Lori McKenna captured the essence of wisdom passed on by parents, grandparents, and guardians in her hit song, “Humble & Kind.” She won a Grammy for best Country Song, “Song of the Year” at 2016 CMA Awards and “Country Song of the Year” at 2016 American Music...
I enjoy tipping more than the cultural norm suggests. I’ve done this for most of my adult life and I realize that my ability to do this is one sign of my privileged life. But it’s still a choice. One change to my tipping habit changed because of COVID, however. After...
Lee Greenwood was pleasantly surprised when Universal Studios decided to release his new song, God Bless the U.S.A., as a single. This iconic song lifted the spirits of Americans after each national crisis, including Desert Storm, Hurricane Katrina, and the terror...
We end our series, Letters, on the last day of 2023, realizing that 2024 is a presidential election year. On January 7, we begin our new series, Country, based on a book titled, Ours was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream. We transition from Hall Mark...
What does the “American Dream” mean to you personally? A common description of the American Dream “Was the ability of people to rise above the circumstances of their birth.” Does it still exist? So far this century, campaign slogans promise to restore the American...
This week’s chapters from our companion book, Letters to Santa, ends with Polly’s arrival on Christmas Eve. Polly loves the store, but she didn’t go to Evergreen to buy a store. Instead, she offers Lisa and Oliver jobs in Boston. Her offer further complicates the...
In this week’s chapters from Letters to Santa, Lisa picks up the Christmas Globe at Kringle’s Kitchen and shakes it as she says, “Please work.” The snow globe was famous in Evergreen for people shaking it and making a wish as the snow settled on the couple in front of...
Our companion book for our new worship series is Nancy Naigle’s book, Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa. Also a Hallmark movie, her book tells the story of how Lisa Palmer finally receives a gift she asked for at age seven in a letter to Santa. The author’s...
How is it going with your preparations for Christmas? Do you decorate your house inside and out? Do you have a tree up and decorated? Have you finished your Christmas shopping? Have you started? Preparations come with anticipation. The point of preparations is that...
Can you believe it’s December already? Retailers started stocking their shelves with decorations a couple of months earlier. People everywhere are recalling and replaying Christmas traditions from Black Friday shopping to adorning their homes with lights and a variety...