Coming Soon ~ Scribble & Author Blog Tour

Book Trailer - Celebrating A Christ-Centered Christmas

Here is a video that shares a bit about the wonderful new book. This fun book will help you start up a NEW tradition during the Christmas season that will teach your children what the TRUE Meaning of Christmas Means!


Celebrating A Christ-Centered Christmas 
Seven Traditions to Lead Us Closer to the Savior 
by Emily Belle Freeman 
$9.73 (Paperback) 
$9.13 (Kindle) 

Read my review: Click Here

Disclaimer: I was offered a copy of A Christ-Centered Christmas to read and review on GivingNSharing in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to have a positive review and no $$ exchanged hands. 

Celebrating A Christ-Centered Christmas ~ book review

Celebrating A Christ-Centered Christmas
Seven Traditions to Lead Us Closer to the Savior
by Emily Belle Freeman
96 pages, paperback
$9.73 (Paperback)
$9.13 (Kindle)

About the book:
Discover how each figure of the nativity can lead your family closer to Christ this Christmas season. Learn the tradition of the tinkling bell, whip up a batch of French cocoa, create a tender mercy tree, and find ways to make your gift-giving more meaningful as Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas guides you through 7 meaningful traditions inspired by the nativity setting. These simple experiences will give you an opportunity to escape from the frantic busyness of the Christmas season to spend time reflecting on the savior and the miracle of His birth.

My thoughts:

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love the careful planning of gifts that match each person's personality, the decorating, baking cookies, going out to see the lights and music - if only we could see & hear carolers again! (It's been over 20 years since I last saw Carolers - or participated)

A Christ-Centered Christmas is a welcome book designed to teach your family (mom & dad too) about what Christmas is really about. Emily Belle Freeman carefully introduces a new way to lead your family to Christ. She began this tradition with her own family by introducing a new character from her Nativity each week and then she would teach her children about the true meaning of Christmas through carefully prepared activities. You have the choice of doing the traditions in the order you prefer - let 1 child each week pick out a character and then match up the activities or follow the book from beginning to end. You may choose to do 1 or more of the suggested activities.

I have a small daycare and I would love to do this with the kids - it's would be a great way to teach them about Jesus. I'm just trying to figure out how to do the Nativity around a 11 month old baby that is into everything! Any ideas?


About the author:
Emily Belle Freeman ~ a coach's wife, mother to 4 children, author of several bestselling books & sought-after inspirational speaker. Her days are spent watching over teenagers, her flock of pampered chickens and a rabbit that she adores. She finds great joy in studying the life & teachings of Jesus Christ. Her deep love of the scriptures comes from a desire to find their application in everyday life. For a few minutes every day Emily forgets about the laundry, leaves the dishes in the sink, and writes. She coauthors a blog that is a stopping place for hearts seeking all that is good.

Dislaimer: I was offered a copy of A Christ-Centered Christmas to read and review on GivingNSharing in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to have a positive review & no $$ exchanged hands.

The Post-College Guide to Happiness for The Happiness Blog Tour

~ Guest Post

Bryan Cohen here, guest poster and author, promoting my new book The Post-College Guide to Happiness for The Happiness Blog Tour. I'm giving away free digital review copies of the book and doing a giveaway for paperback copies, audio copies and even a Kindle Fire! Read on and check out the info below the post.

“It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.”  - G.K. Chesterton

Why is it that people tend to take life and themselves so seriously? If you were an alien species visiting from another world, what are some of the things you might observe that would cause you to laugh? Perhaps you'd chuckle a bit to see someone yell and scream at a bus pulling away from a man who just sprinted half a block to get to the stop on time. Maybe you'd giggle at a person who dropped a file folder and saw her documents get completely out of order. You might even guffaw at a couple arguing over where they parked the car. We really can be irrational at how seriously we take the tiniest of incidents. Perhaps, like Chesterton is saying, it's simply easier to be heavy than it is light.

What does it take to be light (i.e. less dramatic and more calm) about circumstances that would usually make us frustrated? Like anything that's difficult in life, it certainly takes some training and will power. The amazing gurus of meditation and yoga probably started out just like you. Yet with years of self-discipline and hard work they were able to become some of the most shining examples of calm in the world. Being light also requires practice, because as any good athlete knows, you play like you practice. Come up with a few common scenarios that could happen to you like spilling a cup of coffee on your lap or slipping on a slick sidewalk. Put yourself through the scenario in your mind and instead of picking anger as your response, choose to laugh at yourself for such a silly occurrence.

In addition to training, will power and practice, being light takes courage. Most people who are quick to use their negative emotions feel comfortable doing so because nearly everybody gets pissed off when something bad happens to them. It takes a strong person to be able to laugh at himself and to brush things off as quickly as they happen. If you get caught in the rain without an umbrella and you laugh at it, some folks might label you as being weird or childish. Let them label you! I'd rather be thought of as a bit crazy while being happy as a clam, then just like everybody else and miserable.

Try being light as opposed to heavy for about a week. I think you'll see a major difference.

Bryan Cohen is giving away 61 paperback and audio copies of The Post-College Guide to Happiness and a Kindle Fire between now and May 7th, 2012 on The Happiness Blog Tour. All entrants receive a free digital review copy of The Post-College Guide to Happiness. Bryan hopes to give away at least 1,000 copies during the blog tour. To enter, post a comment with your e-mail address or send an e-mail to postcollegehappiness (at) gmail.com. Bryan will draw the names at the end of the tour. Entries will be counted through Sunday, May 6th.


Bryan Cohen is a writer, actor and comedian from Dresher, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with degrees in English and Dramatic Art and a minor in Creative Writing. He has written nine books including 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More, 500 Writing Prompts for Kids: First Grade through Fifth Grade, Writer on the Side: How to Write Your Book Around Your 9 to 5 Job and his new book, 1,000 Character Writing Prompts: Villains, Heroes and Hams for Scripts, Stories and More. His website Build Creative Writing Ideas helps over 25,000 visitors a month to push past writer's block and stay motivated.

Feel free to follow along with the tour at The Happiness Blog Tour Hub Page or on the book's Facebook Page.