Christmas Archives - Holley Gerth

Who Else Wants a Less Stressful Christmas?

The best way to celebrate the birth of the Child is with faith like a child.

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

Confession: I often approach the Christmas season like a project. I want everything to look just like the holiday special I saw on television or the spread from the magazine. I make lists of all I need to do. I envision perfectly wrapped packages and lovely treats lining the kitchen counters. The house will stay clean and the lights will glow. My celebration of the Savior will be as peaceful as the nativity scene sitting serenely on my fireplace mantle.

But invariably chaos breaks out. Nothing goes as planned. My efforts fall short. I end up frustrated and stressed. Then I feel like I’ve let God down—that I somehow haven’t fulfilled His vision for what Christmas should be. Yet as I watched my giddy nephews build the messiest, most lop-sided ginger bread house I’d ever seen I remembered the words of Jesus, “Let the little children come to Me. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14).

I realized all over again in that moment that childlike faith is what God wants and it must be different than what I often picture. Surely it’s messier, wilder and more full of grace. It doesn’t care so much about the result as the relationship. It makes room for laughter and chases away expectations. It’s about delight and wonder, humility and self-forgetfulness.

I’m not entirely sure about the fate of the infamous gingerbread house. I didn’t bring it home with me but I did take a truth that’s setting my heart free: The best way to celebrate the birth of the Child is with faith like a child.

XOXO
Holley Gerth

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Can I send you a gift this Christmas?

If you need an extra dose of encouragement, I’ve created this with you in mind: an exclusive, limited-time-only ebook called Hope for the Holidays.

It’s free! Find all the details right here.

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You’re invited to join the “Let’s Have Coffee” link-up! Simply write a post that has the kind of encouragement you’d share with a friend over coffee (the link-up goes live at 5:30am CT every Wednesday, and you can view the Link-Up Guidelines here). Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.

After you link-up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked just before yours. Thanks, friends!

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When the World Seems Dark, Let’s Remember Light Always Wins in the End

by Holley 13 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

Hard news drifts in from the television that’s on in the other room as I sit at my desk and try to write. Heartbreaking headlines. Scary statistics. Pessimistic predictions. It seems peace is nowhere to be found on this planet and the night is anything but silent.

Feeling overwhelmed and helpless I silently ask, “Lord, what do You want me to do about all of this?” And it seems I hear a quiet whisper within my heart: “The only way to get rid of darkness is to add more light.”

Our Savior knows there will always be news headlines like the ones I heard. They existed the night He was born as a baby in Bethlehem and will continue until He comes again. But He also knows that because of what He did on the cross and through His resurrection the darkness has already been defeated.

So every time we see a Christmas light this year let’s remember this invitation and celebration: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). The darkness will not last forever. The light always wins in the end. And we can all make this world a little brighter wherever we are today.

Amen?

XOXO
Holley Gerth

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If Thanksgiving was hard for you this year or if you need an extra dose of encouragement as we look toward Christmas, I hope my free ebook will be just what you’re looking for!

For a limited time, this new ebook — Hope for the Holidays — is free! Get all the details here.

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After you link-up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked just before yours. Thanks, friends!

{Want to share a word of encouragement on Twitter? Click this link and then tweet!}

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Christmas Hope

by Holley 63 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

I pull the nativity set from the box, releasing it from its blanket of bubble wrap. The pieces are ceramic. Pure white. The donkey is missing half an ear. It belonged to my grandmother and every year I think of her when I set it on my shelf.

She had polio at age twenty-eight and spent most of her years in a wheelchair. I loved the patterns her wheels left in the carpet, like a trail to somewhere secret and magical.

A pastor came to visit her in the hospital. He said, “Frances, this can make you bitter or better.” She would always say, with a twinkle in her eyes, “I chose better.” I run my fingers across the baby in the manger as I tell myself this story again. The Jesus in this nativity will always mean hope to me because of it.

It seems every nativity set comes with a story. Maybe it’s an heirloom full of memories, a special purchase on an outing that brings back a cocoa-scented moment, a relic from childhood with beloved dust in the cracks, a gift from a friend that came in a package with a red bow on top.

What I love about all these nativities is that Jesus is unique in each one. In my nativity He is hope and to someone else He might be a reminder of peace and to you He could be comfort and joy. Oh, who He is doesn’t change. But how His love reveals itself in our lives is different in each of our hearts, each of our homes. This is beautiful to me. A kind of Christmas mystery that I will never fully understand on this spinning, broken earth.

When you think of Jesus, what’s a word that comes to mind like “hope” does for me? I’d love for you to share your word by leaving a comment on this post. (Subscribers, to leave a comment please click here to visit the blog post.) This Christmas Jesus is my…(hope, peace, joy, help, Savior, etc.).

I arrange the pieces of the nativity. I step back and smile. Then I set Jesus at the center, exactly where He should be.

Merry Christmas to you and those you love. I’m so grateful for you.

XOXO

Holley Gerth

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Right now, we’re doing a special link-up series to celebrate Fiercehearted: Live Fully, Love Bravely. You’re a fiercehearted woman so I’m asking you to pour out a little love and courage with your words every Wednesday {the link-up goes live at 5:30am CST}. Simply write an encouraging blog post, especially if it’s about living fully and loving bravely, and then share it here. Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.

When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!

I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth!

{click to tweet that you’re joining me here today}

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What Gift Can You Give Yourself this Christmas?

by Holley 31 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

Gift-giving is not my strong suit. I stand in the aisles of stores slack-jawed with my eyes glazed over. I don’t know how to choose between the Cranberry Cinnamon Scone candle or the Christmas Cookie one. I just get hungry and go home empty-handed. Or if I dare to pick one it turns out to actually smell like the poor old pumpkin that has been on the porch since Halloween.

I’m not only like this with gifts for other people; I’m the same way with myself. I need quiet and instead I say “yes” to one more event on the calendar. I desperately want peace and instead make a to-do list so long it rivals Santa’s. I long for joy and yet I tell myself the holidays need to be perfect until I’m gritting my teeth and stress-eating candy canes leftover from last year. Ever been there?

So I, quite audaciously, decided to pause and intentionally ask this question: “What gift am I going to give myself this Christmas?”

I already have pink fuzzy socks and flannel pajama pants with hearts on them so I settled on this: Permission to rest.

What does rest look like to me? It’s the little things: a nap, a cup of tea, a few moments sitting with my husband on the couch, a cozy blanket, a “no” instead of “yes” sometimes, leftovers for dinner. And, perhaps most of all, giving the critical voice inside my head the holiday season off. I’m sending her somewhere sunny like Florida or the Caribbean or Australia. Anywhere that’s far enough away that I can’t hear her. A one-way ticket, I hope.

I used to think “rest” was selfish, but then two things happened:

I read a whole lot of research that showed happier people are more giving, kind and generous.

And a friend said something to me that I’ll never forget: “Sometimes rest is an act of worship.”

Both of these makes good sense to me. So I’m picking “permission to rest” as a gift to myself because I know if I do then this gift will ultimately be passed on to the people I love and the Savior I serve and this weary world.

I may never be the best gift-giver, but I’m slowly learning. Maybe next year I’ll even be brave enough to venture back into the candle aisle.

What gift would you like to give yourself this Christmas? I’d love for you to share your answer by leaving a comment on this post. (Subscribers, to leave a comment please click here to visit the blog post.)

XOXO

Holley

P.S. If you, like me, are challenged at picking gifts, then this might be helpful. If you order five copies of Fiercehearted from my bookstore, you’ll save $10 and also receive this Be Strong and Courageous necklace (while supplies last). You can find all the information right here.

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When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!

I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth!

{click to tweet that you’re joining me here today}

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What’s Your One Word for Christmas?

by Holley 59 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

Here is a true and honest confession: Christmas and all its beautiful hoopla can sometimes drive me about half-crazy. This is not the fault of Christmas, of course. It’s purely my own neurotic self.

Shortly after Thanksgiving I start believing that since it’s the most wonderful time of the year then I must build gingerbread skyscrapers and create intricate snowflake designs in the carpet with the vacuum and give puppies wearing red bows to strangers standing in line with me at Starbucks.

I need an intervention. A focus. A way to remember this season is really all about Jesus and not about sewing an elf costume by hand with one eye closed while sipping homemade eggnog and singing Christmas carols with the neighbors.

(In case you’re thinking I ever actually do any of these things, I don’t. I just imagine doing them. And this is enough to bring on the crazy.)

So this Christmas I’ve decided to pick one word that will be my mantra and the rope that pulls me back from the brink of merry madness. My word this year is going to be…simplicity.

Simplicity means it’s okay to get the premade cookie dough at the store.

It means I have permission to nap instead of do vacuum art.

It means I treat my holiday sanity like a package under the tree marked “fragile.”

It means I love imperfectly in the ways I can and let go of the rest.

It means, most of all, that I remember Christmas isn’t about me. It’s simply about a baby named Jesus.

Would you like to join me in choosing one word for your Christmas? If so, I’d love for you to leave a comment sharing it. (Subscribers, to leave a comment please click here to visit the blog post.)

Whew, I feel better already.

XOXO

Holley

P.S. Are you looking for Christmas gifts? Then I’d love for you to stop by my bookshop. If you order five copies of Fiercehearted from my bookstore, you’ll save $10 and also receive this Be Strong and Courageous necklace too (while supplies last). You can find all the information right here.

*****

When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!

I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth!

{click to tweet that you’re joining me here today}

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