I'm proud of you...

Such simple words, but they can mean so much.

For Christmas some people celebrate the birth of Jesus and some celebrate it as a wonderful time filled with family and friends but I refuse to spend another year celebrating it as an overexcited, overstressed, overspending consumer! This year, we are going back to the real meaning of Christmas! I'm trying to take the consumerism out of Christmas this year (as much as possible) and focus on what the holiday really means.

Because of my goals for this Christmas, we are doing test runs of all the recipes and crafts that we will be giving to people this year. Yesterday we made homemade caramel corn and homemade marshmallows. First of all, yum! The trial runs are loved and appreciated by my family and neighbors!

My dad's cousin asked me for these recipes after I posted pictures on facebook, and I sent them to her along with a short story of where they came from and why we love them. She sent a short and sweet reply and the last sentence really resonated with me..."you look like you have some good ideas for Christmas, I'm proud of you""I'm proud of you..." Wow! Amazing, how at that moment God touched my heart with those four small words. They really sunk it and made me think. When is the last time someone said that to me? When is the last time I said that to someone? I've never felt terribly "proud" of anything I've done. I'm proud of Hadley and Lydia, and I'm proud of Keith, and I'm proud of my home, but really proud of myself...probably not, and that's okay. Really. I have a great life that I LOVE, and I wouldn't want to be "full of pride" but at that moment I really felt good. This is just a reminder that what we say to people matters. I don't think Cindy was trying to touch my heart when she said that, she was just saying a kind word that came naturally to her.

Take your words very seriously! You never know who's listening!God Bless!