25 Names of Christ

The reason I made this is because our older daughter decided to serve a mission to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. She was assigned to serve in the France Paris mission and recently left for the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah. It was hard enough to have her gone for the holidays, let alone 18 months!

I think of her Every. Single. Day. I wanted her to have something to open every day while she was away from us in the MTC. I envision her opening the gift, reading the scripture out loud with her companions, and hanging them on the tree. (It's definitely a sparkly picture in my mind!) She doesn't have a lot of room (think of a college dorm room with 3 other girls), so I had to make it small. And she won't take it with her when she leaves for France. She can just send home what she wants to keep.

There are so many more names of Jesus Christ you can find in the scriptures. I just limited it to 25 so she can have a small gift to open up Every. Single. Day. leading up to Christmas! And I had friends asking me for the idea, so here we go!

The Tree

• Fabric Tree (or a small fake tree)
• Wooden Dowel
• Jute String

She doesn't have much space, so I ordered a fabric panel online of a tree. If you are super creative, just make your own! Here's the link where I found this one:
https://www.equilter.com/product/246141/supernova-snowy-tree-green-42-x-44-panel-digital-print
(It took about 4 days to arrive in the mail. I had to finish the edges and sew a small casing for a wooden dowel. Tied the ends of the dowel with jute string and it's ready to hang on a door or closet.)

Names of Christ

Here's the list, scripture references, and items I chose to use for gifts. Again, there are SO MANY MORE names of Christ, these just worked for what I wanted to use.

Printable Ornament Tags

• Ribbon
• Hole Punch
• Laminator (optional)
• Safety Pins

 These are the style of ornaments I created. Obviously you can make your own or feel free to use these. They are just JPGS- you can copy and paste them right into your own document and size them the way you like. There are blank ones as well.

Here's what some of them looked like when I cut them out, laminated them, and put on a ribbon.

Gifts and Tags

Choosing gifts is all up to you! I found a lot at Hobby Lobby, Deseret Bookstore, Target, and Walmart. This part was SO MUCH FUN!! Wrap them up the way you want. (I put mine in brown paper bags with tissue paper.) Attach the ornament gift tags and number each one in the order you want them opened. (I selected Emmanuel to be opened on Christmas Day.)

Bright and Morning Star (Star Ornament- of course, this is the one gift I missed to take a photo)

Horn of My Salvation (French Horn Ornament)

Potter (Small Clay Cup- perfect for holding pens or candy)

Prince of Peace (Peace Ornament and Dove Chocolates)

Shield (CTR Necklace)

Stone (Pop Rocks Candy with Modified Label)

The Way (Milkyway Candybars with Modified Label)

Tree of Life (Tree Ornament)

True Vine (Red Vines Candy with Modified Label)

Keeper of the Gate (Kit Kat Candy with Modified Label- my youngest daughter said they look like a gate)

King of Kings (Crown Ornament)

Lamb of God (Llama Stuffed Animal- they are a big thing right now)

Light of the World (Twinkle Lights- these just happen to match any rhythm)

Living Water (Vitamin Water Drink)

Maker of Fisher of Men (Goldfish Crackers)

Man of Sorrows (Bandaids)

Mansion Preparer (Gingerbread House)

Gift for Holy One of Israel (Toblerone Bar)

Alpha and Omega (Ring Jewelry- inserted a card that read "rings have no beginning and no end")

Bread of Life (Swiss Roll Cakes with Modified Label- since she is going to France!)

Creator (Lego Mini Figures- these are all female superheroes)

Emmanuel (Nativity Ornament with Baby Jesus)

Firstfruits (Tootsie Roll Fruit Chews Candy)

Good Shepherd (Candy Canes)

High Tower (Eiffel Tower Ornament- again, she is going to France!)

May you all enjoy your Christmas season! I hope this helps you feel uplifted and turns your hearts to Christ.

To My Valentine

This one is also one where I took an idea and made it my own. I found the original idea on Shannon Brown's blog. (She is AMAZING!)

So.... this was my gift to my darling hubby... A YEAR OF DATES. Let's face it, life gets super-mega-licious busy and making time to go on a date with your spouse sometimes gets superseded by "other-more-important-things." (Feel free to fill in the quotes with your choice of challenges... kids need you, church obligations, job responsibilities, needy friend, health issues, cash flow, deployment, sick pet, etc...)  Life happens!! But I firmly believe that one of our MOST IMPORTANT relationships we have on this earth is the one we build with our beloved spouse. And that relationship building takes work, takes time, takes creativity, takes maintenance, takes planning... all of which translates to I Love You Darling. You Are Important To Me.

My version of dates really took me a lot of planning and thought. (I honestly didn't think it would be so difficult, but I wanted something that would be meaningful to my husband...not just all about me. Does that make sense?) We are doing lots of active outdoorsy things that I know we enjoy doing together. Again, emphasizing that I recognize what he likes to do and I want to do them with him.

THE INTRO LETTER

The introduction letter

So I started off with an introduction letter that I tied into the whole package. It explains the purpose of each labeled envelope and the rule of NO PEEKING! (I couldn't afford to purchase/schedule EVERYTHING for the year, so some envelopes just have a short note. I plan to spread out the purchases over time so that our budget isn't thrown out the window in one month. I'll get gift cards here and there to fill in the envelopes.)

The envelopes

EACH MONTH
I thought about posting the actual letters, but most of them are waaaay too personal {blush} for your innocent eyes. Here are the themes by month that I used:

• Feb- dinner and movie night out
• Mar- dinner and comedy club
• Apr- archery range and sandwiches
• May- bike ride and picnic
• Jun- anniversary month
• Jul- golf and lunch
• Aug- motorcycle ride and lunch
• Sep- shooting range and lunch
• Oct- spa day and lunch
• Nov- hotel night out
• Dec- gift shopping and dinner

This is really the tamest letter I wrote. Hope it gives you some ideas of your own.

TIPS

• Try to plan events that you BOTH will enjoy!! You don't want to be the miserable one in the corner while your spouse is having a hey day. The idea is that you are building your relationship-- not sulking about it!
• Think-- really ponder-- about what your spouse enjoys. If you know your spouse would prefer to go to the opera rather than the golf course (and you will enjoy it as well), make that your date!
• Stick to a budget. It can get easy to go hog wild and plan a cruise, and a safari, and book a lear jet to Tahiti. Rein in your wild ideas and stick to keeping it simple. Make the date about the person you love not how expensive it is.
• Try to plan your meals near the location of your activity. You don't want to schlep across town and maybe miss the opening act of your play or your scheduled tee time because of traffic.
• Keep a master list of your dates so you don't accidentally forget! On that list have contact information and addresses for all the places you plan to go. I included a list of directions and addresses in each envelope for him as well.
• Put it on the calendar. In my home, if it's on the calendar then it's going to happen. If it's not on the calendar, well... let's be honest, other things will take over.
• Have fun. Make some amazing memories together that you will enjoy for years and years.