by Misty Phillip | Dec 9, 2016 | Bible, Featured, Hospitality, Recipes
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! How are y’all doing? Are you ready for Christmas yet?
It is finally cold enough in Texas to actually feel like Christmas. This year I made these yummy nuts to share with family and friends, and they were such a hit! I want to share this super easy Crock Pot recipe with you.
Holiday Candied Nuts in Vintage Mason Jars with Christmas Tree Tags
Holiday Candied Nuts (Crock Pot Recipe)
Ingredients:
3/4 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. clove
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. nutmeg (freshly ground)
1 Egg White
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cup pecans
1 1/4 cup almonds
1 1/4 cup walnuts
3 Tablespoons of water
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon, clove, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. In a separate, bowl whisk together egg white and vanilla until combined.
3. Combine together all ingredients except water, and place in a greased Crockpot on low setting. Stir every 15 minutes for an hour an a half.
4. Add water and continue on low for 20 more minutes.
Enjoy!
Looking for last minute Christmas gifts?
Bibles make great gifts. You can still enter to win. I am giving away this beautiful Journal the Word Bible from Thomas Nelson, which sells for $49.99 and it can be yours!
Like and Share this post to be eligible to win! Journal the Word
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by Misty Phillip | Dec 7, 2016 | Featured, Hospitality
“Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.” –Ruth Carter Stapleton
It is the beginning of December, and my house is all decorated for Christmas! I now have time to relax, and open my home to serve loved ones. At a recent gathering in my home, I was encouraged to blog about how I put everything together. So today I would like to share some inspiration and helpful holiday decorating tips.
Each year I like to mix things up, and move things around. We have several Christmas trees because I like a little bit of Christmas in every room! In preparation for this year, I met a lady who told me her grandchildren wanted to know when she was going to put the forest up? Forest? This idea intrigued me, and I decided to do something that I have never done before: a Christmas tree forest!
I grouped a couple of 7 foot trees together, with a slim tree, and two 4 foot trees, and pushed them all together in the corner of my sun room. Voila! Christmas Forest!
The Christmas Forest made the perfect backdrop for my nieces pictured below.
Here are a few tips to make your holiday decorating a breeze!
The first thing I do when the boys bring down all of my Christmas stuff is to organize everything on tables covered with plastic cloths to try and contain the glitter madness. I group things together by color and type.
This allows me to see everything very easily.
Here I decide how I plan to use it and where it will go.
At the end of the season, I pack everything up by organizing like items and colors together. I carefully wrap all of my fragile ornaments and box them together.
Another example of how I organize my Christmas items is to put everything I use on my mantle that year in one box and label it mantle.
Since I like to mix things up. I like to take pictures of each room once it is decorated for Christmas. This is super helpful! It makes it easy for me to see what I have done in past years. I can see what I like and what I want to change for next year.
In my great room I use a combination of mixed metals.
After looking at pictures from last year, I decided to redo my coffee table in my Great room, and the mantle above my fireplace.
I found these beautiful florals and grouped them together on a tray.
In this photo, I used the ribbon on the left on the tree this year and coupled it with this new ribbon I purchased on the right. Last year I used the ribbon on the left in my garland on the stairs, but this year I left the garland with a more natural appearance.
The tree in my Great Room pictured below is similar to last year, with a few little tweaks.
When decorating a large tree, it is helpful to have large ornaments! And a lot of them!
Are you ready for the holiday season? What have you found to be helpful when you are holiday decorating? Do you have any organization ideas or decorating tips that you would like to share? I would love to hear from you!
One final thought. It is my hope that you will be encouraged to invite others into your home and share the joy of this holiday season. Remember, when planning your holiday gatherings this year, hospitality is about creating a warm inviting space to provide respite from the world, and a safe haven for your family and friends. A place where you can reflect on the beauty of the season and celebrate the gift of Jesus Christ.
BEFORE YOU GO! There is still time to enter to win a Journal the Word Bible!
Like and share Journal the Word, with your friends on social media to be eligible to win!
by Misty Phillip | Dec 3, 2016 | Christian Living, Featured
Every year I look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. This is simply my favorite time of the year, but this can also be the most stressful time of the year for me! Holidays can be so full of joy and excitement, and other times they can be hard. Unmet expectations, families problems, the loss of a job or missing a loved one can all cause stress and heartache.
A few years ago, I began dreaming and planning for Christmas in October. I set everything up so that it was ready before Thanksgiving. I am so thankful that I did. We enjoyed a beautiful Thanksgiving holiday, and the following Monday, my dear sweet Mother-in-Law unexpectedly went home to be with the Lord. I am so thankful that my house was ready for Christmas, because I can’t imagine being able to try to get everything together for Christmas in the stressful grief filled days that followed.
I know most people wait until the day after Thanksgiving to begin setting things up. I used to be one of those people, but I found that if I waited until after Thanksgiving, then I started my favorite time of the year stressed, exhausted, and to worn out to enjoy it!
I told y’all about my friend Debi Chapman, who wrote the e-book Holiday Happenings, I love how her books begins. If you missed that post check it out here! Debi begins her book by saying,
“First, we dream.”
“List people whom you want to serve in your home this holiday season.”
I love that!
Who do you want to serve in your home this month?
When I began dreaming of the holidays, I knew I wanted to have a brunch with the ladies in my Bible Study group. So I began planning, and I love that way it turned out. With some planning and creativity you can set a lovely table.
Here I use my china with these gorgeous red placemats, and poinsettia napkin holders. I found these holly glasses at the dollar store several years ago, and use them every year for all of my December gatherings. Setting a beautiful table doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Use what you have, and be on the look out for inexpensive or sale priced items to add to your collection each year.
To the right of the plate is a bookmark with a pen that I purchased for each of the ladies.
For the coffee station I found these fun stir sticks!
The best part of all of this is the connection made, and the fellowship we experienced.
Who are you planning to serve in your home this month?
Start dreaming now of how you can make this a special time. The Holiday season is a perfect time of year to hone your hospitality skills. Once our homes are decorated for Christmas, why not enjoy this excellent time to invite friends into our homes, and share the good news of the gospel.
by Misty Phillip | Nov 27, 2016 | Bible, Bible Study
When I first began Bible study, I had a red letter KJV Bible that I literally wore out in my quiet time. As you can see from the picture below, almost every other word was underlined. I know some people are not comfortable marking in their Bible, and if you are one of those people, then that is perfectly understandable. But for me, when I began marking and taking notes in my Bible, that is when The Word came alive to me!
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 KJV
That is why I am so excited to to tell you about the Journal the Word Bible from Thomas Nelson Publishers! I have really enjoyed using this Bible for my quiet time. It will lay flat when you hold it in your hands or when you set it down on the table. There are lined margins to the side with enough room to write copious amounts of notes. The beautiful heavyweight cream colored paper is perfect for Bible art or journaling. There is ample room to reflect on your thoughts while reading the Bible without marking up the text!
I love the fact that this Bible can become a cherished heirloom to pass on to future generations with your personal thoughts written inside the margins. It comes in both regular and large print editions, and my over-40 eyes really appreciated the LARGE PRINT!
Another thing I love about this Bible is that it is hardbound with an elastic band around it. The elastic band can be used as a marker, to hold pages down, or keep the Bible securely closed.
This is an excellent Bible for personal reading, but would also make a great Christmas gift for someone special on your Christmas list this year! Bibles always make for great gifts and with Christmas just around the corner, I am so excited that I have two Journal the Word Bibles to give away. One regular edition, and one large print edition!
I would really love to put this beautiful Bible into the hands of someone who doesn’t have a Bible! Do you know someone who needs a Bible, or is there someone on your Christmas list that would benefit from this Bible?
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LIKE and SHARE this post on Facebook to be eligible to win!
A special thank you to The Blog About Network, The Blythe Daniel Agency and publishers for providing a copy of this book for review and one to giveaway.
by Misty Phillip | Nov 25, 2016 | Christian Living, Family, Jesus, Santa
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It is time to put away the turkey, and pumpkins and to begin thinking about Christmas.
Today I am pleased to invite Jennifer Moye to guest post on the blog! I met Jennifer at She Speaks 2016, and love her heart for Jesus, and her family. Jennifer is going to share her journey of connecting Santa and his elf to the story of our Savior. I am excited to share this resource with you just in time to prepare our hearts for the Christmas season.
Welcome, Jennifer!
A Gospel Christmas
By Jennifer Moye
Around this same time a couple years ago, our boys were sitting in the living room floor creating their Christmas lists to send to Santa. The lists consisted mostly of cut out pictures from the Toys-r-Us catalog pasted sloppily with glue sticks on poster paper. They jumped up and down with excitement with every page turn as they found a new must-have toy. In all the fun of that day, I noticed that our oldest boy had only 3 things listed on his paper. An IPad, a phone like mommy’s, and crutches.
Crutches?
Yep, that’s right. Those were his must-haves of that Christmas.
As Christmas morning rolled around, the boys ran downstairs with all the excitement that kids should have on Christmas day. They ripped open packages and slung presents around, eagerly ready to move to the next item.
The younger two boys seemed quite content with their loot for the day. But the oldest sat on the floor with his arms crossed and a sour look on his face. In his lap set a box for a brand new iPad mini still in the wrapper.
Let me just pause right here. I do not even have an iPad. Just sayin’.
When asked what was wrong, he proceeded to through a fit about how he didn’t get a phone like mommy’s or any crutches. He was furious!
I could not believe how ungrateful he was being. Didn’t he realize how awesome the gifts he had received were? How did we get to the point of demanding what we should receive and then being mad if we didn’t get it exactly as expected? Didn’t he understand he couldn’t have everything? Didn’t he know that Christmas is about more than receiving everything on your wish list?
As I sat there in the floor with my wonderful little boys, I instantly felt like a failure.
Clearly I had missed the mark in explaining to him what Christmas is all about. Why else would he act so ungrateful?
Now before you say it, I know . . . he is 5 years old. And kids are kids. I get that. But it just didn’t sit right in my soul. We had talked about the reason we celebrate Christmas. We read the Bible stories. We went to the Christmas play at church. We even gave gifts from the angel trees and donated spare change to the guy outside Walmart. We had talked about this.
I wanted my children to understand at their very core, that Christmas simply wasn’t about them. It was about Jesus. I wanted them to realize that our gifts should be a reflection of the gifts God gave to us in His Son Jesus. I wanted them to have the fun and excitement that Santa, and the Elf on the Shelf, and Christmas parties at school bring – but they needed to know in their hearts that all of it was because of the birth of our King. Even though they knew these things in their heads, I don’t think they really felt it in their innermost being. And that really bothered me.
The following year was a big year for us as we decided to homeschool, made another move, and various other life changes. One scripture passage remained in my mind throughout that time.
Deuteronomy 6: 5-9 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
As the holiday season approached I knew we needed to do something different this year. We needed something that would create an impression of the hearts of our boys and our family. It needed to be in our home, on our doorframes and at our gates. It needed to be intentional and purposeful.
I had no idea that the months to follow would lead me to writing a book and sharing with others the things God was revealing to me and convicting me of in my own life. This month marks the launch of the book A Gospel Christmas and it is straight from my heart to yours.
A Gospel Christmas, is our journey through the month of December 2016. We found a way to connect Santa and his naughty little elf to our greatest gift of all. It is personal and transparent. It is messy at times and most importantly it is real. It is our story of how God lead us to Himself and made a huge impression not just on the hearts of our children, but on my heart as well. Through the 25 days in December we walked through the life of Jesus in a very practical, easy, and kid friendly way. We read scripture together, we did crafts, we talked, we gave to others, we cried, and we laughed. It was the most beautiful thing to see the gospel of Jesus come alive in our children’s’ hearts. To see their eyes light up with excitement and their minds begin to understand who Jesus is to them is something that a parent couldn’t be more proud of.
As the Christmas season is approaching us quicker than we all can handle, I would like to challenge you to pray over how your family will celebrate the birth of our King this year. Do your children truly understand what this season is about? Is your family focused on Jesus this year, or distracted by parties, the latest gadgets, and hosting friends? Are you searching for a way to connect all the fun of the holiday with the true meaning of Christmas?
I would love to hear your thoughts and I would love to be on this journey with you! Head on over to my website and receive the first two chapters of A Gospel Christmas for FREE! You will also be included in our Christmas newsletter which provides tons of ideas and inspirations on different ways to connect your family to Jesus throughout the season. And because you are one of the first to know about A Gospel Christmas, I will also send you some insider tips on how to incorporate Santa, the Elf, school parties and more with our Savior’s birth!
A Gospel Christmas is available in digital copy and paperback just about everywhere! It can be ordered online or ordered through your local bookstore. Bulk orders are available for churches or other organizations as well. I would be truly honored for you to share this book and post with those you love. What better gift to give at Christmas than one that could lead someone to Jesus? You never know who’s life can be touched by a simple share.
“My word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11
BONUS!!! Just because you guys are awesome and you are supporting my friend by reading her awesome blog I want to give you a chance to win a signed copy of A Gospel Christmas for FREE! Enter our giveaway below and you will be in the running for one of several prizes that will be picked to celebrate the launch of this great book!
Go to A Gospel Christmas-giveaway to enter.
Jennifer is wife to an Airman and mom to three rambunctious little boys. With excitement on a daily basis and grace around every corner, she believes we are meant to live this life in community with others and with the mercy to mess up and try again….and again. Being a mom is hard, but it is also a divine calling we can have in this life. Her ministry to women is relevant and heartfelt with her core passion being that we learn to glorify our God in our parenting, our marriage, and in our everyday lives.
Join Jennifer’s community online at: 
www.jennifermoye.com
www.facebook.com/jennifermoye
www.twitter.com/jenmoyewrites
www.pinterest.com/jenmoyewrites
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