A Merry Thankful Christmas to you

Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is here!! It’s easy to get caught up in the flurry of activities these fun holidays bring. As a busy (and pregnant) Mom, I’m trying to keep things simple, which is challenging! While running between school and church events, I’m trying to focus on the true meaning of the season – that Jesus Christ came to dwell among us in absolute humility because He loves us so much.

This Fall I went through the Beth Moore Bible study, “A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwelling Place”. The message was clear – since the beginning of man’s sinful choices that banned us from the Garden of Eden, God has desired to dwell among us, to be close to us. In the Old Testament, it was through the Jewish tabernacle. In the New Testament, Jesus is the “tent”, the fleshly tabernacle, His way of dwelling among us. And now, because of Christ’s sacrifice, he can dwell in our hearts until we see Him face to face in heaven. What a precious gift! This makes me want to shout:

This was the Christmas card I designed in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for our family this year. It was a fun typography project, using the font family Champignon. It has lots of fun swashes and curly cues. It’s available for free here.

This year we made some angel lollipop holders for Christmas, in the same vein as our Valentine butterflies. The angel was designed in Adobe Illustrator and cut with my awesome Silhouette SD. It was a nice handout for my kids’ classmates.

I also used my Silhouette SD to cut out some fun gift card “purses”. The shape is available on the Silhouette online store.

And I made this gift card holder at my last MOPs meeting. I don’t know who originally designed it, but it’s super cute! The best part is the handy 2-pocket “file” inside. We used an A-2 envelope with the sides cut off, sealed it, folded it in half and glued it to the middle of the folded card. One pocket can be for a note, one pocket can be for the gift card. Or put dinner and movie gift cards inside for a “date night” package. Such a great idea!

Back to the real reason for celebrating Christmas - can you imagine putting your vulnerable newborn baby in the hands of sinful humanity? Never! And yet, that is what God did. And He does that every time a new baby is born to an imperfect human being, of which I am about to experience again. Our fourth baby is due in January. It’s a boy! For this blessing, we are truly…

My silly daughter wore this to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. They were available on my Etsy shop for a short while too. A custom order for “Thankful” is always available, just contact me through my Etsy shop.

I don’t know how I’m going to juggle four kids and design work, but I know God is bigger than all my shortcomings. I trust that He will surely guide me! As Colossians 3:15 says,

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”