The presents need wrapping (and one needs buying).

A few gifts still need to be finished off. The bedrooms that will soon be filled by my kids who are returning home need some tidying.

And I’m very excited!

I’ll be signing off for a week now to take a Christmas break with my kids. When we come back on December 30, I’ve got a bunch of important posts that we’ll be launching right into, and the beginning of 2020 will be big. But before all of that happens, I need a break and to just enjoy my kids, and have some time to reflect on Emmanuel, God with us.

One of our Christmas traditions as a family was that we would often read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever out loud on Christmas Eve. We haven’t done that in a few years, and so my son-in-law David has never heard it. I think we’re going to revisit that tradition this year. (If you’ve never read it, it’s worth it. It’s wonderful. And kids love listening to it, too! It’s an amazing read aloud for all ages. But be careful, because the person reading it will likely be laughing so hard it’s difficult to get through it in places.)

Best of all, my grandson will be joining us this Christmas! When I reflect back on 2019, it’s been a very, very busy year. And so much of it was taken up by Rebecca’s pregnancy and then the birth of our little (now quite chubby) baby boy.

My mom and Keith and I have all also been sick for a few weeks, so we never did manage to get our Christmas decorations up. They’ve all been sitting in the living room for a few weeks waiting until we had energy. But we’re better now (before the baby arrives, thankfully!), and I’ve got to get that done later today.

Tomorrow is also my 28th anniversary.

I’m so glad I’ve got the amazing husband that I do, and we’re going to make a lovely dinner together and just stay home. (I’ve been disappointed in some restaurant meals I’ve had recently, and I decided I’d rather buy something super expensive to make myself, because that’s still cheaper than a restaurant and at least I know it will be good! Plus I like to cook!).

So I’ve got family and marriage and Christmas and lots of things to celebrate, and I hope that you do, too.

What I’d like for Christmas

Before I sign off, though, can I do a shameless plug? If you’ve enjoyed the blog this year, and if you like what I’ve been writing, AND if you’re a woman who is married, then I really need a favour.

We are working on what I hope will be the largest and most comprehensive study of Christian women’s sexual and marital satisfaction. We really need as many people to take the survey as possible, in order to make our results unassailable. We’re currently 63 responses short of my first stretch goal of 20,000 (although I have a new stretch goal that’s higher than that!). The survey closes on December 31, to give us time to analyze the results and write our book, The Great Sex Rescue, by its due date.

So many marriage books are based on what people THINK should work. I want to base this on data. So we need data!

If you have not taken the survey yet, please take it! It would make my day to hit 20,000 today.

And if you HAVE taken the survey, please send this link to 3 of your friends and ask them to take it, too? Please spread the word, because we’d love to get even more people taking it!

Share this link:

https://www.research.net/r/tolovehonorandvacuum

Merry Christmas, everyone!

May the season be peaceful. May you be able to take time to reflect on “Emmanuel, God with us.” That Jesus came to live among us, to show us what God is like, to live a perfect life and be our model. And then He gave up that life so that He could make a way for full reconciliation with God. Jesus is with us now. We are not alone.

Emmanuel! Merry Christmas.