Welcome to Sitting Among Friends. I can hardly believe this is Week 4.
Is it me or does time seem to fly by faster and faster the older you get?
These bloggers are fantastic writers and have some great ideas for this Christmas Season. Check them out. Pin them, Share them, and encourage with your comments, They love it. You will find share buttons to the Left and on their individual pictures.
If you have missed any of the other blog parties. Go to My Blog Party Page
If you missed The 12 Praise of Christmas. It is a compilation, my husband and I put together, with a list of Scriptures and Christmas Songs. Some of my favorite songs with lots of different versions from some of my favorite artists.
I want to encourage you this year to embrace the imperfect holidays. I have been reading so many posts and it seems people feel such pressure to have everything just right. I understand this.
The holidays bring added pressure with family (that we only see at regularly scheduled intervals) getting together for “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”. But this joy quickly gets shot down by unrealistic expectations and ideals that leave the holidays full of anxiety and stress.
Let’s try a new thing this year. Let’s love the people that we were given. Let’s go into the holiday gatherings and love people for who they were made to be. We ourselves are not perfect and that is why we celebrate this holiday.
Because of our imperfection, God decided it was time for reconciliation and humbled himself to this lowly abode. Became a servant and loved the unlovable and the unlikely. That’s us. That’s your family. The imperfect beautiful mess of it all. He loves you. He loves all of them.
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
Can you be like Christ this Christmas? Can you put your expectations of picture perfect Christmas aside long enough to just love as Christ loved you?
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Please Share this party with your circles and together we can make this a great place to Sit Down With Friends and share our lives and stories.
A friend shared this on Facebook yesterday and I wanted to share it with you. What a Beautiful Amazing Girl She is. Before you link up, Check her out. Watch to the end. It will make your day! Hallelujah! By Lindsey Stirling #aSaviorIsBorn
https://youtu.be/5VzprYCxPBQ
Hey Jamie, good to join you here, a few days away from Christmas!
I hope you are having fun and excited?
Thank you for creating a lovely space in your blog to host a wonderful community. I am deeply grateful for your time and efforts in visiting our blogs and leaving a comment too…
Praying that next year would be greater and more successful for us..
Many Blessings to you, Jamie
Hey Jaime! I tried to add my link here but got an error that I had added the maximum number of links to this party! Not sure if it is a problem on my end or inlinkz. I'll check back later today!
I got the same message! Pesky link up issues! 😉
Me too!
The video and the message is beautiful.
Yes, I got the same message as Christa and Karrilee got when trying to link up.
May your Christmas be filled with His love, ~ linda
I am so sorry ladies. I appreciate your time and hate to see that you came to post up and there was a problem. I got back into the inlinkz and it some how turned into no links allowed. Ifeoma got her link up so it must have got funny after that. I am really sorry for the tech difficulties and I am thankful that you will stop back by to link up. We love reading all your amazing posts. Have a wonderful weekend.
No worries! All linked up now. Thanks, Jaime!
Thank you Christa For stopping back by.
Merry Christmas!
Love it! Merry Christmas to you, too.
Thanks for hosting! " Lets love people for who they were meant to be" I needed to hear that Jaime.Love your post and I couldn't agree more!! Blessings to you this Christmas season!
I am praying for you and you family. Have a wonderful Christmas with those little beauties. Thank you for posting with us.
Your message echos my Bible studies in 1 John. Love one another – sometimes it's challenging! But what a great message at this time of year. Merry Christmas, Jaime, may you and your family have a wonderful Christmas day.
Isn't it wonderful how God chooses to speak to us at certain times. I actually had this conversation in my dream the other night with one of my family members. My thoughts were this when I woke up. Just love us the way we are. Wanted to share that with others. I know so many people who struggle with this at Family gatherings. Just wanted to encourage. Merry Christmas to you too, friend.
Thanks for hosting, Jaime! Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas 🙂
Thank you so much for stopping by Kelly. So glad you linked up with us. Have a very Merry Christmas.
Thanks for sharing with #SocialButterflySunday, Jaime! Happy New Year my friend 🙂
can I tell you how my post today is exactly about being overwhelmed this time of year and how your post said to me..be of good cheer and oh! how I love love this song you posted! Oh, I love it..Thank you and I will share it on my spaces..wide open places and also in my heart.Love your little spot friend!
I am so glad that you share with us here, friend. Your words always make me think in a different light. Have a very Merry Christmas Tanya.
Embracing the imperfect holidays – yup, that's what I'm doing! Including an unexpected root canal, and noticing this morning that a perfect little row of evergreen trees that I put along a window sill has somehow messed with the stain! (Which means that hubby will have to sand and re-stain after the holidays!) But, after all, isn't that why Jesus came in the first place? Because our humanity is imperfect?!
I'm so glad for a Savior who became like us…to save us.
Wishing you and yours a most Merry Christmas!!
GOD BLESS!
Thank you Sharon for your stories. I always enjoy reading them. I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas even though you had to spend time at the dentist.
Stopping by from Literary Musings Monday, a great linkup you have and reminders about what's really important at Christmas.
Thank you Tanya. I hope that you had a great Christmas.
Hey Jamie,
I love your thoughts on embracing the holidays, along with all of their imperfections. This was certainly not our families ideal Christmas, but it was very good. In spite of the many imperfections, we are truly blessed. Thank you for another great reminder to stop waiting for "perfect," to arrive, and to enjoy what we have, right now. I'm hoping you and your family had a perfectly incredible, imperfect Christmas too!
Thank you Jed for sharing your post with us here. We had a wonderful Christmas. I am trying to let things go in all areas of my life and embrace life for the beauty that God has placed before me. I would have to say thank God I am a work in progress.
hi jamie – thanks for the reminder to link up. I needed your post this morning. Life's not perfect at the donaldson house – christmas or otherwise. Drives me to Jesus – sometimes quicker than other times. Blessings on you and yours. sue
Thank you for sharing your Christmas with us. I am glad that you stopped by again this week. I look forward to seeing you again this week.
I loved your thought to embrace the holidays (all of them) even if they are not perfect, but bring joy to others as you celebrate. Thank you for sharing with us here at Tell me a Story. Also thank you for sharing your new Blog Party site.
Thank you Hazel. I have had too many family gatherings when I am disappointed. It is because I expect perfect, or what I think is perfect, and I get let down. I just have to learn to expect reality and that is imperfect. Thank you for your kind words and hosting a place fore us to share.