Learning

• How to Survive a Blizzard in Your Vehicle from The Survival Mom. This could be life saving information for anyone who lives in an area with inclement weather.
• 5 Writing Lessons from a Vocal Coach by Kathryn Craft for Writer UnBoxed.

Living

• Dads, Give Your Daughters the Gift of Football by D. C. McAllister. (In our family, you have to replace "football" with "board games" but the principle is the same.)
• Inspire, Not Require for the Homeschool Parent by Melissa Camara Wilkins for Simple Homeschool.
• Ask Auntie Leila: Should I Use Affection as a Discipline Tool? By Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter. Brilliant answer.
• How Our Siblings Shape Us by Naomi Schaefer Riley for Family Studies.
• My husband sent me a link to this one: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (The Real Reason for the Forty-Hour Workweek) from True Activist.
• Parenting Kiddos Who Sabotage Big Days by Jen Hatmaker. None of our children are adopted, but this one resonated with me anyway.
• The Manager in My Home and Five Words That Changed Everything from Hands Free Mama.

Loving

• 10 More Extraordinary Women Detail Their Morning Routines by Mollie Hemingway.
• How to Offend Just About Anyone on the Internet in 3 Easy Steps by Kris at WUHS. It's funny because it's true.
• Three Things Not to Ask Someone With a Weird Name (and Three Things to Say Instead) by Jimmie at Jimmie's Collage.
• 10 Things You Really Shouldn't Say to Moms With Multiple Children by Wendy Jessen. We've heard it already, and it wasn't funny then either.
• 7 Things the Middle Class Can't Afford Anymore by Erika Rawes. I hadn't really thought about it much, but these are pretty much all true for us.
• My Favorite Monarch: George VI by Cindy Stockman at Royal Central. He may not be my most favorite, but he's definitely in my top 5 as well.
• Jesus is the Key to the Bible, some quotes from J.C. Ryle.

Christmas

• Seven Ways to Simplify Your Christmas by Jayme Metzgar for The Federalist.
• I love this lesser known carol Kevin DeYoung wrote about this week: Of the Father's Love Begotten.
• Always Advent and Never Christmas? by Andie Roeder Moody. As I've said before, I don't observe Advent. But it's interesting that the protestants (and my fellow Baptists) who do seem to be getting it wrong in a fairly significant way.
• Still looking for gift ideas? I liked this list: My Top 10 Gifts for Writers by Pamela Meyers at Novel Rocket. (And don't forget the list I put together: Not Just Books: A Book Lover's Gift Guide)
• This is a clever gift idea from an engineer who thinks of everything.
• 4 Ways to Reduce Stress and Materialism This Christmas by Nicole Russell for The Federalist.
• The Darkness of Christmas by Courtney Reissig at TGC.
• 5 British Christmas Words and Phrases Not Widely Used in the U.S. by Laurence Brown at Mind the Gap. "Happy Christmas" and "Father Christmas" are familiar to me, probably from all the British books I read and shows I watch, but I didn't have any idea about the "Lapland" thing.
• 8 Arguments in Favor of December 25th Being the Day of Christ's Birth by Joshua Gibbs for CiRCE Institute. I don't find all of these arguments persuasive, but I love the discussion.
• The Flowchart for Dealing with Holiday Greetings This Season. This really ought to be handed out at the grocery store and any public gathering.

I can't let this post finish without wishing my beautiful oldest daughter a Very Happy Birthday. I am now officially the mother of a teenager (something I will be able to say for the next 19 years, at least. WOW. I feel old and inadequate all at once now.) .

She's my right hand girl (even though she's a lefty) and I am incredibly blessed to be her mom. These 13 years have flown by but I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.

What caught your eye around the web this week?

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