Browsing Tag

Holiday Contest

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

And the Winner is…(get ready to smile!)

Posted on December 4, 2025

And the winner is….Maxine Loggins Knoll! Thanks to everyone who entered the Christmas card contest! I’m glad I didn’t have to be the judge! 

The judge said this card was the winner because of creativity, because it was time and effort intensive, and because it was so centered on Digging Deep. The judge did not know the card’s creator.

But I do know her. Remember, I said that if you made me laugh, there are extra points? Well, I did laugh when I watched this video. I also know how very far out of her comfort zone Mrs. Maxine had to go to sing this song for 11.5 thousand group members to access forever. I don’t know if she handcrafted each pair of those dangly legs or not, but, if she did…well, let’s just say she was serious about this entry. Perhaps she will give us some insights in the comments.

There was another card or two that gave me the “feels” of the season, as a result of lots of time and talent spent in the making. I’ll try to show you a few during the next month.

Congratulations Maxine! Be sure to let us know what you want to order from www.thecolleyhouse.org/store

 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Happy Thanksgiving! A Few More Days to Enter the Contest!

Posted on November 26, 2025

Happy Thanksgiving! I can’t wait to have a crowd, a turkey, and chaos in this house later in the week!  I hope you are having your own wonderful gathering somewhere and that it’s safe and happy, whether chaos or serenity. I’m praying for some who are headed to the darker places of parts of their lives they rarely visit anymore. I’m praying for some who know they are “getting through” the last holiday season they will see in this lifetime. Thanksgiving is only possible for any of us because of the forbearance of our Father that often kept covenant with people who were fickle and unfaithful. It’s only fully  possible because we have hope that results from His ultimate forbearance at Calvary. 

I’m thankful to Pisa Soli for her insights this month as we discussed that forbearance on this month’s podcast. I always love the Bible more after each month’s study! It’s a well of wisdom and sustenance that has no bottom, because the water spring is our infinite, eternal God. Any praise or glory I can give is just a pitiful reflection of His goodness and majesty. Our Thanksgiving, at any time of year, is not about the country in which we live, though we are blessed to be her citizenry. Our Thanksgiving is centered in the country to which we, as citizens of His kingdom, travel (Heb.11:16). You can find the podcast here: https://www.facebook.com/west.huntsville.58/videos/863098862920832?idorvanity=282349391779769

Finally, don’t forget the card contest. It’s so easy to enter  and it’s not too late! We have a limited number of great greetings already, but we’d love to include yours next month on the DD Facebook page! Contest guidelines are here: https://thecolleyhouse.org/holiday-contest-is-live-now

Happy Thanksgiving. Thank Him every day! Pray without ceasing. Always give the eminently qualified “Care-taker” your petitions and your praise (1 Peter 5:7). All my life He has been faithful! But that’s not even a nano-second in the stretch of His faithfulness. I know His faithfulness to me started before the foundation of the world and continues to the throne (Revelation 13:8).  All of us live in that nanosecond of His eternal mercies.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Holiday CONTEST is Live NOW!

Posted on November 13, 2025

This year, I’m inviting you to create a holiday greeting card for your DD sisters! To enter this year’s holiday contest, just make a REAL (touchable ) or DIGITAL Christmas greeting for your sisters and all who are digging. I know you can be creative. You can be funny or straight to the heart about our God of MORE! (If you make it about His birth on earth, though, remember it should be something you would send ANY time of year, since all the Messianic birthday connections to the 25th of December actually originate in the Catholic Church and not in the Bible. Fun fact: It was mid-fourth century when a Roman almanac first linked December 25th to the birth of Jesus, but other dates were mentioned as possibilities by Clement as early as the second century. At any rate, since we are diggers in the Word, we want to be sure we always put the real truth out there and that we talk about His eternality, incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension at all times of the year. The lost are needing  and God is counting on the telling of the whole gospel story for all of our lives!)  You can do all kinds of fun things with this contest and the winner will receive 100 dollars worth of merchandise of your choice (postage free) from The Colley House. Think gifts. Think cardigans, family Bible time ideas, books, cds and dvds.  We will post as many as we can on the DD site as the merry season progresses. The annual holiday contest is a little part of the Digging Deep memory bond we love. I think this is the 14th contest. It’s been funny, and musical and sentimental and artsy, and all about children.

Here are the rules. If you don’t follow them, you’re a rotten egg or a hardened gumdrop from last year (or maybe you just have garlic in your soul)!

  1. Create your card. It can be digital or it can be a photographed card that you made by hand. Effort and time count in judging (because which of us really has any extra moments in the holiday season?)
  2. Send a photo of your card or a digital copy of your card to byhcontest@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name, the town or city where you live, and the texting number where you can be reached if you win. You can also send a link where I can view if that is better for you.
  3. Since you are sending a digital file or a photo, there are no size limitations. You can also use any medium.
  4. If you make me laugh, there are extra points. But actually, the judge will be an unbiased outsider (or two).
  5. You can also be recycling or editing a great card you have made in the past. Give us all the “feels”.
  6. Deadline for card submission is 11:59 am on December 1. Winner announced later that week!
Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Winner #5: Leah Wright

Posted on December 27, 2024

Here’s the sweet MawMaw with Leah’s middle child…

Reasons I love this final one: I love the fact that the grandmother’s handmade photo ornaments were more important to her than anything store-bought. (The store-bought ornaments were the discarded ones.)  I love the fact that even the handmade ornaments did not have to be labor-intensive or expensive to make. Kids just need recognition, a sense of belonging in the group, and a place in the process. That’s really all that matters to them. And I love that Leah took the time to be a poet! Happy Holidays. It’s  been a magical time so far at our house.  Like Fred, in A Christmas Carol …”I say, ‘God bless it!'”

If you are missing someone dear this year, or struggling, like some for whom I am praying hard, with some huge challenge in life, I am praying that 2025 can be a year that holds a new peace and comfort for you.  Thank you for praying for the Colleys. We continue to be so dependent on His mercies.

 

 

Like most of us, I have special memories of my grandmother, affectionately known as MawMaw to us five grands. And if you ask any of us what we remember most I feel pretty confident the tree would make the list. From the time of our birth, each year, she created a new ornament with our picture. Some years it was a clay creation with the picture glued to the front. Other years it might be a crocheted snowflake with our picture in the center, or even a foil cupcake liner with our picture nestled inside.
 Every year in the weeks before Christmas we would all go over for a meal and each cousin would get to hang all their ornaments on the tree. When we were younger we would add other ornaments too, but with five cousins and five ornaments added every year, there came a time when her tree was only these picture ornaments.
I don’t remember exactly when she stopped doing this but I do know we were all grown. They had moved to a new home and we all had a present that looked the same. She gifted each of us a box containing all of our ornaments. There was so much love in those boxes.

Leah’s family this year…

For MawMaw
Every year our picture was taken
We knew Mawmaw would be busy makin’
A homemade new ornament for the tree,
With our smiling face for all to see.
Paper, cardboard, maybe clay,
Foil and ceramic and even crochet.
She made Christmas special in her own crafty way.
Her love for us, on display.
I look back now, because she raised the bar.
And realize just how grand, grandmothers are.

Leah Wright

And from A Muppet Christmas Carol, I would echo the lyrics from this song. I don’t want to trivialize prayer  or the holiness of our God, but this is true: It is when we reach for Him, that we stand tallest. It is when we consider our smallness that we can approach His greatness.

Life is full of sweet surprises/Every day’s a gift/The sun comes up/And I can feel it lift my spirit/Fills me up with laughter/Fills me up with song/I look into the eyes of love/And know that I belong/Bless us all/Who gather here.The loving family I hold dear.

No place on Earth/Compares with home/And every path will bring me back from where I roam.

Bless us all/That as we live/We always comfort and forgive.

We have so much/That we can share.With those in need we see around us everywhere/Let us always…

Love each other.

Lead us to the light/Let us hear…

The voice of reason.

Singing in the night.

Let us run from anger.

And catch us when we fall.

Teach us in our dreams/And please, yes, please…

Bless us one and all.

Bless us all/With playful years/With noisy games and joyful tears.

We reach for you/And we stand tall.

And in our prayers and dreams, we ask you, Bless us all.

We reach for you/And we stand tall/And in our prayers and dreams, we ask you, Bless us all.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Winner #4: Rachel Valentin

Posted on December 23, 2024
I love this submission for a few reasons. One is the memory of snuggling in a blanket and the tie of that memory to a new blanket this year that’s sure to be Gram’s favorite for all the rest of her years on earth. I love to think of the “snuggle”  in which we rest, as His children  (I Samuel 25: 29) and the way he slings from that bundle His enemies, as with a sling. He provides a bundle of security for us.
I also love the way it emphasizes the gift of memory and the blessing of light.
Finally, I love the way it presents family tradition as a treasure. It is, you know. Children who grow up with traditions, grow up with security and belonging in family. They are part of  the “in crowd” because they are in on the traditions! And I truly LOVE the reference to Titus 2 traditions!
Here’s Rachel’s submission:
My favorite memories of Christmas with my Gr

am are always around the tree. Growing up we had a tree that had lights and sang tunes when it was turned on. We used to snuggle up on the couch together with a cozy blanket and just be together. 

There’s something magical about sitting in the dark with all the twinkly Christmas lights surrounding you and looking at each ornament and the special memories they bring back. 

Our town also had a tradition of handing out paper bags and candles to each house so you could light up the sidewalks with luminaries. It was always so beautiful to drive around and see the unity of the town as it put out a soft glow of love to those who drove by.  

This year we lost my Pop, my Grandma’s husband of 67 years. She lives an hour away from me and I am moving her up by me before Christmas so my family can take care of her. 

For Christmas I made her a blanket with all of Pops most favorite shirts on it. I’m hoping it brings her comfort and when she looks at it she can think back on all the good memories. 

My Grandma is the reason I am who I am today. She made sure I was at church every time the doors were open. I owe her everything and I love her dearly. 

I’m hoping to surround her with all the love and time she poured into training me up in the way I should go this Christmas. I pray my girls can bring her joy and peace during the sadness of not having Pop to celebrate this year, and I hope she has a few more Titus 2 moments in her to share with her great granddaughters. 

 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Winner #2: Maxine Knoll

Posted on December 19, 2024

 

                                                                      

I love the “grandkids’ tree.” What a great idea! Here’s Maxine’s letter:

Nana’s Memories

I have a special tree that is the “Grandkids’ tree”. I am sharing with you Christmas memories
that hang on this tree, and then others. We have made Santas out of paintbrushes, bells out of
miniature flower pots that are painted and then fingerprints are added. Handprints were drawn and
cut out for me one year. Another time, we colored ornaments. Homemade ornaments of their
imagination have been given to me.

One year, I asked for an ornament with a memory between us. A chocolate chip cookie
ornament was given because I bake cookies! A “Love you to the Moon and Back” ornament was given
because that is what I tell them!

Another year, I had the grands paint plates for me to display. I also had them do a table runner
for me with their handprints. They made a picture that included their thumb prints and deer antlers
for my “Deer Grandchildren”.

One Christmas, I had them all write a letter to me telling me about their dreams and including
something special about their grandaddy and me.

This year, they are all taking a bought ornament ball and putting their name and fingerprint on the ornament.

(I wish I could show you the pictures of the items she mentions. They were sweet, but not in a format I could transfer here. I’m still glad for the entry of the “grandkids’ tree! Remember, the point is developing intergenerational relationships that help bring little souls to heaven!)