Christmas is right around the corner, and I have to say that I really do love this time of year. This morning I was sitting in our living room sipping my coffee and enjoying the way the lights of our Christmas Tree dance and reflect off the ceiling and the windows in the peaceful darkness of the early morning. While all was calm and all was peaceful (at least for a few precious minutes until the littles woke up!) there was also a hint of sadness around the rough edges of my heart. The places … [Read more...]
How to Have a Meaningful and Simple Christmas
By Elizabeth of RunningFamily.net, Contributing Writer Since we have given away over half of our household items (190 bags to charity), we have gained a whole new perspective on our consumer culture. Basically, it stinks. Yes, we need stuff to live as human beings, but truly over-abundance has become the curse of our post-modern world. Then comes Christmas. How do we celebrate Christmas without giving into the consumer culture when we have children who want presents? And what … [Read more...]
Should Christians Love Shopping?
The biggest shopping day of the year is right around the corner. And lots of people are talking about whether or not we should go out shopping on Thanksgiving and what it means about our culture and society that Black Friday is becoming almost a bigger Holiday than the one that we will celebrate tomorrow. I overhead a lady one time gushing about how much she LOOOOOVES (insert hands pressed to chest and eyes squinted shut) shopping and how she was SO excited for Black Friday because she just … [Read more...]
Creative, Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap Options {Green in 365: Christmas}
This is Day 321 of the Green in 365 series! By Hilary Kimes Bernstein of Accidentally Green Christmas is only 5 weeks away, so you’ll be wrapping gifts before you know it! Now’s an excellent time – if you have a spare moment – to start thinking about greener ways to wrap gifts. Since there’s no hurry yet, you can start looking through your house now for some creative ways to recycle and reuse materials for holiday gift wrapping. The fantastic news about gift giving … [Read more...]
Planning for a Green Christmas (Green in 365)
This is Day 314 of the Green in 365 series! By Renee from Joyful Mom, Contributing Writer Here I am: 6 weeks away from Christmas, and I don't quite have a plan! How does this happen every year? Last year I downloaded a "six weeks to the perfect Christmas planner" and did not use it. I looked at it - each and every day. For me, all that planning and boxes to check off, that system to enjoy the holidays... did not create joy. So here I am. No plan. The best part of not having a … [Read more...]
Merry Christmas!
From our family to yours! I'm so thankful for you, dear Live Renewed readers, and I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior! Also, be sure to check back on Wednesday for an awesome Kindle Fire and Ebook Library giveaway! You won't want to miss it! Merry Christmas! __________________________________________ If you'd like to learn more about living green and living frugally I'd love to have you as a Live Renewed reader! You can subscribe, either … [Read more...]
Your Green Resource {12.20.12}
Only five days until Christmas! As I mentioned before, I'm on my blogging break for these two weeks, partly as a way to simplify my holiday season, and also to get geared up for the Green in 365 series starting next year! So, we're just going to dive right in to Your Green Resource this week! Remember when you link up your post to Your Green Resource it’s shown here at Live Renewed, and on all of these lovely ladies’ blogs: Beth at Red and Honey Megan at Sorta Crunchy Mindy at … [Read more...]
At Simple Homemade: Christmas Keepsake Ornament
Today I'm over at Simple Homemade sharing a fun and easy Keepsake Ornament you can make with your kids this Christmas. From the post: Christmas is right around the corner and we are getting excited at our house. This will be my baby's first Christmas so I wanted to make a special homemade keepsake for her. I saw the idea for making a footprint impression in salt dough on Pinterest, and thought it would make a great Baby's First Christmas ornament so we can remember how little she was on her … [Read more...]
Simplify the Season: Slow Down and Enjoy
This is Week 6 of the Simplify the Season series. Well Christmas is just one week away, and one of the ways that I've decided to Simplify my Season is to take a blogging break for the last two weeks of the year. I'll still be posting over the next few weeks, but I've worked ahead and scheduled my posts so that I can spend time away from the computer. I also know that this is a season when many people step away from their computers to spend time with their family and enjoying their … [Read more...]
21 Ways to Green Your Christmas Celebrations
It's the most wonderful time of the year. But, it's also the time of year when we consume more stuff, and produce more waste, than the rest of the year combined. What if this year we made a conscious effort to be more intentional with our celebrations to reduce our consumption and our waste, to simplify our celebrations, and to enjoy the most important things, which aren't really things at all? Here are 21 ways that you can simplify and green your Christmas celebrations this … [Read more...]
