5 Friday Favorites: December 19, 2025
It's time for my Friday link up with A Little Bit of Everything and Momfessionals.
On Fridays I share things that made me happy from the week - a photo, a song, a quote, a beauty product, a recipe, a pair of cute shoes, etc. If it's a product, sometimes it's something I actually own and sometimes something I just saw online that gave me a smile. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's silly. I suppose I believe that God is in the simple details of life and yes, I can even find Him in a tube of lipstick.
Happy Friday! Being a writer makes it necessary to be alone with my thoughts and my laptop for hours at a time and that has been incredibly isolating in the last six months. A lot of us - no matter if we are writers or not - spend way more time alone with our computers and phones than we do with humans. And that can skew our reality a bit.
Last week I hit the limit of my ability to handle life in my own head, so this week I decided that except for writing this newsletter, I’d spend more time in face to face conversations than in typing out every little thought my fingers could tap out. My brain and I needed a break from each other.
I sought out real human, breathing people and they showed up. People who were kind enough to have my favorite drink available at their house, people who told me what kind of skin care they’re using, people who sent me a song that they knew would make me ridiculously happy, people who ate french fries in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot with me while we talked about Jesus, people whose deep need for prayer jolted me out of my own selfishness, people who flooded my Instagram messages with funny memes multiple times a day, and the best yet: a friend who literally hit her knees beside me, praying for me and for each member of my family by name.
There is so much yelling in the world - news outlets, podcasts, radio stations, our “friends” on social media. So much hollering about how selfish, demeaning, corrupt and broken the people in this world are. Of course, there is truth there. But it has been way too much for me to carry lately. So this week I reminded myself that there is something as truthful if not more truthful to talk about. And it is something we need to shout about the loudest. So here goes:
THE WORLD IS BURSTING AT THE SEAMS WITH FAITHFUL, FUN, KIND, AND (my personal favorite) HILARIOUS PEOPLE. THEY’RE FREAKIN’ EVERYWHERE. DON’T FORGET THE GOOD ONES. THEY OUTWEIGH THE OTHERS.
Paul puts it this way: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.” - Philippians 4:8
Here are some things that some really good people recommended this week.
Abib Collagen Eye Patches
My friend, Keri, recommends these eye patches. They’re on sale right now.
2. Rowe Casa Organics Hair Spritz
My friend, Cara, has the most gorgeous hair. She said she recently started using this hair spritz and calls it a game changer.
3. Evidence by Josh Baldwin
This song is a great one to listen to when you’re having trouble remembering the goodness of God and so many of His people. Sometimes we just have to take some time to go back and see the evidence.
4. BAGSMART Tote Bag
My sister brought this cute tote bag to a Favorite Things party with her friends. It comes in lots of colors and holds all the things.
5. Prepare Him Room
I wrote this in 2016 four days before we were to celebrate our 1st Christmas in this house. Perhaps it will resonate with some of you.
I stumbled down the stairs to my kitchen this morning just before 6:00 am. My eyes were clouded and puffy from restless sleep. My stomach rolled and my mind raced between the anxious dreams of last night and the anxious reality of the days to come. Only four more days. Four days until Christmas. Four days to prepare.
I have been at least mentally preparing for a family Christmas in this house for nine months. Preparing for perfection. Preparing for a Pinterest-worthy picture of a home that is cozy, welcoming and celebratory. I have told myself that in this new home, suddenly, I will be completely at ease with hosting our large family. In an instant hospitality will become one of my spiritual gifts. I will be calm and confident about where everything goes - about which things to light, which things to hang, which things to display.
I've been madly, frantically preparing a room. (or two or three)
In the book, Why This Jubilee? James C. Howell reflects on the hymn Joy to the World. The hymn does not say "Let every home prepare Him a room that looks like it should be in the pages of Architectural Digest.”
It says, "Let every heart prepare Him room."
I think it's fine and even right to prepare our homes for visitors. The twinkle of the tree and the shine of the decorations remind our families of the light of the world. Feeding our families, making them comfortable and surrounding them with a clean, lovely home? There is not a thing wrong with that.
But if our hearts aren't as open and welcoming to the coming Christ as our home is to our in-laws, what is the point? Certainly, we can have both, but we better figure out what comes first.
Last week I was sick, but I muscled through climbing on ladders, untangling lights and perusing photos on the internet. I spent a ridiculous amount of hours decorating a tiny bar area of my family room. It was fun and it made me happy. But as I set it up, I wondered if I need to run out to purchase one more sparkly tree. I considered hiring an electrician to add more lighting to the space. I worried if the batteries for the bulbs on the star would last all season.
You want to know how many times I thought about Jesus during those hours?
You can probably guess.
My mantle looks beautiful. My staircase is hung with garland. Poinsettias line the foyer and the dining table sparkles with silver and gold. But this morning, after many days of running around like my hair was on fire, arranging, rearranging and rearranging the new arrangement, the room in my heart is heavy with clutter. I picture it looking like that one closet that we throw all of our crap in to hide it from our guests.
Howell writes, "If we have no joy, is it because we have no room for joy? The room in me seems too shabby for the splendid Lord to enter."
The entirety of the story of Jesus is that He comes specifically to enter my messy, junky room. He pushes aside the piles and takes a seat on the floor. He drinks a Diet Coke that's gone flat and eats that Christmas Tree cake that turned out to look more like a cactus.
The King of Kings was not born in a room with perfectly placed pillows, an artfully decorated mantle and a tablescape. He was born among dirty stable animals in the muck and the mud. And He isn't fooled by all the rooms that are perfect. He knows about the trash that has built up in that one hidden room. He knows about the resentment, the anxiety, the people-pleasing and the fear of not being good enough that has filled up my heart. And guess where He wants to hang out? Right there. Right there in the middle of all of it. All I gotta do is just shove some of that muck aside and make some room for Him.
Let's take just a moment today to shift our focus from the rooms in our home to the room in our heart. Create a space. It doesn't have to be pretty. It just has to be open.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading, Friends. Have a great weekend and a blessed Christmas.
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