Maybe you’ve seen it. Maybe you’ve seen it so many times, you have the scene memorized: Buddy the Elf, played by Will Ferrel, is beyond excited that Santa will be coming to the department store. But when Santa arrives and invites a boy onto his lap, Buddy senses that something is amiss. He gets right […]
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The house was quiet. I was sitting on the couch, wrapped up in my favorite blanket, with a book on my lap and a scented candle flickering by the window. I took a sip of my tea, and thought: this is a sacred moment. But was it? Because on the heels of that thought came […]
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We know the holiday season is coming: we can see it around the bend, looming larger and larger as it approaches. Soon Thanksgiving will be behind us and then we’ll be scrambling to prepare for Christmas! These next few months are usually intense, like someone has turned up the dial on all the noise, all […]
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Before the angels appeared to the shepherds on the hillside, there had been 400 years of silence. Between the pages of the Old Testament, and the New—a mere second for us to flip—lived a people waiting in anticipation of their Messiah. In those four hundred years, there had been no new word from God, no […]
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One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is spreading God’s love through gift giving! Most of the time, I’m not a huge fan of our consumerist culture which insists that I just need to buy more to be happy. But… I do believe that our consumerism can be redemptive! When we are thoughtful […]
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Now that Halloween is behind us, we are officially in the holiday season. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas comes on its heels. This was my favorite time of year as a child, and I still love it—but now as a mom, I understand how much work goes on behind the scenes to […]
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December is the longest month for kids. The anticipation of Christmas morning, of finally tearing into all those pretty packages under the tree has them wishing they could fast forward the days. Instead, the first thing my boys do when they come downstairs in the morning is to flip the numbered blocks on their homemade […]
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One of my favorite parts of this season is waking up before anyone else, and coming downstairs to be greeted by the glow of the Christmas tree. I sit across from it in my darkened living room and admire the halo of colored lights as I sip my coffee. The morning is new. The day […]
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I’m usually a big fan of giving my kids “experience” gifts like zoo memberships, museum passes, and amusement park tickets. Since many of these places are not ready to open safely, or make me nervous about crowds before COVID is under control, I decided to put together a gift guide for kids. What follows is […]
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Advent is my favorite part of the liturgical year. I didn’t grow up in a church tradition that followed the liturgical calendar, and for years I associated Advent with a countdown to Christmas. But as I’ve discovered in my adulthood, Advent is so much more than a piece of chocolate every day. Rather, it’s an […]
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Sarah K. Butterfield 