couldn’t fit into my husbands 4wheel drive, and we didn’t know how to get to my parents place in almost 3 feet of snow. Christmas Eve, my father-in-law decided to drive over to our place, and lend us his truck just so we wouldn’t miss Christmas with my family. It was so sweet…and to top it off as we were sitting by the fireplace surrounded by family, and beautiful snow outside…my dad asked our oldest Alexis who was 8yrs old, to read the Christmas story for us. She did a wonderful job, and read it perfectly! There is something so precious about your child reading from the word of God, and all her brothers and sisters listening with attentive ears and wonder. It felt as if we were back in time without all the distractions of life now a days. It was beautiful, sweet, and pure…
My favorite Christmas memories…both of my parents passed in 2001. My dad on 01/11/01 and my mother on 09/21/01. Here I am back in my childhood home. The best thing about Christmas is incorporating our childhood traditions with my children and grandchildren which includes the first eggnog of the year is enjoyed during the trimming of the tree. My grandchildren now make the special Christmas punch using their GeeGee’s (great grandmother’s) punchbowel and cups. We put baby Jesus in the manger together. We go around to the neighbors’ homes and sing Christmas Carols. Christmas Eve service is very important and we then go to my husband’s brother’s home and eat homemade tamales, rice and beans to incorporate the Native American traditions. Presents are opened at midnight there and we come home and sleep in and open our gifts after a special French breakfast pie made with mashed potatoes, sausage and onions in a super flaky pie crust. Football, a nap and then a fried turkey for dinner! With my birthday the next day (26th)and 4 more birthdays in December & the first week in January the party goes on and on…..
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is to eat a special meal as a family on Christmas Eve. We like to eat toasted sesame-seed bagels with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and avacado. But it wouldn’t matter what you ate–just having that special time together is lovely. After us kids go to bed, my mom sets the table all pretty for Christmas, and then the next morning, we eat a special breakfast. Eating special meals together is a sweet way to have family time.
Now I’ll tell a couple friends about this.
Merry Christmas!
I just realized that i need to add my email address. (I’m putting it into a different format to keep from getting spam)
Here it is:
theflowerfades AT gmail DOT com
One of my favorite Christmas experiences was when I was twelve and I visited Colorado for the first time. I got to spend it with wonderful Godly people, breathtaking white snow, and a scenery of mountains I will never forget.
His beloved,
Shani
one of my favorite christmas memories was when i ws ten and i went to work with my grandma (she worked at a farmers market) naer christmas, and i can remember eating oatmeal cream pies at 5 in the morning and dring hot chocolate while we listened to christmas music on the radion. one of the reasons that this was such a great memory, is that 4 months later she died, so this was the last christmas i spent with her
My dad was a man that seemed to just like things as they are. He didn’t do much out of the ordinary until Christmas. He made this holiday come alive for me. Now, most of it was around the gift giving but there was nothing that pleased him more than see his wife, daughter, or son open the gift they had been wanting for a while. We didn’t have much money. But my dad was an accountant so he knew how to budget so that he could shower us with the gifts he loved to give. He was also VERY creative about it. One year he bought my mom some very rare records and wrapped them up inside a huge box of canning jars. My mom had no clue. He would send my brother and I on scavenger hunts for our gifts. The most memorable for me, though, was the year I caught him playing Santa. We had gone to a grocery for some light shopping on Christmas. I was in the toy aisle by myself and saw my dad come in one of the entrances. My mom later asked where he was gone and he said he had gone to the hardware store. That seemed odd to me since the hardware store was on the other side from the entrance. We arrived home from the store there was a giant ping pong table in our living room and Santa had visited. I knew at that moment that is had been by dad all along creating those great memories. Although my husband and I don’t celebrate with Santa, I hold those memories very dear in my heart. He still makes Christmas a special time for the family. His favorite thing now is to capture it all on film and then just watch the pictures on his digital frame.
Every year our children participate in our church’s Christmas program. A few years ago we started driving around to look at Christmas lights on our way home. It has become a fun new tradition that everyone looks forward to!
Last year was our first Christmas with my oldest daughter being home with us since she was married, since they moved to Germany after their wedding. My parents were also here and we finally got to spend some quality family time with her, her new husband, my parents and our three younger children, one who hardly knew her because he was just two when she moved away. So this was a bonding Christmas for our family, especially since they had been gone for so long and even now are living out of state.
I am really looking forward to another nice visit this Christmas.
When I lived in Sweden in the 1990′s the family redecorated the house with everything. They even changed the curtains. It was cold and dark but the houses were filled with candle lights, red and greens and the most delicious food including spicy ginger bicuits, ginger bread houses and all kins of wonderful things. They celebrate on Christmas Eve which was so much fun with 4 little children in the house.
When I was growing up with spent many holidays with my dad’s youngest brother’s wife’s family. It was wonderful. I loved getting together and having traditional American food AND island food. My dad grew up on Maui and so did my auntie’s family.
One Christmas that we didn’t spend with my dad’s family was spent in Nebraska with my mom’s family. It was wonderful. We had snow, we had family and we took up at least four pews in the church.
Something that we do now is gather with my family, go to Church, take up two pews, have dinner with a few island treats thrown in, and then we go down and walk a street that does up the lights. Oh the lights. There are houses that proclaim the Lord’s birth, that have dancing flamingos, that have santas, one house has a blue/white theme for Hanukkah. It is always crowded, but everyone is in such good cheer.
My favorite Christmas memories include some of my family’s traditions… homemade pizza and Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, new pajamas and new ornaments, family get-togethers, games & Oplatki at Christmas dinner. Basically, celebrating the love and blessings of family.
One of the most treasured memories of Christmas time is the one when my sons and I spent the day with the Novak family. Their kindness and friendship towards us that day and in many other occassions has always been very special to me. Thank You!
Christmas…My favorite time of year…I remember one very special Christmas. I was around 10 or 11 years old..Coming from a very large family, the presents that we received had to be specially chosen or made and have a very special significance. Daddy had my younger brother and sister each take turns getting into his lap and gave us each 2 very small packages…the first was a watch..my very first I was so delighted..He told me..”this is to help you remember how important time is..use it wisely.”…..The next gift was a New Testament..This was my first very own Bible..then he said..”Make sure you spend TIME..reading and learning God’s word”… I will never forget that very special CHRIST filled CHRISTMAS!
There are so many memories. I believe that no one moment stands out. The traditions my family held as a child were consistent from year to year, and placed such a strong emphasis on Christ’s birth and on family, that I can’t think of Christmas without remembering those special gatherings. Stress-free, special times. I so miss that. We are now 2000 miles away from family. They still gather together each year. The families grow, loved ones marry in or are born to loving couples, and they all gather to make new memories based around the same emphasis: Christ and family.
Our favorite Christmas memories are last year and current. We just moved to Spain about 2 months before Christmas last year and some how all our Christmas decorations were left behind in long term storage. So we made all of our decorations by hand and we did the same this year. God does nothing by accident, everything is for a reason and we have really come together as a family while making our Christmas decorations each time. We talk about the true reason we have Christmas and have decommercialized our house dramatically. I did not know the true effect until my kids ( 10yrs, 12yrs, & 17yrs) stated that all they wanted for Christmas this year was one small item each and for us to spread the word of God to nonbelievers. God is good and I hope he continues to lose our worldly possessions
I called the other day to inquire about my subscription and talked to the sweetest person. She was very helpful.
The other year, my children made a small manger scene with thin pieces of scrapwood, without me knowing it. They had even snuck out the window to get some dried grass for the scene. On Christmas morning they had it all set up by the tree, with their playmobil people for Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. It was so sweet and I still use the little barn they made, although I have replaced the playmobil people with a boughten nativity set.
My most memorable memory is probably of when I was very young and my family were at my grandma’s house for Christmas. We would have hot cocoa and cinna buns for breakfast and we would have to wait forever to open our gifts. My brother and I would blow a special little horn and everyone would dig into the presents and start passing them around. My brother and I would also get things from around the house and wrap them for each other. Christmas’ were very special when I was young because it was just my mom, dad, me, and my brother, now it’s even more special because I have two more younger siblings to share it with.
My fondest Christmas wish was the year my husband was out to sea for Christmas and I went and served at the church handing out gifts to service member children and caroling around the base. It was such a joy to see children run to the windows when they heard us singing and to see their faces light up when they received their gifts. That year, I certainly felt God was with us. Thank you for another beautiful giveaway. May you be richly blessed for your generosity.
My favorite memory was when my family decided that we should start having a birthday for Jesus. We would go to the store and buy a pretty little cake and put candles on it. The first year we did it, my grandma was there and we sang and cut the cake at night and then ate chinese (a Christmas eve tradition). My family has always ate chinese on Christmas eve as a tradition. We all are still celebrating Jesus’ coming today.
Every Christmas my grandpa comes over to our house and we have a great big breakfast! Then we open our stocking and have hot chochlate, and light a fire,and listen to Christmas music, Then we open all our presents.
After lunch we would go to my Nanny’s for Christmas Dinner and open more presents thier.
Merry Christmas,
Sarah
My most memorable Christmas… I was eight years old. I really wanted a ping pong table for Christmas(looking back this was ridiculous as our house was tiny), but my mother was very ill and in the hospital. She had been diagnosed with cancer. We didn’t expect to have her home for Christmas. My sister, brothers and I came home Christmas eve night from church. Dad caught us in the hallway and took us in the kitchen. He said he had a surprise for us in the living room. I just knew it was a ping pong table! Better than that my mother was sitting in our recliner in the living room. We cried (for joy). We only had one more Christmas with her. I’ll never forget it and it still makes me cry.
Thank you for your fine publication! I have five daughters and myself who enjoy it.
Contact me at thschmidt@juno.com
Nancy Schmidt
One of my special Christmas memories bring me back to when I was a little girl living in the big north woods of Wisconsin at my family’s resort. It was already getting dark, and my dad was working on hanging the big colored Christmas lights on our house and lodge. Mom had joined us kids as we were playing and sledding outside. To our great delight she joined us. It made it more fun to go sledding down our little hill with Mom’s exuberance! Mom seemed to enjoy the beauty of the moment and helped us to see it as well. She started reverently singing “O Holy Night” as we admired the glowing Christmas lights, the warm feeling of our family being together, and the beauty of the snow laden woods that surrounded us.
Typically, on Christmas morning there will be an unwrapped present sitting in front of our tree with our stockings. The Christmas I was 8, this present happened to be a piano. That morning I woke up, and my loose tooth fell out. I held it while I went out to see what we had gotten. I took one look and ran back to my parent’s bedroom, exclaiming, “Mom! Dad! I lost a tooth!”
I was more excited about losing a tooth – that can happen anytime -than getting a piano for Christmas.
Also, every year my siblings and I put together a gingerbread house (one of those kits), and then after Christmas have fun destroying it.
We read the nativity story before any gifts are even touched. The youngest child gets one gift first opens it, then thanks the gift giver. Then we move on the the second youngest. This takes time but it is relaxed, the fire is going, Christmas music is playing and it keeps Christ in Christmas!