Merry Christmas Wishes

Longwood Gardens conservatory Christmas tree and flowers

Merriest Christmas and happiest holiday wishes to you and yours! May your heart be filled with Jesus' love, joy and peace! We enjoyed a little trip to Longwood Gardens, PA this month and, as usual, were amazed with their creative displays and beautiful flowers and holiday trees.

Watercolor Christmas tree by me

I've been dabbling in a bit of art and hope you will consider the Merry Merry tree above my holiday card to you! I've been simplifying my life and sending out fewer cards by mail but I like that almost everyone has access to my blog.

My art inspired by a Pinterest post

I think I used colored pencil for the image above and the reference photo was in Pinterest. I probably saved it to my "Christmas" board, which you can find here.

Watercolor by me, inspired by a YouTube video

This was a fun experiment. I wish I'd saved the reference video. If you're the artist, please post your link in the comments below or email me privately and I'll edit this post to include your link. The same video inspired the next watercolor painting too.

Another YouTube-inspired watercolor painting

"Merry" was clearly my theme for this Christmas. Loving Jesus definitely makes me more merry and joyful. May God bless you and all you do, this Christmas and always!


Related posts:
Christmas at Longwood: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-at-longwood-gardens.html
National Christmas tree: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/12/merry-christmas-national-tree-trip.html
Christmas cat cuteness: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-cat-santa-and-reindeer.html

My One Word for 2019

Beaming light: photo by Pellini of MorgueFile

My guiding word for the year is "light." I'm aiming for a lightening up in spirit, mind, body and home and hopefully lighting a bit of our world with acts of kindness. I'm praying that God's light and love will shine through me to all those He puts in my path.

Traveling sunset with visible beams: photo by me

Do you have a guiding word for the year? Please share if you do!

May God bless you in this new year and always!


Related posts:
New Year prayer haiku poems: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-years-prayer-haikus.html
New Year blessing and poems: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/12/happy-new-year-blessing-update-and.html
New Year poems: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/01/two-new-year-haikus-inspired-by-god-and.html

Merry Christmas! National Tree Trip Photos

2018 National Christmas Tree by the Capitol Building in DC

 Merriest Christmas wishes to you! May God bless you and all you do this Christmas and always!

Oregon ornament looks hand painted

Today my husband and I went to Washington DC to see what we call the "National Christmas Tree." I think it's really called something else but the sign that's usually there wasn't present when we visited. The sign tells us where the tree is from (usually a different state each year) and what school(s) provided ornaments (mostly handmade) as well as the height of the tree. There was a definite "Oregon" theme to the ornaments so I think that's where the tree came from this year.

Jesus loves everyone wagon wheel ornament

This was my favorite ornament because it gets to the heart of Christmas. "Jesus loves everyone" is so true. He loves you! For more information on Jesus' love for you I recommend the site www.peacewithgod.net and they have volunteers available to chat 24/7.

Three-tiered wooden ornament

I saw a couple of these neat hand-painted and three-tiered wooden ornaments. Of course, the tree is so tall that I could only see the ones near the bottom so there may be more.

Cute Christmas doggies

Based on the languages I overheard, there were people from all over the world visiting our tree and some locals even brought their festively dressed canine friends.

National Tree zoom photo

After we left the tree area the sun came out and I took this photo through some trees. I know it's not technically a good photo but I like the sunshine on the ornaments and thought you might too.

Thank you for visiting! May all your Christmas dreams come true!

Related posts:
Funny caracal Christmas: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2011/12/funny-caracal-christmas-photos.html
Cute Christmas cats: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-cat-santa-and-reindeer.html
My favorite Longwood Christmas: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-at-longwood-gardens.html
National Christmas tree 2013: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/national-christmas-tree-with-childrens.html
Christmas blessings: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-blessings.html

Kindness Challenge Wrap Up ~ Days 23-31

March passed so quickly I can hardly believe it. I completed 31 days of the 30 day kindness challenge and, for the vast majority of the time, enjoyed the process. The saying kind things to my husband and doing kind things for my husband were the easy parts. The challenging part was not saying anything negative to him (or about him, but that was easier than the to him part).

Yes, every now and then I still want to complain to my husband, but he's so much happier with me not complaining at all that I think I'll keep it going. I can't claim to be complaint free but I've narrowed my complaining audience to the Lord and a few close friends (though this has made me more aware of complaining and I 'm making efforts at complaining less with them too).

There's a difference between stating facts and complaining. I do have to sometimes state negative facts. But I try to do so compassionately. It takes effort but I think it's worth it.

I learned some surprising things about kindness (and unkindness) from Shaunti Feldhahn's The Kindness Challenge book and highly recommend both it and her challenge.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you and all you do!

Related posts:
Kindness challenge intro: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/march-kindness-challenge-invitation.html
Kindness challenge week 1:  https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/kindness-challenge-days-1-6.html
Kindness challenge week 2: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/kindness-challenge-days-7-13.html
Kindness challenge week 3: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/kindness-challenge-days-14-22.html

Note / Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored or affiliate post. I was not asked or paid to write it or do the challenge. It was my own personal choice. All opinions are my own. 

Kindness Challenge Days 14 - 22

March is just flying by and as each day passes I feel like the kindness challenge activities become more ingrained and habitual. I think I'll continue this as a way of life with my husband after the challenge ends.

My favorite ongoing result of the challenge so far is that I think my husband is whistling more often. I think that means he's happier, at least a little. He's always been a whistler. It just seems more frequent.When I hear him whistling I know he's content and that makes me happy too.

Related posts:
Kindness challenge intro: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/march-kindness-challenge-invitation.html
Week 1: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/kindness-challenge-days-1-6.html
Week 2: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/kindness-challenge-days-7-13.html

Kindness Challenge Days 7-13

Hello, friends! Thankfully this week wasn't as dramatic as last week. My husband loves being the recipient of my kindness challenge activities.... so much that he seems to see it as free reign to add to my to do list!  I guess he figures that because I'm supposed to perform an act of kindness for him every day anyway, he gets to pick what the act will be. At first I thought... hey, it wasn't supposed to be on demand! But it is making him happy and he's not being unreasonable so I'm glad to help. 

This means that I've doubled my activity commitment because I still feel like doing something to surprise him each day too. But he's worth the effort and I'm 100% glad I'm doing this challenge.

I hope you have a day filled with kindness!

May God bless you and all you do!

Related posts:
Overview: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/march-kindness-challenge-invitation.html
Week one: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/kindness-challenge-days-1-6.html
Creating a loving environment: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/01/creating-loving-atmosphere.html

Kindness Challenge Days 1-6

In my last post, I mentioned that March started with a bang. It sure did! I had planned a nice calm morning to ease into the challenge. Unfortunately, my kindness intention was tested before I even got out of bed.

First I woke with a migraine headache. Pain is not conducive to kindness, but neither is it an excuse to be unkind. I determined to stick to my commitment to the kindness challenge despite the pain.

Then, as soon as I got out of bed, a cold breeze blew over me, leading me to quickly identify a major security violation. I wanted to reprimand the perpetrator but instead determined to pray first and discuss the issue in the kindest way possible.

A few minutes later, Braveheart the cat started getting sick. And she got sick all over the place, in at least three different rooms and nine different places. My poor cat clearly suffered as she made pitiful cries between heaves and I thought I'd have to take her to the emergency vet. Only I couldn't drive because my migraine also caused visual disturbances.

So I had to call my husband. And be kind. And not say anything unkind to him. The way I interpreted this challenge meant I could present the facts, but not complain. I guess there's a reason it's called a "challenge." My husband reacted compassionately and even offered to come right home, fix the security violation (I couldn't reach the source), determine whether Braveheart really needed an emergency veterinarian appointment and help clean up the cat messes (wow!).

By the time he got home, my migraine medicine had kicked in and Braveheart was drinking water, keeping it down and enjoying my attention. She got up and walked over to him with her tail up so we decided she was going to be ok. We both agreed to pay extra attention to her and be extra alert to her eating habits. He did everything he'd promised to do on the phone and went back to work. And as I type this, I am filled with gratitude and thankful to God for leading me to this Kindness Challenge.

If I had reacted differently, my husband probably would have too and the day might have kept spiraling downward. Instead, I felt like he really listened and cared and that reinforced my determination to reward him with kindness.  

Days two through six were easy compared to day one but they weren't challenge free. I've been meditating on Bible verses about kindness and praying even more than usual. I haven't been perfect at this but when I slip I apologize and I think it's going very well. 

I hope you have a day filled with kindness, love, joy and peace! May God bless you and all you do!

Related posts:
Kindness Challenge Invitation: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2018/03/march-kindness-challenge-invitation.html
Braveheart and the Sandman wrestling: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/08/cute-kittens-wrestle-and-surrender.html
Loving atmosphere: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/01/creating-loving-atmosphere.html