Christmas Contest

Grandmothers. You had two of them, even if you never knew either. But those of us who had really grand ones and were able to know them and be nurtured by their positive influences, were given these treasures far prior to the time when we could really appreciate their value in our lives—even in our eternities. 

I would venture to say, for many readers, the holidays are memory handles that allow us to keep in touch with the good natures, generous spirits and attentive offerings of time that our grandmothers brought to the magic of Christmas. I had that grandmother and there will always be sounds and smells that arrest my senses during the season of giving, and make me wish that I could have one more conversation with my grandmother. I can feel closest to her during the holidays while simultaneously missing her the most. 

Because we had so many wonderful submissions about grandmothers, we have five winners instead of four this Christmas.  I just had a hard time choosing. The winners are: Rachel Gardner, Rachel Valentin, Maxine Knoll, Deborah Dull and Leah Wright.  All of you will receive your  $25.00 gift card via email within the next few hours. Thanks for entering and thanks for the memories! 

If you’re a Christian grandmother, don’t take the Lois charge of 2 Timothy 1:5 lightly. It’s your blessed privilege to be instrumental in the placement of the faith that saves in the little hearts of the grands. If you’re not  yet to the grandmother “stage,”, watch and learn from  those who are grand-parenting for that grand day of eternal consequence when the grands will, prayerfully, hear the words “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”  If you’re he granddaughter of a woman who’s still serving and evangelizing and whose eyes are focused on heaven, count yourself rich…and follow that woman!

The first winner in Rachel Gardner. Here’s what she said (and she sent some vintage photographs). I thought it was sweet that, while she recognizes and tell us that her grandmother was not a Christian, Rachel can still pinpoint  areas in her grandmother’s life that were influenced by a culture that was magnanimously  molded by principles of the Bible.  I long for those days in our society again. We move farther from them each year.  Look for hospitality, lack of materialistic focus, generosity, laughter and  contentment.

When I think of grandmothers and Christmas, my mind goes back to my own grandmother. While she was not a Christian, she was hospitable and loving like all Christians should be. Whether it was Christmas or not, her house was always welcome to visitors. She had a modest sized house, but that did not matter to her. During Christmas, all four of her children, their spouses and their children, crammed into her house and enjoyed wonderful fellowship and delicious goodies! Half of her living room was filled with gifts and twenty (or so) of us would spread out in the living room and dining room to make sure we had room to open the gifts. My grandmother also had a sense of humor and would give a gag gift to a different person each year. Not only that, but she would hide it in a different spot each year so that it would be opened last while everyone else gazed on. My gag gift was a gallon jar of pickles and she hid it in her water heater closet. Those pickles were gone within two weeks! Years later, she allowed all of us to take the Christmas decorations we wanted.

I’ll post the other winning paragraphs through the next few days!

P.S. Please message me if you  are one of the five winners and you have not received your redemption code in your email. Happy shopping!