3rd Annual Blessings Brunch

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you checked lots off your to-do list this weekend as Christmas is coming upon us with warp-speed! Does anyone else feel like Christmas is coming faster this year than years past?

I had a great weekend! As I mentioned Friday, my daughter and I hosted our annual Blessings Brunch this weekend. Today I'm going to tell you a little more about this tradition because it's truly something that is very cherished in our family.

Each year, my daughter and I kick the boys out invite the women in our family over for brunch. We try to target the first weekend of December so we can pray over the month of madness together. I figure if we start the month out on the right foot and prayerfully approach what's to come, then we've got our priorities straight! It's so easy to get wrapped up in all that is expected of us that we forget to stop and think about Christ as the center of Christmas.

This year, I asked everyone to find a brand-new recipe to make and share at the brunch. This way we had a  understanding audience if it turned out bad! Luckily, it was all delicious and we all walked away with several new recipes to add to our stash. Want to know what we had?...breakfast cookies, maple-bacon biscuits, breakfast enchiladas, coffee cake, french toast casserole, fiesta salad, and cranberry-orange wassil. So yummy!

After stuffing ourselves, we head into the living room and gather around to focus on our blessings! We pull out the previous year's prayer list and read over it together. It's always amazing to see how God has worked in our lives. It's like having physical evidence of God's greatness as we reflect back on all the answered prayers! We share a blessing devotional and my daughter typically has some sort of "story" to share. This year she created a Christmas story focusing on forrest animals turned biblical characters. So cute!

 She narrates the story as she displays her illustrations.

Chipmunk Mary and Joseph, Hedgehog Shepherds, Bird Angels, Cat Wisemen- ha!

As we record this year's prayers, we have the chance to focus on praises, thanksgiving and of course, our needs. This time forces us to slow down and really get into each other's lives. I'm not going to lie, there are often tears involved. This year we wrapped things up by praying for the person sitting on our right. It was so sweet hearing daughters praying for moms, sisters praying for sisters, etc.

As we wrap things up, my daughter and I give each lady a "little something." This year we stole Pam's gift idea that she shared on her blog, Simple Details. Here's how ours turned out...

Stenciled dish towels, so easy and so cute!

Well, friends, that's the story of our Blessing's Brunch! I hope it's something you may be fortunate enough to experience firsthand. It'd also be fun to do with a close group of friends if you're family doesn't live close.

I'm sharing our Family Tradition at Elizabeth's Tradition Link Party. Hop on over there and find more fabulous ideas!