Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and BEHOLD, everything is softer and more BEAUTIFUL! ~ Norman Vincent Peale<
For all of you, my readers, I wish for you and your loved ones, a wonderful, happy and blessed Christmas. I began this site, Living Winsomely, in February 2022 and I feel so very humbled by all of your kind words and responses. Thank you all, so very much for your wonderful and much appreciated encouragement and support. I am looking forward to the time I will be able to start writing creative blogs once again for the Living Winsomely site. It is my heart, to continue to bring forth an array of inspirational vignettes, that add a touch of beauty and winsomeness, to not only your homes, but to your lives as well, . For all of you in other countries, (not knowing if you celebrate this holiday, or a holiday likened to it,) as well as all of you who celebrate Hanukkah, I pray your seasons of celebration are filled with laughter, joy, an abundance of new memories, love, family and dear friends.
Here is a little “Christmas” from our household….TO YOURS!
In celebrating the “REASON FOR THIS MAGICAL, JOYOUS SEASON,” I wanted to share one of our favorite Christmas Carols , written and sung by Michael McDonald.
“On This Night,” ~ Lyrics by Michael McDonald
In a world of no hope, a light will shine brightly
That all men might know the meaning of mercy
And of love beyond all lovepeace that rests the soul
The heart will open and search no more
Behold I bring You tidings
Tidings of great joy
The world has found it's answer
In a child that's born on this night
Sing out across the seas, cry out from the mountains
The son of man is born, let's sing of His mercy
And the peace beyond all peace, the King of kings has come
Let every heart surrender, every soul reborn
Behold I bring you tidings
Tidings of great joy
The world has found it's Savior
In a child that's born on this night, on this night
Behold I bring you tidings
Tidings of great joy
The world has found it's answer
In a child that's born .
May your home be filled with beauty, joy, celebration, scrumptious cuisine and love! Merry Christmas! Susan, Kit and Grantham!
PHOTOGRAPHS
Short Christmas Greetings for Just About Anyone
Design: Patrice Horvath Design
Not sure what to say this year? Did you put your Christmas cardВ writing off until twelve days before Christmas? Not to worry, these short Christmas messagesВ apply to everyone on your list. Send them one of these festive greeting cardsВ to get your notes out and delivered by the 25th:
• Wishing you a warm, glowing Christmas this year.
• Thinking of youВ this holiday season. Have a blessed Christmas and a happyВ New Year!
• May you have a jolly holiday season. Hope your Christmas is merry and bright!
• Hope all is well with you and your family. Sending thoughts and warm wishes from our home to yours.
• Grateful to have you in our lives. Hope you have a merryВ ChristmasВ and a happyВ New Year.
• Hope your holiday seasonВ is filled with friendship and festivities. Looking forward to seeing you in the new year!
• Have a happy ChristmasВ and a wonderfulВ holiday season.
• Sending merry Christmas wishesВ to you and your family.
• Spreading Christmas blessingsВ to you during this joyous season.
• May your holiday seasonВ be merryВ and bright.
• Sending Season's greetingsВ to you this Christmas.
Heartfelt Christmas Greetings for Family Members
Design: Morgan Kendall
If you won’t be going home this Christmas season, send a note off to your parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles letting them know they’re in your thoughts. You can’t be everywhere this holiday season, but perhaps these holiday cards will let your family know you’re hoping to make it home next year.
• I won’t be able to make it home for Christmas this year, but know that I love you, appreciate you, and miss you every day.
• The only present I want under my Christmas treeВ this year is one weekend with all of you. Thinking of youВ and sending my warmest wishes.
• Having family like you is the greatest Christmas giftВ anyone could ever ask for. I can’t wait to make it home next year.
• Anyone who says you don’t choose your family doesn’t know the meaning of family. I’d choose to spend every holiday with you from now until forever.
• Nothing can ever replace having a family like ours. Looking forward to spending time with you when I arrive home for the holidays.
• Sending lots of loveВ and best wishesВ from far away. Have a happy holiday season!
Funny Christmas Card Greetings to Send Your Friends
Design: Pink House Press
Your friends have loved you at your worst and cheered you on at your best. To those who have been your ride-or-dies through high school hallways, college dorms, and every new beginning in between,В wish them well this holiday seasonВ withВ these personal Christmas card messages.
• Remember when we actually stayed up past midnight for New Years? Yea, me neither.
• I love you enough to take on your student loan debt. Not really, but hoping you get some dollar bills in your stocking.
• Here’s to Santa ClausВ placing a Frenchie puppy under your Christmas tree. No one deserves it more.
• I can’t imagine anyone elseВ I’d rather grow old and watch Golden Girls with.В Here’s to another merryВ ChristmasВ and happyВ New YearВ with you by my aging side.
• Sending you warm, fuzzy wishes of good health, even after all the spiked eggnog we both know you'll drink.
• On Christmas Day, my only hope is that youВ survive your mother's long list of questions.
• There's no one I would rather spread some Christmas cheer with — i.e., watch cheesy Netflix Christmas movies with, sing Christmas carolsВ off-tune with, and drink spiked apple cider with.
Warm Christmas Greetings to Send to Colleagues
Design: Signature Greenvelope
Sometimes it’s difficult to find the right words to show your coworkers your appreciation. For those who have shared in your success, stood by your side, and always been there to cheer you on, here are several holiday greetings to send at Christmas time.
• Thank you for all your hard work this year. Have a relaxing holiday, you deserve it!
• Hope you enjoy this time of yearВ with family and friends.
• I appreciate your business and hope our success continues through the New Year.
• Have a festive holiday season. Cheers to a wonderful New Year!
• It’s been a great year having you as a teammate. Have a blessed holiday and prosperous New YearВ with family and friends.
• Have a wonderful Christmas — see you after the New Year!
• Have a very merry ChristmasВ and a well deserved break.
• The past yearВ would not have been possible without you. Have a great ChristmasВ with your family and friends.
Religious Christmas Greetings to Spread the Joy
Design: Veronica Linti
If you or your loved onesВ celebrate Christmas for religious reasons, the holidays can be a special time to express your faith.В Here are several religious greetings you can send out to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
• May GodВ bless your family with hope and faith this holiday season.
• Sending thoughts and prayers to your family this Christmas.
• May your home be filled with joy, as unto us a child is born.
• Hope your home is filled with Christ’s magic of ChristmasВ this time of year.
• May the Lord fill your home with the spirit of ChristmasВ this holy season.
• On the first Christmas, GodВ gave us Jesus as the greatest gift. Sending Christ’s blessings to you and your family.
• Blessings to you and your family, may your home be filled with the true meaning of Christmas this holy night.
• We hope your family is filled with the Christmas spirit and your home is filled with the gifts of faith and love this season.
Merry Christmas Greetings for that Special Someone
Design: Robinson Creative House
This season, there’s only one person you want to be cozied up next to by the fire. To the person who’s keeping you warm this winter, send them one of these Christmas card sayings to show how much you care.
Send Greetings to Those You’re Thankful For
All too often, an entire year goes by without showing our appreciation for those around us. Christmas is such a wonderful way to celebrate, show gratitude, and spread joy with those we care about.
Whether you’re sending your Christmas messages to family members, coworkers, or friends from college, Greenvelope is here to share your holiday message. Choose from dozens upon dozens of holiday designs, all of which can be customized. Personalize your Christmas card with a photo of you or your family, add a fun note or a life update for a personal touch, or type a simple “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!”
Hopefully this gave you a little bit of holiday inspiration to spread the joy this season. From all of us at Greenvelope, Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas from our house to your house
Merry Christmas from our kids to yours
May happiness be round your Christmas tree
May your disappointments be few
Merry Christmas from our house to your house
May peace and good will follow you.
And may you be blessed with health and happiness
Merry Christmas from our house to yours
May all of your loved ones be near you
And may all of your spirits be bright
May all of your dreams be what this Christmas brings
Merry Christmas from our house to yours
May all of your loved ones be near you
And may all of your spirits be bright
May all of your dreams be what this Christmas brings
Merry Christmas from our house to yours
Merry Christmas from our house to yours
I'm mailing our Christmas cards this week, but I decided since I've posted so rarely this year that I'm going to post our annual Christmas letter here for you guys, too. So you'll actually get to read it here first!
Thanks for sticking around, loyal readers. And merry Christmas!
Grayson
Aside from compliance-y project manager-y things he does, his main distractions include cycling at Oak Mountain and on nearby Lakeshore Trail. And of course his life -- and many weekends -- wouldn't be complete without the Boy and Cub Scout activities he leads and/or participates in with Nathaniel and Jake.
As for me, I took a huge leap of faith and jumped from my long-time home in our Talent & Culture (formerly Human Resources) department to its Engineering department. And then about six weeks later was “reorged” into our Business Development line of business, but thankfully kept the manager I'd left T&C to work for, so it's all good. I'm heading up our Change Management area, which means that I try to soften the impact of constant change (product and system rollouts) we introduce to our branches. I've written very little on my blog this year, not because I haven't wanted to, but because my increasingly busy schedule has kept me from it. Oh, did I mention I added daily exercise to my schedule? Yeah, that takes time. And it stinks. Like, a healthy diet and exercise have got to be the all-time WORST way to lose weight, because it totally sucks. But I lost 46 pounds this year (only about half of that at the time our Christmas photo was taken back in September), so I guess it's worth it? But it's a miserable existence when all you want is Reese's ALL. THE. TIME.
Nathaniel turned 14 on Dec. 19 and is in 8th grade. He speaks about 20 words per week to me and his earbuds have been surgically affixed to his ears. He MAY shower without them, but I cannot officially confirm that, as I do not visually monitor his showers. I am TREMENDOUSLY proud of his commitment to his schoolwork and his recent achievement of the Life Scout rank. Next up, Eagle! He's already thinking about his Eagle project, which hopefully he'll plan and complete before he gets interested in girls. Because then all bets are off. He's started jogging nightly this year and slimmed down a little (not that he needed to), and he's several inches taller than I am. It's FREAKY.
I love: his interest in cooking, his independent completion of homework and thorough study habits. I could live without: his insistence on jogging in dark clothes at night when I warn him repeatedly he's going to be flattened like a pancake AND MOMS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT.
Nick turned 12 on Oct. 4, and is in 6th grade. He still loves playing Minecraft and Clash of Clans online and has made friends around the world playing via Skype. He's developed a real affinity for recreational soccer and is about to start his fourth season with Hoover Soccer Club. He loves to play and even loves to practice, which is saying something. Nick's only been in middle school for a few months but he's well-acquainted with the assistant principal. Always making friends, our Nick. He's got a mischievous streak, for sure, but he's also pulling down straight As, so …
I love: The way he loves on Amelia, that he still gives me a hug every night before bed. I could live without: the occasional subterfuge when there's something he doesn't want us to know. We always find out. I THINK.
Jake is 8 years old, in 3rd grade and just finished reading the entire Harry Potter series. He read it in just a few weeks and was so sad when he finished the final book -- it's extremely rare to find Jakey without a book in his hand, and if he's without one, it's because he's watching youtube videos about game theory on his iPad. Jake is a fascinating person to talk to, mainly because he speaks as though he's about five times his age. He's in Enrichment at his elementary school, which means he gets pulled out of class one day a week to do special activities that are a little more stimulating. Wednesday is his favorite day of the week!
I love: his unique perspective on everything, that he still gives me four or five hugs every day. I could live without: his propensity to walk away from whatever -- WHATEVER -- he was doing and leave everything right where it was (this includes eating and leaving his plate and utensils, watching TV and leaving it on, and bathrooming and leaving it unflushed).
Amelia is 5 and HAH-MAINT-NANCE. She is literally my shadow. She follows me so closely everywhere I go that often, when I turn around suddenly to go the other way, I knock her down. Then tears. (Hers.) Then apologies. (Mine.) Wash, rinse, repeat. She is obsessed -- and I do mean OBSESSED -- with animals. She loves them all. When she lists her best friends, it goes like this: “Bayla, Abby, Missy, Fred, Missy and Mira.” If you're keeping track, those are a dog, a dog, a cat, a dog, another dog, and finally, a friend from preschool. ONE HUMAN BEING MAKES THE LIST. All the rest of y'all can suck it.
I love: her obsession with family, her love of errands, her desire to learn to read. I could live without: the whining. When do they outgrow that, again?
We are thrilled to be down to one house payment, having sold our previous home to a very nice couple who was willing to pay us for it. That was all we required of them. NOW all we require of them is that they text us twice a week to come pick up all the Amazon packages that arrive from the kids' wish lists on which I forgot to update their shipping addresses. MERRY CHRISTMAS, NEW HOMEOWNERS!
We love you all and wish you the happiest and healthiest of Christmases and new years.
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS (Buck Owens / Marjorie Cooper) Buck Owens - 1968 Merry Christmas from our house to your house Mrry Christmas from our kids to yours May happiness be round your Christmas tree My your disappontments be few Merry Christmas from our house to your house Maypeace and goodwill follow you And may you be blessed with health and happiness Merry Christmas from our house to yours May all of your loved ones be near you And may all of your spirits be bright May all of your dreams be what this Christmas brings Merry Christmas from our house to yours May all of your loved ones be near you And may all your spirits be bright May all of your dreams be what this Christmas brings Merry Christmas from our house to yours Merry Christmas from our house to yours