-
Christmas Printables—Mason Jar Labels
Today I’m sharing a fun way to make your holiday gifts and desserts look more colorful and festive. You can use my Christmas mason jar labels for gifting desserts, labeling presents, decorating at holiday parties, and more.
I’m one of those people who loves holiday decorations, so I love the bright colors and trimmings of Christmas! One of the challenges for me though is food allergies. I wish my food was decked out for winter, but so many of the decorations that are available have dyes or ingredients I can’t eat. So my creative solution is to decorate and gift my desserts using my mason jar labels.
-
Easy Christmas Light Alternatives: Simplify Christmas Decorating
I love decorating for the holidays, but due to chronic illness, I need some easier Christmas light alternatives. I’m sharing some creative and festive ways to simplify Christmas decorating. This way, the outside of your house can shine, but you won’t have to untangle a bunch of light cords in cold weather!
The annual tradition of decorating outdoors is such a beautiful way to brighten up the dark Pacific Northwest winters and herald the coming of Christmas. I want the outside of my house to look festive, but it’s too cold out for me to put up lights (asthma and fibromyalgia are not forgiving of the cold). And the last place I need to be is on top of a ladder with my dizziness and balance issues caused by dysautonomia, an autonomic nervous system disorder.
-
Practical Gift Ideas for Someone with Chronic Illness
I hope this list of practical gifts for chronic illness is a helpful guide, whether you’re looking for Christmas, birthday, or “just because” gift suggestions. I’m also sharing four tips for choosing practical gifts for chronic illness.
My health conditions include fibromyalgia, POTS (a form of dysautonomia), myalgic encephalomyelitis (aka chronic fatigue syndrome), and asthma. I know that it can be challenging to know what will be helpful for those of us dealing with limitations due to our health, especially those of us with a lot of allergies. I’m sharing some things I’ve found particularly helpful, things I’ve been gifted, and things on my wishlist. (You can read more about my health journey here.)
Before we dive into gift suggestions, here are helpful tips for gift giving to keep in mind when your recipient has chronic health conditions.
-
How To Stay Connected From A Distance-Holiday Edition
The holiday season is coming, and I want to share some fun and creative ways to stay connected even from a distance. It can be challenging to stay connected while apart. Chronic illness can limit our ability to travel or visit, and risk due to the pandemic adds another layer of restrictions.
Thankfully, technology provides a lot of ways to keep in touch so we’re not isolated. I’m going to share ideas for virtual Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas parties.
I’ve been thankful to be able to meet up with a few friends outdoors in the last month or so for socially distanced get-togethers. Now the weather is getting colder (too cold for this asthmatic to be outdoors here in Washington). So I’m thinking about ways to make virtual get-together’s into holiday parties.
I hope these ideas inspire many fun celebrations!
-
DIY Felt Christmas Banners
Today I’m sharing an idea for an easy, festive Christmas banner, which makes a perfect gift!
I made these banners for my dad to decorate his office at work. I love being able to make homemade gifts for my family. However, I have found it can be challenging to find gifts I can make for men. I’m good at making cute scarves, papercrafts, and jewelry—things which aren’t exactly on my dad’s wishlist! If you’re in a similar boat, this banner is the craft idea you’re looking for.
After being unable to turn up an ideas even after searching Pinterest, I came up with the idea of making a felt banner. My dad was looking for something to bring a touch of holiday cheer to his workspace, and I knew Dad wouldn’t want something bulky taking up space in his office. I saw this felt and loved the rich colors. They look festive and Christmasy, but not girly.
-
Halloween Printables—Mason Jar Labels
I love Halloween and candy! The only thing about the holiday that has been bumming me out lately—I can’t eat all the beautiful, colorful treats!
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small portion of sales, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog through your purchase!
I have food allergies, so it’s hard to find allergy-friendly candies in festive packaging. (I thought it was in fact impossible until I learned that these allergy-free snacks existed. I’m thinking I need to try them…) And even if I make my own desserts, they’re often monochromatic. (I mean, I love chocolate, but part of the fun of a holiday is dressing up your desserts.) It’s proven hard to find natural food coloring that doesn’t taste funky, so I needed to get creative to find other ways to make my desserts scream Halloween.
I wanted to think of a way to add some pumpkin orange, pretty purple, and candy-corn yellow to my Halloween baking. So, I thought up the idea of making these wraparound labels perfect for labeling canning jars! I’m pretty dang excited to use them, and I hope you are too! I’ll let you know how to download them at the end of this post.
-
To the Christian Who Feels Sad at Christmastime—Here’s What’s Helping Me
We’re getting real on the blog today.
I want talk about struggling with feelings of sadness around Christmas, something that can impact anyone, not only those of us with chronic illness.
In a way, this feels a bit like a taboo subject. I kind of worry about admitting to this struggle out of fear that people will think I’m not grateful for all Christmas represents (it is Jesus’ birthday after all!) or that my sadness means I somehow dislike Christmas (which certainly is not the case!)
I’ve struggled over the past several holiday seasons, and a lot of it has had to do with getting used to my limitations due to chronic illness. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, so in addition to struggling with not feeling happy, I’m also struggling with not feeling quite like myself. My love for Christmas is a part of who I am, so this sadness is yet another way my chronic illnesses impact my identity.
And I think as Christians we can sometimes feel pressure to feel or act happy 24/7, so feeling sad this time of year adds another layer of complexity—I feel guilty about it!
-
A Chronic Illness Gift Guide Based On Love Language
Gifts are extra-special if you gear them towards your friend or loved one’s love language. I’ve compiled ideas to help you do just that in this chronic illness gift guide!
Those of us with all the complexities and uncertainties of chronic illness can often feel misunderstood and even invisible, so it’s especially meaningful when you take the time to tailor a gift for us.
As I mentioned in my post about easy, low-cost gift ideas, picking a gift based on someone’s love language helps them to feel seen and understood.
