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Living a Better Life A New Year Filled with Blessings – Let Your Light Shine!
Christmas and New Years are a great time for reflection of the passing year, and a perfect opportunity to prepare for a fresh start in January. Are there things you’d like to do better? Friends and family you’d like to spend more time with? * * * Over the last few years my personal list of things I’d like to do better have been quite overwhelming; being a list maker and a perfectionist by nature it’s quite easy for me to think of at least a dozen areas in my life that I would like to improve each year. But thankfully, I’m also aware that being imperfect and learning to do better is just part of the deal. So I make my mental list and then work on whatever I can throughout the coming year being thankful for whatever progress I do make, no matter how small it might be. When I was growing up I remember my mother having beautiful decorative candles throughout our home for Christmas and every January we would pack them up to be saved for the following year. Years later when I married and had my own home, I continued the same practice for almost 20 years… saving each and every decorative candle that found it’s way into our home so it would last year after year. For whatever reasons, we never lit the candles. This year, for the first time in my life, I bought a group of 5 red and gold holiday candles and arranged them in a beautiful setting for our family to enjoy during these cold winter nights. (And yes, of course, I did not purchase them until they were on sale 50% off!) Then I went to the cupboard, found the matches, and lit every single one of those candles! I was simply awestruck at how beautiful they were. Later that night, as any good daughter would do, I called my mom and asked her why we never lit our holiday candles while I was growing up. And as it turns out, that’s the way she grew up too. We have just always made due with whatever we had and stretched everything as far as it could go. After awhile, frugal habits like this just become second nature and we scrimp and save on things that maybe we no longer need to. Candles are just one example. Although we are now able to afford new candles every year (and I’ll always wait until they go on sale or purchase them on after-holiday-clearance for the following year), I’m very thankful for the many years we had to do without because it’s part of who I am. And that passion for saving money is also why I founded our free monthly ezine, Living a Better Life, to encourage others to enjoy their life no matter how much money they have or don’t have in the bank… Let Your Light Shine! Our family has another frugal tradition I’d like to share with you as well, and fortunately one that does not need to be changed in any way. On Christmas Eve we pile the entire family into the car and drive around town to see all the Christmas lights. We have been doing this with our children every year since they were little and we look forward to doing it all throughout December. It’s tempting to do it early but we always wait until Christmas Eve, it’s just such a magical time when all the love we have for each other (around the world) is wrapped and waiting patiently under the Christmas trees to be poured out to our loved ones in the morning. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we would express that love all throughout the year, without the aide of gifts to show how much we care. An unexpected visit, a weekly conversation or phone call, even just an old-fashioned hand written letter to say “How are you?” or “I’m thinking of you!” Time truly seems to go by faster and faster with each passing year and I don’t know about you, but always at the top of my “Do Better” list is spending more quality time with friends and family. It’s never too late to try to do better, and it’s never to late to show someone you care… Let Your Light Shine! For those of you who have children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, younger siblings or other children in your life I’d like to share a framed plaque I have sitting here in my office that’s very special to me. I received it many years ago as a thank you gift for being a Nursery Coordinator at our church (Southland Christian Church in Lexington, KY). I hope it will be a blessing to you as it has always been to my husband and I…
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with Blessings… Let Your Light Shine!
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Please Note: When lighting candles in your home use CAUTION! Keep them in a safe area where children and pets cannot reach them and never leave lit candles unattended. It's also best to only burn candles for a few hours at a time, not all night. We want you to enjoy your candles--but safely! Copyright © 2004 by Michelle Jones Want more money-saving tips? Get a FREE Subscription to our monthly newsletter!
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