Celebrating Holidays

I love holidays. Weeks before a holiday (even the minor ones), I start planning. I am not particularly big on decorating, but I love the celebration part. Most holidays I am in the kitchen preparing goodies for family and friends. At Christmas, I am that annoying person who has spent weeks making sure everyone has at least one handcrafted gift. I am also the one taking baked goods or candies to just about every neighbor on our street.

It is not that I necessarily want an extra long to do list several times a year. For me, holidays are a way for me to show the people I care about how much I love them. I want everyone who is special to me to feel special and to know how much they mean to me.

What Your Daughter Can Learn From Hannah

Have you ever had a "light bulb" moment? Something dawns on you for the first time and you wonder why it took you so long to realize it. I had a really disturbing one the other day. I was writing some free downloads for the readers of Parenting Like Hannah. I wanted to create a list of great stories in the Bible for girls to read. Suddenly it hit me. We teach our daughters some of the Bible stories that "star" women. Do we ever teach them what characteristics these women had? These women displayed Godly traits we and our daughters should be trying to develop in our own lives.

I asked my daughter what she was taught at Bible school about women like Ruth or Hannah. I really believe that children get a good grasp of the basic Bible stories in class. Many times they will also be taught a good general principle, like the importance of prayer. I don't think anyone ever suggests to our daughters that these are female role models for them. These women have good and bad characteristics our daughters need to develop or avoid.