We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. (Edith Pierce) I like thinking about a new year as an open book for us to write our own words on the blank pages of each day. Of course, …
Handmade Nativity Sets
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~Confucius 2016 is on the way, but it’s still Christmas week and actually the Wise Men didn’t make it to see the baby Jesus exactly on the day he was born. It was a little while before they made their way following the star to Bethlehem. No jet planes back in those …
Christmas Wrapped in Love
Do you remember when it took what felt like two months for the week of Christmas to pass? The hours on Christmas Eve surely had 120 minutes each. The anticipation of Christmas was something so real you could taste it as easily as you could taste that piece of chocolate fudge you sneaked from your mother’s stash of Christmas candy. …
A Christmas Wish – A Real Writing Tool
My Christmas giveaway is over, but I’m still thinking about all the great e-mails you shared with me about your favorite gifts received when you were a child or that you gave to a child. You let me have a peek into your Christmas memories and that was fun. So now it only seems fair to share my own Christmas …
Winners, Blue Bikes and More
My Christmas Giveaway has ended. I assigned each of the entries a number and then I used Random.org to pick two winning numbers. Of course, as always, I’m the biggest winners because I got to hear from so many of you and read your stories of best gifts received as a child or given to a child. I’ve been sharing …
And Sometimes on Christmas We Cry
There are things we don’t want to happen, but have to accept; things we don’t want to know, but have to learn, and people we can’t live without, but have to let go. (Jennifer Jareau, a fictional character from the show Criminal Minds) At Christmas time we want everything to be happy. We say Merry Christmas and we mean it. …
A Father’s Love – A Gift that Never Fades
Only a few days left to enter my Christmas giveaway. Deadline is midnight EST December 15th. First prize is this lovely Nativity set that would look great on your table this Christmas. The figures are made of wood and Mary is holding Jesus. The second prize is a Barbara Johnson daily calendar that could bring you smiles all year. Plus, …
No Special Gift … Just Memories
Christmas is wrapped in memories. When you get a few years added on the way I have, you have quite a few Christmases to remember. There was the excitement and anticipation of Christmas Eve when I was a little girl and we would go to open presents at our aunt’s house. She was like a granny to us. Years passed …
Books Under the Christmas Tree
Under my Christmas tree you will generally find at least one book wrapped up for each child and grandchild. Not my books. They can have one of those any time they want, but while a few of them do read my books, others in the family have different reading tastes or might not be old enough for a book without …
The Spirit of Generosity
The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things. (Thomas S. Monson) On Wednesday’s post here, I shared a beautiful story of how Barbara and her co-workers made …








