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?
Linking up with:
Thanks for linking up! I missed you last week. I am going to read every one of these posts, except maybe the homeschooling ones, when I have a few minutes to myself. I always love your curation.
It's my David's birthday, too!
Happy Birthday to David!
I think this is the fewest homeschool specific posts I've ever done (one?) although there are several posts by homeschool moms. Can't get away from 'em. ;)
Thanks so much for hosting faithfully every week!
Happy birthday to your daughter!
I read a couple of your links. You always have good links! I read the one about the middle class. Yes, denTal work is huge. Our co-pay for my daughter's wisdom teeth was awful, but they had to come out or it would have ruined all the money we spent fixing her teeth. So much money.
I also read the advent one. I am a confessional Lutheran have been observing advent forever. (Slight exaggeration, lol) Advent means coming or arrival. We remember the first and look for the second coming of Christ during advent. We talk a lot about repentance and hope. "Comfort, comfort ye my people" is a theme. Christmas extends until January 6 which is Epiphany. Anyway, I think the big pull for authors like Ann Voskamp is money. Call me cynical. I am happy to see people embrace the idea of Advent and the liturgical year because I think it is beautiful, but the season has always been there. It isn't new. Maybe I missed a big part of the article, but it seems to have touched a nerve. :)
I agree about the money. I don't want to be too cynical, but it does seem like some people who didn't observe Advent in the past are now observing, just as they have related products. If that's the case, it's no wonder they forget about the 12 days of Christmas until Jan. 6.
If I observed the liturgical calendar I'd be all about those 12 days! ;)
I've spent a couple years conflicted about Advent and the liturgical year until last year when I found the history of the reformed tradition in matters of liturgical year, then what my church made sense and I just embraced it. :) I understand that the liturgical year stuff can be beautiful, but if it's not part of the tradition you're in and it's not part of the corporate body life, I think most of the point is gone. Our church and our family uses the word "Advent" and starts it four Sundays before Christmas, but we celebrate it like a month of Christmas. :) We do an advent wreath and an advent calendar to count down, but it's all celebration (chocolate every day!) and no fasting. We do special family readings over the advent candles after dinner, but they focus on the prophecies Jesus' birth fulfilled or the Line of Promise. It's a month about Jesus and who He is, a month of baking and giving and partying and preparing for the big day ourselves and for others. But our continental reformed tradition has, since the reformation has celebrated Christmas and Easter as high church days, but consciously abandoned annual, corporate, required penitential seasons.
I think a lot of the current marketing of Advent shows the confusion of American Christians without any tradition at all. They just pick and choose an eclectic mix, which ends up missing the point of the various practices they pick. I think people have weird guilts that come out at Christmas - first-world guilt - and they can feel better about it by being sad and dark and "non-materialist". But giving good gifts to your children symbolizes God the Father giving good gifts to us, including Christ.
Thanks for linking to my engineer's gift post! I look forward to reading the other links, especially the ones on gifts for book lovers and writers.
Thanks for including a link to my engineer's mistletoe gift idea! I look forward to reading several of the other links, especially the ones for writers and book lovers. Merry Christmas!
Sorry for the comment trouble - got caught in my spam filter for some odd reason. Merry Christmas to you!