Gift Giving part 2 …

I am always looking for good gifts for the fellow young moms in my life. Whether they are my cousins, friends or sisters in Christ, these women mean the world to me and I want to give them a gift that is encouraging, useful and just for them. This year I am giving the book Living Simply by Joanne Heim

This summer I stumbled across Joanne's book Living Simply: Choosing Less in a World of More. The first time I read the title, I thought to myself, "I've gotta read that book." Within a week, I had read it and I loved it.

Living Simply is a beautifully written book that speaks to the heart of moms. Joanne speaks honestly about the overly busy, yet often empty, lives that families are struggling with today. She gives clear and simple suggestions for transforming your home, family, friendships and spiritual life. But this is not a self help book. Reading Living Simply is like sitting down to coffee with your girl friend and gleaning wisdom from her funny, honest, and insightful life stories. I have read this book 3 times in 5 months and I am amazed by it each time.

Joanne agreed to join me for a little blog chat. Welcome Joanne!

Wendy (WS): In a nutshell, what does "living simply" mean to your family?

Joanne (JH): In our family, living simply means guarding our time together as a family. We are very deliberate about the commitments we make—especially with evenings and weekends. That means that we have become very comfortable saying no.
Sometimes that means we have to say no to good things. For example, on Sundays we only do things that we can do all together. Both of the girls have said no to birthday parties in the past month, and I've said no to a few open houses or parties that didn't include all of us.
We also limit the activities for Audrey and Emma. It's all too easy to say yes to this, and yes to that—and suddenly the calendar is uncomfortably full. One activity per child is what works for us in this season of life. As they grow that may change, but for now, that's what allows us to complete homework, eat dinner as a family, and get to bed on time.
Living simply is something we do as a family. As a mother, I have a lot of influence. But to make this work, it's something we do together as a family. We talk about what we commit to do—and why.

WS: "Living simply," would be the phrase least likely to describe most families' holidays. What is your family doing, or not doing, this month to keep your Christmas simple and sane?

JH: One of the biggest things we do to keep Christmas simple is to celebrate the story more than the stuff. Don't get me wrong, we love presents! But stuff doesn't last very long—it gets broken, forgotten, lost. The story lasts forever—and gets added to each time we tell it.
Waiting for Christmas morning to arrive is hard—especially for children—so we talk about the story of Christmas each and every day to keep the focus on the fact that Jesus came to earth to be Immanuel—God with us. In the past few years, we've really focused on celebrating Advent—something that makes the waiting fun. We read Christmas stories, we light Advent candles, we put up ornaments on our Advent calendars, we give to those in need, we talk about what it means that God is indeed with us—in everything we do.
It can be hard to balance parents and in-laws when Christmas is just one day. Celebrating the story leading up to Christmas morning is a great opportunity to begin to create your own traditions. As you look for ways to celebrate the story of Christmas, other women are a great resource. Talk to your girlfriends and ask about their Christmas traditions, things they do to celebrate the season, how they've merged traditions from both sides of the family to create new ones

WS: In Living Simply you write about starting to take ballet classes as at age 30. I love the image of you wearing red lipstick and a purple tutu in your spring recital. You ask the reader, "Are you doing things each week that you love to do?" (pg 195) What do you love to do these days and how do you make time to do it?

JH: I miss my ballet classes! I have yet to find a class that meets during the day since we moved to Denver. Though I've found classes that meet at night, they are something I've said no to in order to make our evenings time for family.
So I've found other things I love to do—and put them on the calendar. It's all too easy to put ourselves last when life gets busy. But we need to do things we enjoy—and our children need to know that it's important to play. They need to see us make friendships a priority, to take time to do things we love.
I love to spend time with friends, to wander through antique stores, to sew, to knit, to read.
Block off an hour or two and take some time to do what you love—wander through the library, have coffee with a friend, window shop at the mall. Or stay in your jammies and watch a movie. Whatever it is—put it on the calendar and do it!


WS: You are a crafty gal Joanne, in the spirit of helping each other out with gift ideas – what gifts are you making this year?

JH: I am crafty and love making gifts for people. One of the things that I've done for teachers and neighbors this year is to put together a breakfast basket—mocha mix, pretty Christmas napkins, a loaf of homemade bread. In some of them I've also added an ornament or a gift card or a pot of jam.
The thing with making gifts is that it should be fun. If you're not crafty, don't worry about it and go with something that you enjoy. Buy an ornament and explain why you chose that ornament for that person, give the gift of your time and volunteer at school or watch a friend's children so she and her husband can have a date night. Put together a family movie night bucket filled with popcorn and candy and a favorite movie. Add a game or a book your family has enjoyed together.
Come up with a standard gift from your family—and give that every year. A new movie, a new recipe, a new ornament, a new game, a new book.

Thank you for stopping by The Celebrated Family Joanne.

Isn't she great! If you want to get more of Joanne's tips for simple living, she is currently creating the ABC's of Living Simply. You can down load her tips for free. A new tip is posted each week. Look for the button on the right side of this blog. Joanne posts daily at her blog – http://www.thesimplewife.typepad.com/ . It is a great blog that I always look forward to reading.

Click here to buy Living Simply at Amazon