Author: Emily Sara Smucker
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Blogmas 2019 Day 5: My Favorite Christmas Traditions (And Giveaway Winner!)
Alright. The moment of truth has arrived. The giveaway winner is… Mary Lynn Derstine Congrats, Mary! I sent you an email and haven’t heard back from you yet, so check your inbox! Now, on to the bulk of this post. Last year, a reader suggested that I write about my favorite Christmas traditions. My family…
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Blogmas 2019 Day 4: Take a Sad Song and Make it Better (repost)
Four years ago today, Ben and I went to Thailand to visit our sister Amy for Christmas. What happened next was one of the most dramatic Christmastime experiences of my life. Today, I decided to revisit that memory by reposting my blog post about the experience. … I knew that I’d figure things out eventually…
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Blogmas 2019 Day 3: Finding Christmas (Guest Post)
Today, I’m sharing a guest post by blogger Alison Martin. As you will see in this post, Alison is a talented writer who also works as a nurse. She writes about her life on her blog, Under Seven Stars. Enjoy! … “Tender Tennessee Christmas” by Amy Grant wafts through the air, invoking deep inside me a…
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Blogmas 2019 Day 2: Deep Analysis of the song “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
The other day I was sweeping the floor and humming “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” to myself, as one does this time of year. And I realized that I have a lot of thoughts about this song. Not criticisms really, just thoughts. Like first of all, I always imagine this song taking place down the…
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12 Days of Blogmas, Day 1: Christmas Giveaway
Update: Giveaway is now closed! Thank you for participating! This year I’m doing the 12 Days of Blogmas challenge, where I’ll post something Christmas-related on each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas. And in the spirit of Christmas, let’s start off with a good old-fashioned giveaway! I wanted my giveaway to be cozy/winter…
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Sharing a Drink they call “Loneliness”
A lady from my church was in the grocery store, buying ingredients to make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving dinner. She couldn’t remember if pecan pie was made with light Karo or dark Karo syrup. So she approached another woman in the aisle. “Excuse me,” she said. “Do you happen to know if pecan pie…
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Bookweek 2019 Day 5: The Ultimate Book Tag
Yesterday, when I sat down to write the fifth and final Bookweek 2019 post, I realized that all my remaining Bookweek ideas were rather negative. The worst book I read this year. Boring main characters. A rant about book snobs. Etc. And I just didn’t want to end Bookweek on a negative note. So I…
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Bookweek 2019 Day 4: The Most Charming Book Trope
A few months ago I started compiling a list of books that I thought were absolutely charming. Books that just straight-up made me feel happy and delighted with life whenever I read them. But as I looked over my list, I realized they all had the same basic plot. They were all about women, older…
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Bookweek 2019 Day 3: Books that Changed my Life this Year
Usually I judge books by how much they make me think, or how interesting they are, or how well they transport me to another world. I like well-drawn characters and fun plots and magical, mystifying moments that make me gape in awe at the thought of a flesh-and-blood human coming up with such a thing.…
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Bookweek 2019, Day 2: Finding Yourself in Books
Back in 2014, I attempted to write a few paragraphs about every book I read that year. I found those notes recently, and re-reading my thoughts five years later was fascinating. See, normally I write about books for my blog, or talk to friends about books. Rarely do I write about books just for myself.…
The Girl in the Red Rubber Boots 