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Winter’s Favorite Giveaway Day~~23

Welcome to Day 23 of Winter’s Favorites.
I have another of my ALL-TIME Favorite authors on the blog today. 
Please welcome the so beyond nice Jennifer Lyon.


For the Gifts From the Heart
A Lesson From my Children
By Jennifer Lyon
     One of my favorite times of year is Christmas, once all the gift shopping is done.
     Gift shopping makes me really anxious as I constantly worry, fret and second guess myself. What’s ironic about that is the people on my list—my family—are pretty easy to buy for and never complain. Yet I always get that same anxiety.
     But once the shopping is done, I turn to something I love. Holiday baking. Growing up, my mom didn’t bake. But my sister-in-law did, and one year, she gave us a Christmas tin full of things she’d baked.
     I was amazed. I can still vividly remember seeing all the fudge and candies in their own little paper cups tucked into a pretty red Christmas tin.
     So I began teaching myself how to bake. But something amazing happened along the way. The days would turn cold (okay, as cold as it gets in Southern California), rainy and it got dark early. So my very young boys were bored and I got them involved in the baking. They loved it!

But we ended up with a lot of baked goods. So we decided to give some of the cookies and candies to the neighbors. The kids and I scoured the stores for packaging, either boxes or tins, that we could afford.

My kids were delighted. They loved this and it became a tradition in our neighborhood. Every year my sons couldn’t wait to get started on the baking. We would plan and shop and even had a few disasters along the way. On the evening we planned to deliver the baked goods, they were so excited they would barely eat their dinner. Almost as excited as they were Christmas morning.

They delivered those gifts with huge smiles as their dad and I watched. They learned the true joy of giving with your heart, and I learned it right along with them. And it was all quite by accident. I certainly wasn’t smart enough to plan this as a life lesson, but like many of the best things in life—it just happened.

Each year, as fall gives away to colder weather and shorter days, and I start to feel anxious about Christmas, I remember what my kids taught me—giving with love is all that really counts.
Wishing all of you warm, safe and happy holidays filled with the gift of love.


To enter for a chance to win one of two sets of Night Magic & Sinful Magic from Jennifer Please leave Jennifer a comment, tell her what Christmas means to you, then head over to the MAIN Winter’s Favorite page (<< — Click link) to enter the giveaway.


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