MY CHRISTMAS RECAP AND STORY

 

Hello wonderful, amazing, sweet and lovely people. I hope this blog meets you well. It is always a blessing to share a post with you on this blog. I hope you had a blissful, joyful and an amazing Christmas celebration with your family.

I sure did have a one of a kind Christmas and Birthday celebration this year. I am talking about how I felt and the whole atmosphere. I found myself counting my blessings most of the time. This Christmas got me thinking about how far I have come and how good my God is. 

I remember one Christmas a few years back, I was pregnant with my first child and was staying at a friend's house while she was away. Things didn't turn out right and we were kicked out in the rain. That was not a good experience but it taught me one thing; there's nothing like having your own house. 

Being in this position of having my own space and the prosperity to maintain and keep rising, makes my life so beautiful and I have God to thank for that. 

During the holidays, I always go over the top, I mean I cook everything and all things I could cook. Then I end up throwing out a whole lot of food later. I don't like throwing away food. Well, to make a change this year, I decided to do something different this time. I made fufu and egusi soup for Christmas this year. Yasss! Check out my instagram for the reels. Follow me on instagram https://www.instagram.com/maryamsjoyfullifeblog/

 

Although I still baked cookies with my baby girl; sweet Zozo this year, as I have always done, all the other extras such as ham, turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy I skipped on purpose this year. It felt great to just enjoy the holiday without the guilt of all the waste of leftovers. I rested like I have not rested in a while and it felt great too! I refused to allow myself feel guilty for not repeating the tradition of cooking all things and everything and I felt great!

The kids had a great time too. Our time during the Christmas celebration was peaceful, joyful and amazing. Everyone was healthy and merry and that was more than I could ask for. We even made a gingerbread house :). See that video on https://www.instagram.com/maryamsjoyfullifeblog/

I believe enjoying every moment with family during the holidays and counting your blessings instead of comparing your life to other people's is a healthy way to spend the holiday season. Because when we count our blessings, we draw more blessings into our lives. 

I have so much to be grateful for this holiday and my peace of mind is top of the list.

Don't let anyone steal your joy!

Maryam

MY CHRISTMAS HOME DECOR

 

What's up wonderful, amazing sweet and lovely people. Thank you for checking out my blog today. It's been a great day and I wanted to share my latest video with you all.

Christmas season is my favorite season and some of you can guess why. It is the season I was born and my savior the Lord Jesus Christ made his debut in this season also. It is simply the season of miracles and I am always expecting miracles. Lol... For real though. I am like on a role in counting  my blessings each day. I don't want to get caught up finding faults in myself or others because that is a trap.

Decorating for Christmas was fun for me and I shared a video on my channel just in case you didn't catch it.

Here is the video:

Enjoy and be inspired to start decorating. 

Don't let anyone steal your joy!

Maryam

OUR CHRISTMAS PHOTO PORTRAITS STORY

 

What's up wonderful, amazing, sweet and lovely people. How are you all doing today? I hope you're all having a great day today and are not letting anyone steal your joy. Welcome to Maryam's Joyful Life. Today is a beautiful day. Thank you all for checking out my blog today.

Christmas is almost here and everyone is scrambling to take their annual family Christmas picture and I am not exempted from that list. In fact, I started thinking about my Holiday picture as far back as early October. LOL!

I actually asked a photographer in my community how much it would cost to take family Holiday pictures and I was quoted $150 for HD Digital copies with no outfit changes for the family. I was excited to do it but this photographer is very good and highly booked. SO the thought dawned on me that I could take the pictures myself. After all, I am a blogger, I take pictures all the time.

I had one fear though and that was "how would the kids respond to taking these photos?" See, my kids don't mind filming but when it comes to sitting down for an organized photo session, Le'Veon might let me take a photo or two but Zozo is harder to convince. 

A few hours before the session, I told them we were taking some Christmas pictures. I still had a bit of nervousness as to how it would all go. But when it was time, all that nervousness I had vanished. Le'Veon and Zoe were so co-operative that I almost forgot they were the same babies. LOL! Christmas time is truly a time of miracles. This photo session, was my first Christmas miracle with my children. 

I still wonder how other mom bloggers do it. How do they get their kids to take those adorable photos? I  often wonder because my kids have their own minds, I have to always prepare myself for whatever response I get from them. It is fascinating to me. And again, I have always wanted to have babies who have their own minds and are not afraid to express their minds. Let's just say I got exactly what I asked for in my babies.

Thank you for reading my blog to the end. I hope this season is filled with unexpected miracles for you and your family.

With gratitude,

Maryam

p.s. all pictures were taken on my iPhone 8 plus!

CHRISTMAS IS NOT PAGANISM|| I WILL ALWAYS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

 What's up wonderful, amazing, sweet and lovely people. How are you all doing today? I hope you're all having a great day today and are not letting anyone steal your joy. Welcome to Maryam's Joyful Life. Today is a beautiful day. Thank you all for joining me today.

So it's officially Christmas season and I am very excited to live it up this season because is is a season like no other. With the year that we've had all over the world, I believe we are in the season of miracles. This is a season of Miracles.

A few days ago, I received a comment from one of my Instagram followers; here's my Instagram: @maryamsjoyfullifeblog; the comment simply put is the idea that Christmas is a pagan tradition. I told her who cares what people say. Enjoy Christmas. The reason why there's so much confusion in the world is because of the many negative beliefs created by ignorant people. Most people postpone their celebration and joy to a later date or even believe that their happiness will happen when they die and go to Heaven. It is absolutely ignorant and stupid to think that God wants us to be unhappy until we die. 

Watch my video for more on my opinion.

Anyways, back to Christmas celebration. Christmas is a season of celebration and miracles. Jesus Christ of Nazareth was introduced to us in a season like we are in. I believe in the power of this season and I believe we should surrender to the celebration of this season. Miracles happen when we let go and let God. Letting God in is living each moment with joy and celebration. The more we can stay in this space of celebration and joy, the more of these experiences we draw to ourselves. For those opposing celebration, I will not let you steal my joy. 

Life is a blessing and a miracle but unfortunately not everyone treats life like this. Most people treat life like a burden and like they are planning their funeral each day. The greatest secret I ever learned is that when you treat life as a miracle, you experience the miraculous. If you treat life as a burden, you experience burdensome situations. In both cases, you're making a choice. 

Christmas is a beautiful season and I am going to tap into the miracle of this season.

Jesus is the reason for this season and I am the reason He came to this world. The Bible tells me in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He gave His Only begotten son that whosoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus made his entrance in a season like this and I am going to celebrate Him and be grateful for this season. He is the greatest present that the world ever received and now we share presents with friends and families all over the world. I feel so blessed and fortunate to be alive and be born in a season like this.

Life is beautiful and I encourage you to make a decision to see the beauty in it.

With gratitude,

Maryam