S2 Ep. 23 Planning for Christmas Part 1 and 2

Christmas can be wonderful and delightful and magical. It can also be the opposite of that: stressful, worrisome, and overwhelming. Today we started a 2-part series called Planning for Christmas, and the hope is that you'll hear some great practical tips, but that you are also encouraged to keep your eyes on Jesus, and not let the busyness or the stress of the season rob you from His joy.

We couldn’t think of a better guest for Part 1 of this series, The Queen of Christmas herself, Julie Urbina. Julie is my sister in law and we had her on last year for a wonderful Christmas episode. I encourage you to go back and listen to it! Julie is a mom to four, two girls and two boys, but she and her husband have fostered several other children as well. 

On today's episode we talked about the nitty gritty of Christmas: financial planning, strategies, and practices. Julie has had some very frugal years, and so she knows what it's like to plan Christmas for a large family on a very small budget. She also shared with us how we can always give and share what we have, even if we think it's little. Remember the wedding feast Jesus attended? Everyone was focused on what they lacked: wine! But Jesus saw what was ahead: abundance through His provision.

Our guest for Part 2 was Roxanne Barsh, mom to two girls and one boy. She’s been married for 16 years and she is seriously one amazing party planner. We focused on activities to do together as a family and how to prevent over scheduling and stress. We also talked about one of the most important things about Christmas: keeping Jesus the focus! We can easily lose sight of the Saviour in the midst of all the hustle. 

 In honor of Christmas and taking the advice of our guests to heart, we are going to take a two week break from podcasting this month. Come back in January for a much needed convo on Community, plus a ton of awesome guests and topics in 2022!

Love,

Rachel + Stacy