Thursday 13- the Advent Edition

Celebrating Advent is one way to help me focus on the true meaning of Christmas and steer away from the hustle and bustle that puts me in a state of anxiousness at times! While I love gift giving and celebrations, I don't love the way the rushing around makes me feel.

So... I celebrate Advent. One small activity each day helps me to relax a bit and makes a space for me to ponder the important things. I know Christmas is only a week away, and advent is almost over, but that's okay. Start where you are. :)

 Here are 13 simple ways to incorporate a little advent activity into your life this year. If you'd like to learn more about Advent, check out the post I wrote last year.

1. Listen to advent music everyday, even for just a few minutes. There are some great lists on Spotify. My favorite is Simple Advent, but there are many more music lists.

2. Read a children's version of the Christmas Story.

3. Choose 4 or 5 candles. Light a candle at suppertime. Add one candle each Sunday before Christmas, so by this Sunday, you'd be lighting four . I add a fifth, which I'll be lighting on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

4. Read or sing the lines of a hymn or song that focuses on the waiting period. "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" is a good one, but there are many!

5. Read an advent devotional. Even if you don't read it each day or finish the book, it will help prepare you for Christmas Day. The Advent Door by Jan Richardson is one of my favorites. As well, check out Taste and See by Jan Johnson, which is focused on becoming part of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, using your imagination.

6. Light up your living space in the evening with Christmas tree lights and mini lights or candles and enjoy them.

7. Put up a Nativity Set where you'll glance at it each day.

8.   Read passages in the Bible that relate to the Christmas story.

9. Attend a Christmas concert or presentation.

10. Volunteer for an organization that brings hope to those who need it.  Ringing the bell for the Salvation Army Kettle Campaign, or helping to serve food at a shelter are two ideas.

11. Go out for coffee with a friend and have a chat about making Christmas meaningful.

12. Go for a walk alone and ponder the meaning of Christmas.

13. Watch a movie about the birth of Jesus.  My favorite one is The Nativity Story

May your Christmas celebration be meaningful this year! And fun!

Join in on Thursday 13!

Thursday 13- the Gift Edition

How can it be Thursday already?! December 27 at that!

Did you have a wish list this Christmas, or maybe you just added items to one that was only in your head. Did you  walk into a store shopping for someone else, and then spot something and think "I'd like that!" Yes, that was me. I refrained from actually buying for myself, though (although my hubby and I were shopping and he bought me something on the spot!) 

Gift giving and receiving has come and gone. I so enjoyed watching my little  20 month old grandson help to open presents this year. I think he enjoyed that more than the actual gifts he received!

For this Thursday Thirteen, I've decided to list 13 things I have already that I am very thankful for.. gifts that weren't under the tree. It puts things in perspective when we all sometimes get caught up in the "I really wanted" or "I wish I had received" vortex.

1. Running Water. When I turn on the tap in the kitchen, both hot and cold water are available.

2. My Kitchen. One that most would agree 'needs an update'.

3. Kitchen Gadgets.More than I need.

4. Friendly Neighbours. I actually do have a neighbour I can call at anytime and I know she'd be there to help out, if needed.

5. Safe Transportation.

6. A warm cozy bed to fall into each night.

7. My sweet little pet, Enzo.

8. Health Care when I need it.

9. A family that loves and cares for me.

10. Wonderful children and their loved ones.

11. The internet - keeping up with friends and family!

12. More food than we need.

13.  Our public library - so many books, so little time

Thursday 13

Well, I haven't been around much, but today I'm dropping in to post another Thursday Thirteen. This time around I'm going to list 13 items that have all served the same purpose at one time or another. Can you guess what purpose?

1. post it note
2. pencil
3. string
4. candy wrapper
5. piece of yarn
6. scrap paper
7. hair clip
8. paper clip
9. elastic band
10. popsicle stick
11. bobby pin
12. clean tissue
13. feather

Take a guess!

Thursday 13 - First Lines

I thought it'd be fun to join in on the Thursday 13 link up! It'll be my first time. This week I'm going to list 13 opening lines (not including the prologues) of yet unread fiction books sitting on my shelves, all patiently waiting for me to read them! I usually prefer nonfiction over fiction, but these are books I am planning to delve into beginning now and throughout 2019! If I find a story that pulls me in in the first few chapters, I will mostl likely finish it in short order.  I am a rather picky reader, though!

Which opening line intrigues you most? If you leave your answer in the comments, I'll tell you what the title is :)

1. There was a time, and it was many years ago now, when I had to stay in a hospital for almost nine weeks.

2. In the watery dimness of a December afternoon, the attic looked dismal and a little spooky.

3. I first heard of Antonia on what seemed to me an interminable journey across the great midland plain of North America.

4. I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I'm old, and you said, I don't think you're old.

5. Because the three Plumbs had agreed on the phone the previous evening that they should not drink in front of their brother Leo, they were all - unbeknownst to one another - sitting in separate bars in and around Grand Central, savoring a furtive cocktail before lunch.

6. The cell squeezed her, and the air was hot and fetid.

7. I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.

8. This wouldn't be the first time Kathleen Seymour left home and never returned.

9. Anyone in the neighborhood could tell you how Michael and Pauline first met.

10. In Beulah, Iowa, widow women all over town garden in clothes of deceased husbands.

11. The first time Cora heard the name Louise Brooks, she was parked outside the Wichita Library in a Model-T Ford.

12. "I'm fine," said the woman. "There's nothing wrong with me."

13. My name is Ruth.