The same thing happens every year. The temperature start to dip. The wind changes from a refreshing breeze to a biting chill. Enter more gray skies. Less color. Less sunshine. More grump.

At first, it’s fun to break out the sweaters, the scarves, and the boots. We are ready for a change and welcome the seasonal shift without much complaining. But after the holidays, when January and February come, you are likely dealing with fatigue and stir-crazy kids in addition to cold weather.

I don’t know about you, but it has always been a struggle for me to embrace winter with a cheerful attitude. Or even an ungrudging attitude, with minimal complaints. It’s not my favorite season, and it shows in the things I say and in my Instagram captions.  

Living with a complaining heart isn’t pleasant, though. So in the past few years I have tried to be much more intentional about changing not only the way I talk about this season, but also the way that I think about it. Because, as you know, lasting change starts on the inside. 

While it’s true that warmer clothing, fires in the fireplace, and more comfort foods all help to make the season more enjoyable/endurable. This year, I’ve added another strategy to changing the way I approach winter. And even better, it’s one we can do together as a family, so we can all be on board.

Need A Better Attitude This Winter? Try This! 

In our last trip to the library, we checked out Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book, The Long Winter. Most nights since then, we gather together near the fireplace while mama reads a chapter about the Ingall family. 

I knew it would be good for me to read during this season, but I did not realize how helpful it would be to gain a little perspective on how good we have it in our home (and likely in yours too). 

The cheerful Ingalls family lives in a claim shanty with thin walls, no heat besides their fire, and a cold walk to get necessary water. Just tonight, we read about how after a three-day blizzard, the cattle outside actually had their heads frozen to the ground because the conditions were so bad. 

Now, I’ve written about how comparison can be the thief of joy and a major roadblock in relationships, but maybe comparison every once in a while isn’t such a bad thing. This winter try a little comparison to help you check your attitude and gain perspective. 

We did just that after reading one night this week. Together we spent a few minutes comparing what our winter looks like with what winter looked like for Laura and her sisters. And it really opened up my eyes. 

• We have warm clothes. And I don’t have to wear drafty dresses in below freezing temperatures. 
• Our plumbing is inside. Many, many thanks for this one. 
• We have refrigerators and freezers and stores full of food. We don’t HAVE TO hunt and forage for food just to survive. 

Of course, the comparisons could go on, but at this point I was thinking of other perks of winter. Like reading together by the fire. More family time as we stay home more often. And simply more occasions to point our children to the Creator and controller of the seasons.

So here’s my encouragement to everyone who, like me, has a history of needing an attitude check during the winter. Either together as a family, or by yourself while you’re enjoying your favorite hot beverage, make a list of what you can be thankful for this season. Write it down and remind each other. Then find a good book (maybe one about winters worse than yours!) and make time to enjoy it together. 

Maybe you’ll find that the cold isn’t so bad after all…

The post Need A Better Attitude This Winter? Try This! appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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Simple, Intentional Encouragement Dear Mama, You Are Enough. Are You A Health Warrior?

Written by Kari @ Kari Newsom Contributing Writer

 It’s that time of year again.

As a Health and Nutrition Coach, I always have people ask me for some tips on how to successfully celebrate special occasions without completely going off the deep end when it comes time to eat.

The first and most important thing I always tell people is this:

ENJOY THE CELEBRATION!!!

All to often we try so hard to do ‘the right thing’ about the whole ‘eating during the holiday’ issue, that we actually end up NOT enjoying this time of year.

Don’t do that anymore.  Eating healthy and making healthier choices isn’t about being miserable.  I promise.

There are a couple pointers I like to give people who don’t want to go crazy, over indulge and completely get off track with their healthy lifestyle.

If you are like the average person, this time of year {or any celebration for that matter} can be a challenging time.

My family typically eats extremely healthy,  BUT I don’t freak out and go crazy that I’m not getting my organic and fresh foods.  I am always thankful that someone would take the time to prepare a meal for us to enjoy – whether it’s considered ‘healthy’ in my book or not.  Since 98% of the time we eat extremely healthy and disciplined at home, I never feel guilty when those occasions arise where we aren’t able to eat that way. 

If there are certain foods that you absolutely cannot eat (if you have allergies or have celiac, etc.) then speak with the host for that day and explain your situation and ask if it would be okay if you brought some of your own items so you can still sit down and enjoy the meal with everyone else.  Many times you will find that the host may offer to make some dishes according to your needs.  If your eating preferences are just that, preferences, then it’s up to you to make smart choices while you are filling your plate. 

Here are a few tips that might help you out this Thanksgiving holiday:

1. Eat a Smaller Meal Beforehand

If you are prone to eating TONS of food and filling your plate to overflowing, then going back for seconds and thirds – try eating a small meal before you go to your Thanksgiving celebration.  It doesn’t have to be a rich meal, just a small meal that will help fill you up enough where gorging out on food doesn’t look so appealing to you!  You’ll still get to enjoy the food on the table, you just won’t be shoveling it all in your mouth like there’s no tomorrow.

2. Water

Drinking a glass of water about 30 minutes before sitting down to eat can make a person feel full, so you won’t end up eating as much.

3. Self-Control

Make a decision to only have one plate of food, which means smaller portions of each item.  Not always easy, but your stomach will thank you for it once dessert time rolls around.

4. Mini Size It

If you are a dessert sampler like some {GUILTY], then don’t take full size servings of each dessert.  Cut in half, thirds or quarters so you can sample all the wonderful goodies, without consuming the amount of an entire pie or cake by the time you’re done.

5. Control Your Eyes

If your eyes are always bigger than your stomach, then it’s about discipline, discipline, discipline!  Just CONTROL yourself when filling your plate!!!  Yes, it smells so good and looks amazing and Aunt Susie’s mashed potatoes are the bomb, but you don’t need a mountain of food to enjoy all that goodness. 

Studies show that the first couple bites of food are the most intense and satisfying – taste wise.  Even with amazing desserts, the more bites you take, the magnitude of it’s greatness starts to taper down a bit after the first few bites.

6. Going Back

Are seconds bad?  I don’t think so, as long as your first servings weren’t gi-normous to begin with. Just remember that you don’t need to over do it!  When your body tells you to stop eating – then STOP EATING!

7. Enjoy The Company

Make a conscious effort to enjoy the people around you.  Aren’t we all gathering on Thanksgiving (or whatever celebration) to spend time with each other?  Yes, so enjoy your company, engage in conversation, laugh and CHEW SLOWLY.  This is a guarantee that you won’t eat as much when you talk with people and give your food a chance to settle and your brain is told that you’re full (this usually takes about 15-20 minutes to occur.)

8. Chew Chew Chew

Along with chewing slowly, we should all chew each bite 20-30 times before swallowing completely!  I know you think I sound crazy, but you will reduce the amount of food you eat by quite a bit.  Why?  Since you’re taking the time to chew your food purposely, you won’t be gulping down large portions every 5 seconds and by the time you’ve been eating for 15-20 minutes and your body is saying ‘STOP, I’M FULL’ – you won’t have consumed nearly as much food.  Also, chewing this many times is the most important part of digestions since it breaks down your food to a point that once it hits your stomach, your stomach won’t need to work so hard to continue the digestion process.

9. Nix Tons of Liquids While Eating

Try not to drink a ton of liquid while you are eating.  The reason is because it dilutes your digestive juices in your stomach and then it takes so much longer for your body to digest your food.  This can lead to you feeling so full that you feel sick to your stomach.  Give your food a chance to do its job once its in your body!

All in all, we need to demonstrate self control and we are more than capable of doing that! Take time to enjoy the food that has been prepared for you and enjoy the people surrounding you. These holidays have a purpose behind them, so focus on those purposes instead of making the food the center and most important aspect of the day.

Most importantly, when it comes to the food you eat, pray over your food and thank God for the nourishment to your bodies and protecting you from any harm. Thank Him for the family and friends that are surrounding you and the many blessings you have in your life. Thank Him for the life you have. If you are reading this, then you are alive! What a wonderful thing. On top of that, you can’t be reading this post without a computer, ipad or smart phone!  Be thankful! You are blessed! Now, be a blessing to others!

What simple things do you do during holiday celebrations to avoid over-indulging?

The post Tips For Eating Healthy During The Holidays appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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Written by Karen @ To Work With My Hands, Contributing Writer

With Thanksgiving coming up soon, people usually begin thinking more about having a grateful attitude. While that’s a good thing, it shouldn’t be reserved for a single weekend each year. 

Although we may not want to admit it, our typical attitude tends toward ingratitude. Perhaps we wouldn’t label it that way, but when we find ourselves complaining, always striving for more, or being generally dissatisfied with what we have, we have ungrateful attitudes. Ouch!

Over the past few years, I’ve been working on this idea of cultivating a grateful attitude. I have to admit that I was surprised when I began having my eyes opened to my expressions of ingratitude. It wasn’t particularly easy to realize that I had been in the habit of being ungrateful.

How easy it is to wonder how in the world the children of Israel could have grumbled over anything at all after living firsthand God’s goodness toward them after they left Egypt. Yet, all the while, we walk about expressing dissatisfaction over the weather or how we can never seem to get ahead or whatever the latest less-than-perfect situation is that we may find ourselves in. I’ve been there. Sometimes I’m wallowing in it again.

Cultivating a grateful attitude is a Spirit-led, work-in-progress, and I’m grateful for what I’ve been able to learn and cultivate about, well…being grateful!

When I realized that I needed to work on cultivating gratitude in my heart, I was already familiar with many Biblical passages that address thankfulness. However, I had not given them the deeper consideration that I should have. Being grateful seemed so straightforward and as simple as saying “Thank You”.

But, as I began considering it more deeply, I realized that it is far more than just uttering a couple of automatic words. Cultivating a grateful attitude begins in the heart.

One of the most encouraging and helpful resources that I found was this book: One Thousand Gifts. You’ve probably certainly heard of it since it’s 2011 release. When I first heard about it, I was intrigued by the notion of keeping a journal to record things I’m grateful for, and wondered if it could really be that simple.

What I was thrilled to learn was, yes, it is that simple. However, through the simple act of recording a few things each day that I’m grateful for, my heart began to change shape.

Bit by bit, entry by entry, my focus began to change. And, as with many of the new habits I’ve worked on cultivating in my life, it really just opened up a door to a broader place.

One of my favorite verses about gratitude is 1 Thessalonians 5:18:

“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Through this verse, and others like it, I’ve been challenged during difficult days and circumstances to give thanks, regardless of how things seem or how I feel. It’s been a learning process, and as I’m learning to have gratitude for the hard and even ugly, as well as the easy and beautiful, I’ve realized in a fresh way that cultivating a grateful attitude is a God-honoring process and that being ungrateful is not.

I’ve also learned that when I choose to be grateful in all circumstances, my heart is changed, bit by bit, into more of the character of Christ.

I encourage you to consider a grateful attitude with me and how we can grow more toward being people who are always grateful – not just at Thanksgiving.

How do you cultivate gratitude in your heart?

The post Cultivating a Grateful Attitude appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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As I write this I am preparing for a missions trip with two of my three boys.  By the time you read this we will be back already  I’ll put together an update post about the trip that you can find over on my blog.

I am looking forward to this opportunity, especially for my 9 year old son.  We live in a society where even those of us with very little have so much more than the rest of the world.  We are very much used to instant gratification and often so spoiled but we don’t even realize it!  I am hoping this trip will open his eyes to thinking outside of his own little world and show him what REAL need is like.  I hope and pray that he will embrace this opportunity to give and learn.  I pray that he will know how blessed we can be by blessing others.

Each of our team members has been asked to prepare a 5-10 minute devotional to share with the group throughout the week.  I was thinking and praying about what to share this morning.  I had music playing on my phone and then on the Christian station on my TV and the same song came on twice within an hour…so I thought perhaps that was God’s way of answering that question.  

This song has been close to my heart for many years.  As technology progresses and our schedules fill up more and more, it is extremely easy to get away from the basics of life.  Living in a state of busy-ness with constant distraction leads us to worry and focus on current worldly issues, instead of focusing in the one who can bring us through those issues.  Taking our eyes off of Jesus for just one moment causes us to sink very quickly.  (Matthew 14:22-33)

I often wonder how people make it through this life without God and a real relationship with his son, Jesus.  It may sound sort of cliche to ask such a question, but I very seriously would have given up long ago without this solid foundation. Loss of friends and family, miscarriage, marriage struggles, physical disabilities, job loss, uncertainties in relationships…and so on… I cannot do it without being able to cry out to a loving God and Savior.  And yet so many are surviving without Him.  I don’t want to just survive, I want to THRIVE!

I pray that this song will encourage you, as well, to prayerfully remove distractions from your life and get back to the “Basics of Life.”

The post Getting Back To The Basics Of Life appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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Written by KT @ One Organic Mama, Contributing Writer

Want to encourage thankfulness in your little ones?

We started writing thank you notes early.  The kids would decorate paper with crayons or finger paint, and I would write the note and talk to them about what they liked about each gift.

This year, my 4 year old is ready to contribute (a little) to the writing process!  He is having fun practicing letters and loved writing his own note to Santa this year!  Imagine my surprise when he asked to write it, I didn’t realize how many letters he really knew already!  I dictated to him letter by letter, and he was able to do most of it by himself!  He was excited to write his own thank you notes which takes lots of patience and time (I dictate letter by letter), but I think in the long run it will be worth it.

There are three printables here (in case you want to use them for a later event and have already written your thank yous from Christmas) – hopefully one will work for you!  There are 4 cards to a page so your thank yous should fit into a smaller envelope!  Happy writing!

Here are 3 Free Printables for your use:

Thank You
Christmas Thank You
Penmanship Thank You

Do you have your littles write Thank You notes?

The post Thank You Notes from Littles appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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