WELCOME TO THE COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS
To start things off, I wanted to include an interesting analogy I found in Stephen R. Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families”. He writes:
“Imagine for a moment that you’re trying to fell a tree. You’re sawing through this huge, thick tree trunk, back and forth, back and forth you pull this heavy saw. You’ve been laboring at it all day long. You’ve hardly stopped for a minute. You’ve been working and sweating, and now you’re about halfway through. But you’re feeling so tired that you don’t see how you’re going to last another five minutes. You pause for a moment to catch your breath.
“You look up and see another person a few yards away who has also been sawing a tree. You can’t believe your eyes! This person has sawed almost completely through his tree trunk! He started about the same time as you did and his tree is about the same size as yours, but he stopped to rest every hour or so while you kept working away. Now he’s almost through, and you’re only halfway there.
“What’s going on?” You ask incredulously. “How in the world have you gotten so much done than I have?” You didn’t even stay with it all the time. You stopped to rest every hour! How come?”
The man turns and smiles. “Yes, “he replies. “You saw me stop every hour to rest, but what you didn’t see was that every time I rested, I also sharpened the saw!”
Mr. Covey goes on to state that “sharpening the saw” is so important in our family relationships – this is the time that we set aside for traditions and rituals and how these bind our family together.
The Christmas season can feel the same way. We work so hard at trying to get things just so, then we’re so tired that we don’t enjoy it as much and we miss out on the things we really want to do. Maybe this year would be a good time to start a “Christmas countdown” with your family. The “countdown” begins on Dec. 1st. There are several different Christmas ideas for each day. Included for each day is a Scripture, a thought or story, a recipe, a gift idea and a tradition idea. You can also add or change however you’d like. The Scripture and story could be read as a family at a specific time of the day so that it is remembered throughout the month. If you miss a day, just pick up the next day. You can incorporate the other ideas however you like.
Merry Christmas!
Spreading the joy of families throughout the world. Hoping to give you and your family helpful tips and ideas to simplify your life!
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COUNT DOWN TO CHRISTMAS
WELCOME TO THE COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS
To start things off, I wanted to include an interesting analogy I found in Stephen R. Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families”. He writes:
“Imagine for a moment that you’re trying to fell a tree. You’re sawing through this huge, thick tree trunk, back and forth, back and forth you pull this heavy saw. You’ve been laboring at it all day long. You’ve hardly stopped for a minute. You’ve been working and sweating, and now you’re about halfway through. But you’re feeling so tired that you don’t see how you’re going to last another five minutes. You pause for a moment to catch your breath.
“You look up and see another person a few yards away who has also been sawing a tree. You can’t believe your eyes! This person has sawed almost completely through his tree trunk! He started about the same time as you did and his tree is about the same size as yours, but he stopped to rest every hour or so while you kept working away. Now he’s almost through, and you’re only halfway there.
“What’s going on?” You ask incredulously. “How in the world have you gotten so much done than I have?” You didn’t even stay with it all the time. You stopped to rest every hour! How come?”
The man turns and smiles. “Yes, “he replies. “You saw me stop every hour to rest, but what you didn’t see was that every time I rested, I also sharpened the saw!”
Mr. Covey goes on to state that “sharpening the saw” is so important in our family relationships – this is the time that we set aside for traditions and rituals and how these bind our family together.
The Christmas season can feel the same way. We work so hard at trying to get things just so, then we’re so tired that we don’t enjoy it as much and we miss out on the things we really want to do. Maybe this year would be a good time to start a “Christmas countdown” with your family. The “countdown” begins on Dec. 1st. There are several different Christmas ideas for each day. Included for each day is a Scripture, a thought or story, a recipe, a gift idea and a tradition idea. You can also add or change however you’d like. The Scripture and story could be read as a family at a specific time of the day so that it is remembered throughout the month. If you miss a day, just pick up the next day. You can incorporate the other ideas however you like.
Merry Christmas!
To start things off, I wanted to include an interesting analogy I found in Stephen R. Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families”. He writes:
“Imagine for a moment that you’re trying to fell a tree. You’re sawing through this huge, thick tree trunk, back and forth, back and forth you pull this heavy saw. You’ve been laboring at it all day long. You’ve hardly stopped for a minute. You’ve been working and sweating, and now you’re about halfway through. But you’re feeling so tired that you don’t see how you’re going to last another five minutes. You pause for a moment to catch your breath.
“You look up and see another person a few yards away who has also been sawing a tree. You can’t believe your eyes! This person has sawed almost completely through his tree trunk! He started about the same time as you did and his tree is about the same size as yours, but he stopped to rest every hour or so while you kept working away. Now he’s almost through, and you’re only halfway there.
“What’s going on?” You ask incredulously. “How in the world have you gotten so much done than I have?” You didn’t even stay with it all the time. You stopped to rest every hour! How come?”
The man turns and smiles. “Yes, “he replies. “You saw me stop every hour to rest, but what you didn’t see was that every time I rested, I also sharpened the saw!”
Mr. Covey goes on to state that “sharpening the saw” is so important in our family relationships – this is the time that we set aside for traditions and rituals and how these bind our family together.
The Christmas season can feel the same way. We work so hard at trying to get things just so, then we’re so tired that we don’t enjoy it as much and we miss out on the things we really want to do. Maybe this year would be a good time to start a “Christmas countdown” with your family. The “countdown” begins on Dec. 1st. There are several different Christmas ideas for each day. Included for each day is a Scripture, a thought or story, a recipe, a gift idea and a tradition idea. You can also add or change however you’d like. The Scripture and story could be read as a family at a specific time of the day so that it is remembered throughout the month. If you miss a day, just pick up the next day. You can incorporate the other ideas however you like.
Merry Christmas!