Tag: Christmas

Christmas

Beat Christmas Stress Before December

The Kedge Anchor

Peace at Christmas can be hard to find in December. The cleaning, baking, wrapping presents, hosting parties, can make the season bright but not so merry after a while. It’s built, week by week, long before the tree goes up.

My last post I covered how to save for Christmas. Weekly, consistently, slow and steady wins the race. When I put $25.00 aside each week after 52 weeks that’s $1300. And while that may not seem like a lot in 2026, it will be $1300 more than you had. You might be thinking I need that money before the end of 52 weeks. I gotcha. This really pays off the second year and well, you have to start somewhere, right? Start saving now so you can get a jump start on Christmas shopping. I like to start in October, thinking, planning, asking my family to start thinking about what they want for Christmas (Side note: Amazon Prime has lists that can be shared, just sayin’).

Now that you have decided how much you are putting aside, where are you putting it? At the time I started doing this, I had a AmEx Bluebird card. AmEx has since discontinued that. It was very convenient, I was able to schedule the transaction every week and didn’t have to think about it. There are other ways to sock away money. You could do good old fashioned cash, that takes a lot of discipline and it still works. Opening up a dedicated checking/savings account at your bank or another bank is option. Having an account from another bank might help keep them separate. Having a separate bank account will allow you to schedule transactions so you won’t have to think about it.

There are other options such as prepaid debit card like the discontinued AmEx Bluebird card such as CashApp, PayPal, and Venmo. PayPal and Venmo have auto transfer features. Check them out see which one fits your needs.

All righty then. It’s now the first week in October and you see something for Christmas for someone. At this point you should about $975, still more than you had to begin with and you got to start somewhere. However, if you have automatic transfers, the money will still be going in and adding to the total.

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5

The first year I did this I was working full time in a hospital. I realized I was visiting the vending machines waaaay too much. I didn’t stop completely feeding the vending machines, but I did become more conscious of where the money was going. After budgeting the money I would take $8 or $10 and allow myself to visit the vending machines once in a while or if the cafeteria was closed. Any money at the end of the week I would put in a piggy bank. I started this at the beginning of the second year. By October, I had over $300!!!! And yes, we still pay with cash when we can so any stray dollars or coins we have laying around it’s gets stashed away.

It was nice to have the money to pay for shipping packages, buy baking goods, decorations, Christmas cards or last minute gifts for someone. And whatever was left over in the Christmas account was rolled over to next year.

There was more peace at Christmas not having to worry about spending money. We even had money to donate to the Salvation Army if we happened to walk by one of their kettles, we had money to buy a gift for the Angel Tree and fill shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse. It is far better to give than to receive. Peace is built up week by week, way before the tree and the decorations are put up.

Sometimes peace can look like abundance in December.

Christmas, encouragement, Stress

How I Stopped Stressing About Christmas by Saving a Little Each Week

The Kedge Anchor

Christmas can be stressful. Searching for the perfect gifts, the baking, the decorating can weigh on us after awhile. Let’s not forget our bank account. It’s not like everyone gets a Christmas bonus every year. And if you’re like me, you have to ship a few packages. It all adds up and it stresses me out.

I decided that I could plan better for Christmas if I did it slowly over time. It occurred to me one year long after Christmas, like the summer, I found a gift for my sister and decided to buy it and put it away. I felt like I had a win. When I was out shopping, I’d be on the look out for potential Christmas gifts, especially if someone had mentioned something they wanted. If I found something, I bought it and put it away. It was a great feeling to be ahead of the game. There was one year, I was done by Thanksgiving. Then it was just baking, decorating and Christmas parties.🪅🎄

Having a cash 💰 stash or a Christmas savings account was the biggest rush. When I was a kid, our bank Old Stone Bank, had a Christmas savings pass book. Yes I am mid century modern old, not Stone Age. Anyway you could put away $5 or $10 a week and by the end of the year you’d have $520 or $260 back then that was a.lot.of.money (and you actually had to walk into the back with the cash and teller made an entry in your pass book). That gave me an idea. How much could I set aside every week so that I would have Christmas money to spend? I tried putting aside $1 on week one, $2 week two… that came to $10 the first month. By the third month, 19 weeks that is $70. I was on a budget and each month that was like a bill going up. That wasn’t working. I decided that $25 a week would be a start. (OK that was ten years ago). Even $25 a week is $1300. Ten years ago, that went a long way and I just rolled it over for next year. Now if you are just starting, it’s ok. You need to start somewhere and it will be more than you have if you didn’t start. This will pay off in 2027, trust me it’s a rush. I usually had extra money in the account for birthday gifts during the year. I could by decorations, baking goods, whatever I needed for Christmas. It’s a Christmas rush of a different kind 😉I felt great to not have to pay back the credit card company and still have some cash to roll over. It was a huge stress reliever.

Please subscribe and follow me on social media and stay tuned in the next post I will tell you how I stashed the money and was able to add to it during the year.

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Coloring Page

December 12, 2022 – Psalm 69:30

The Kedge Anchor

Praise the name of God with song!!!!



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salvation

“Every Good Gift and Every Perfect Gift…” James 1:17

The Kedge Anchor

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A few weeks back, we started the 30 Day Gratitude challenge in the book, The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks, where everyday we recorded five things for which we were grateful. I shocked myself that I consistent for 30 days. I still account for that which I am grateful but I’ll be honest I forget to write them down. But, that’s ok, God hears my prayers.

I am still reading this book. I am not finished. I am journaling what read and taking my time. I want this to stick. So often I read a book, and say “Oh that was a great book” and three days later I can’t remember a thing (insert eye roll). Another reason why I am still reading the book is I got hung up on a verse; James 1:17. Currently I am only studying the first half of this verse, “Every good gift and every perfect gift…” I was always taught to understand a verse, reading the surrounding verses will help.

The verse is sandwiched between verses of trials and temptations, it looks like this in my NKJV Study Bible:

Loving God Under Trials

12Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.  14But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  15Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  18Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Qualities Needed in Trials

19[c]So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (The Bible Hub).

I began to wonder about these gifts. When I hear the word gift, I think pretty package, “brown paper packages tied up with string,” something pleasant, something that brings joy. So I investigated.
EVERY – Greek word – πᾶσα – pasa, All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole. Hmm declension made me wonder more.

Forms of declension? Trials as gifts? hmm.

GOOD – Greek – δόσις dosis -A giving, gift, donation. From the base of didomi; a giving; by implication, a gift. to give (in various senses lit. or fig.)

PERFECT – Greek – τέλειον – teleion –From telos; complete; neuter completeness. Perfect here is not defined as blemish free or without flaw. Perfect is defined as COMPLETE. Teleion, from telos, Strong’s Greek: 5046. τέλειος (teleios). There was another word that came to my mind, maybe you’re thinking the same one. Τετέλεσται -Tetelesta Strong’s 5055: (a) I end, finish, (b) I fulfill, accomplish, (c) I pay. From telos; to end, i.e. Complete, execute, conclude, discharge.

“”IT IS FINISHED! ” John 19:30

The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon

Strong’s Number: 5046 Browse Lexicon
Original WordWord Origint evleioßfrom (5056)
Transliterated Word TDNT 
Entry Teleios 8:67,1161
Phonetic SpellingParts of Speechtel’-i-osAdjective 

Definition brought to its end, finished wanting nothing necessary to completeness perfect that which is perfect consummate human integrity and virtue of men full grown, adult, of full age, mature
Bible Study Tools

Gift – Greek – δώρημα – dōrēma -A gift, bounty. From doreomai; a bestowment

I found these definitions for telos an ultimate end (Merriam Webster) and I like how Wordnick describes it the end of a goal oriented process. Wasn’t Jesus’ death on the cross a goal oriented process? He was the perfect sacrifice. Perfect in the sense He was without blemish, without sin, flawless and it was perfect in the sense His work on the cross is complete. His coming to earth born as a baby, fully human and fully God was the beginning of the Gospel. The gift of salvation was given to us when Jesus was born. Salvation for us was completed when Jesus died on the cross and rose again three days later. Jesus had one goal to complete, to pay the penalty of sin for us.

That’s probably why James nestled this verse in these verses of trials and temptations. We are going to be tempted and we at times may give (ok most likely) into temptation and sin. We will face trails and we likely fail. I know I will fail, we will fail if I, if we aren’t seeking God’s help in the midst of these trials and temptations. And there is nothing we can do to complete our salvation, there is nothing we can add to it. “nothing necessary to completeness.” What a gift!!!

And are we looking at trials as gifts? (ok I’ll save that for next week’s post because I do have some verses on that and this post is already long).

Ok so I am no Bible scholar. I may be waaay off in interpreting this. My head was spinning with all the information I was coming across and trying to organize it in my head, it was a lot to wrap my head around. I didn’t find any commentary that spoke to this, so if there are any scholars out there or if anyone has any constructive comments, please comment. I maybe missing something or not following something correctly. And right now it makes sense to me. So any insight, thoughts would be great.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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“Light of the World…

The Kedge Anchor
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“… You stepped down into darkness … ” You may recognize the lyrics from Randy Travis’ song “Here I Am to Worship.” Typically one may not consider this a Christmas song but the lyrics kind of well, at least for me make me think Jesus’ birth. And without His birth we don’t have His death and resurrection and without either of those we don’t have His salvation.

Jesus is the life, the truth and the way. He is also the Light of this world. I find it interesting that Jesus was born during the night. Nights are, well, usually dark and I imagine that during His time when there was no moon … It. Was. Dark. Have you ever been somewhere at night where there are no street lights, there was no moon, and the stars were hidden behind clouds? Maybe you were driving in the mountains or a remote road where civilization is miles away and no headlights or flashlight was bright enough. It. Is. Dark.

The world is still dark today just as it was in Jesus’ day. He stepped down into darkness from Heaven. He left His Father and Heaven in all it’s glory and beauty to walk among His people, HIs creation in this dark world. He arrived in this world at night as a baby and as the Light.


For me the star was symbolic of Jesus’ light figuratively and spiritually. Most scholars agree that the light from the star was so bright it was almost like daylight (just a side note, I know that star has many theories as to if it was an actual star or planets aligning, that’s another post). The point is what miraculous event would it have been if Jesus was born during the day?

The angels coming down from the heavens telling the shepherds of Jesus’ birth must have shown so brightly in those dark fields that night. Like someone turning the lights on in the middle of the night, it hurts. Sometimes it hurts when God illuminates the darkness in our own hearts and sometimes we run away and don’t want to deal with it. But the shepherds ran to see Jesus and to worship Him. The wisemen saw that star the night Jesus was born and followed it for what may have been months, some say it was two years. And when they reached Jesus, they bowed down and worshiped.

Jesus the light of the world, came down in literal darkness and HIs birth lit up the sky. His coming to this world was to also light up the darkness of people’s hearts. If you are a believer allow Jesus to come into the dark corners of you heart. If you want Jesus to show you the light read the book of John and ask God to show you His Light.

Jesus stepped down into darkness so we wouldn’t have to. Let’s not wait for Christmas to worship and bow down to the One who saves us from our sin and bridges the gap to all of eternity in His eternal Light.

Light of the world You stepped down into darkness
Open my eyes, let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you’re my God
You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to me

King of all days, oh so highly exalted
Glorious in Heaven above
Humbly You came to the earth
You created all for love’s sake became poor

I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross
I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross

Here I am to worship

– Randy Travis –

Merry Christmas from the Kedge Anchor!

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December 20, 2021-Isaiah 9:6

The Kedge Anchor

Merry Christmas! I hope this blog post finds you and yours well. It’s been a wild ride the past few years but we know God is sovereign and will reign forevermore. Take time out to relax, unwind and reflect on the birth of Jesus as you color today’s free downloadable coloring page. Grab a cup of hot cocoa or tea put on some Christmas music as you reflect on how God orchestrated everything, down to last detail. God is in the details. He loves you!

Dec 20Download
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“This will be a sign to you:”

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“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” – Like 2:12

The sign was a baby wrapped in cloths. King James Versions says “swaddling cloths.” By definition swaddling means wrapping. We have read that so many times it’s easy to overlook that. But these cloths have significant meaning. When the angels told the shepherds they would find Jesus in swaddling cloths they knew exactly what was being told to them. According to Levitical law the newborn lambs that were to be sacrificed for Passover, they were to be wrapped in strips of linen as soon as they were born so that they would remain blemish free and be protected from any bruising.

We know that Jesus later became crucified on the Jewish Passover as the “Lamb of God.” When Jesus was sacrificed as the Lamb of God, he was tied down and his body was wrapped in cloths at his burial. The Hebrew word for “wrapped” is “chattal, which means to wrap up or tie down. Interesting.

If you haven’t seen The Chosen Christmas Special – The Messengers, it’s a must see. There’s a touching scene between the Marys, Mary Magdalene and Jesus’ mother. I don’t want spoil it for those who haven’t seen it so you’ll just have to watch it. Hint, It has to do with cloths. You can see it on YouTube or through The Chosen app.

Merry Christmas!

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December 13, 2021 – Luke 1:46-47

The Kedge Anchor

Happy Memorize Monday!!! It’s almost 2022!! Where has time gone. Today’s scripture is taken from Luke 1:46-55, known as Mary’s Song, commonly know as the “Magnificat,” literally song of praise. It’s also similar to the psalm of Hannah when she gave birth to Samuel. Mary prices God for His faithfulness to keep HIs promises. Ponder the faithfulness of God today as Mary pondered and “treasured these things in her heart.” – Luke 2:19. Praise God for His faithfulness to keep His promises today and all through the year!

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December 6, 2021 – Luke 2:10

The Kedge Anchor

Happy Memorize Monday! Here is today’s free coloring page to help you memorize scripture. Luke 2:10 – “ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

Please remember to like and share. Merry Christmas!

Dec 6Download

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“Healing in His Wings”

The Kedge Anchor
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Malachi 4:2 – “The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.” Where have we heard that phrase before; “healing in his wings?” Here’s something really interesting. The Hebrew word for “wings” is “kanafim” which also means corners. Hold on to that thought.

Malachi prophesied that ” … the Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.” Jewish believers gave the name Sun of Righteousness to the coming Messiah. Malachi was referencing Jesus’ ability to heal with the corners of his robe. Kanafim also means “corners.” Are you seeing a parallel? In the book of Mark 5:25-34, is the story about the woman who had been bleeding for over 12 years knew the scriptures. She knew all she had to do was touch the corners of Jesus’ garment and she would be healed.

25 … And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

And so we see this phrase used in a beloved Christmas song, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

Wow! Kinda adds new meaning to the old Christmas carol. I bet you will be thinking corners the next time you sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing. I know I will.

Merry Christmas!