Happy November, a+g fam! Welcome to the second monthly newsletter!
I think I say this every single year (except for maaaaaybe 2020) but time has really flown by-can you believe it’s almost December?!
I hope you’re able to slow down and enjoy the magic of this season, even if you’re bustling around getting things ready for the holidays. I love summertime and love me a good crisp October, but wow is the holiday season so special!
I’ve been working on my gift guides this year, and like always, I like to share ones featuring small shops and first responder supporter businesses first. You can find the gift guides for LEOs here, LEOWs here, K9s here, and blue kiddos here.
Another holiday post that will go up in the next few days is a customized Santa letter printable for law enforcement kiddos along with tips and tricks of how to have a joyful holiday season as a first responder family!
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Here’s the top three things y’all loved this past month! As we enter the holiday season I know a lot of us are on the lookout for fun toys and gifts. Here’s some of the things that were the most ordered these past few weeks!
Headache Ice Pack. This headache ice pack looks ridiculous but it’s the best! Both my officer and I use it to help with migraines, and the combination of cool and pressure really helps. After I shared it in my Instagram stories I got so so many messages saying it was a game changer for you, too!
First Responder Toy Set. As a police wife I’m always on the lookout for cute first responder toys! This Melissa & Doug set is on sale on Amazon and so fun for a first responder kiddo.
Christmas Mini Village Police Station. We have a Christmas mini village that we add to every year and spent the longest time looking for a police station for it! My MIL finally got us one of off eBay last year and it was the perfect addition to our little collection of Christmas building. This one is in stock on Amazon right now, and y’all have been loving it to add to your collections!
Here’s the top 3 posts y’all engaged with the most this past month! If you’re not already following along on Instagram, make sure to hop on board! My username is @ammoandgrace.
This month I had an amazing partnership with a first responder fine jewelry collection! Two Hearts One Badge was created by a family owned jewlery store especially for our thin line families and launched online a few weeks ago. I have this ring and am obsessed with it! It’s the perfect addition to my everyday jewelry (all of my other jewelry like my wedding rings and charm necklace are white gold and diamonds, so that’s what I got!) and shows the perfect amount of support for my officer. There’s also pendants and fire family pieces at all different price points, starting at under $200. You can use my code COTE for a discount and to have a portion of your sale donated to Tunnels to Towers! My code is good through Monday 11/27, which is the last day to order for guaranteed Christmas delivery!
This month’s “shortcut supper” is another easy recipe to throw together when you’re just trying to get food in the table-lazy chicken and broccoli!
The goal behind “shortcut suppers” is to have meal ideas that require minimal cooking, come together in a snap, and are made up of a few staples you can easily keep in your home at all times. These “recipes” are not so much recipes as they are ideas.
Rice (you can make normal rice or use the microwave minute rice to make it even simpler)
Chicken (I always try to have rotisserie chicken in the freezer so I can grab it in a pinch, defrost, and it’s good to go!
Broccoli (again, I try to always have a few veggies on hand and keep frozen broccoli in the freezer-it just needs a few minutes in the microwave to steam!)
Teryaki sauce (we love this one; we get it from Costco)
To make this easy peasy shortcut supper all you do is warm up your ingredients and toss it all together. Literally, that’s it! A quick, tasty meal that also has protein and veggies. Bon appetite!
This month I’m sharing my friend Kristen’s book, for A Resiliency Journal for First Responders. Kristen is a dispatcher and LEOW (you may know her from Instagram as @dispatcherkristen) and wrote this book especially for our first responders. I reviewed it on the blog last year here. This is the perfect gift for your officer, or for yourself if you’re a first responder, too!
This month’s devotional is from my book, ammo+grace: the devotional. With all this holiday talk is only seemed fitting to share a holiday devotional!
Verse:
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” -Matthew 18:20 NIV
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” -James 4:8 NLT
Devo:
One of the first things that comes to mind when I think of blue life is the difficult shift work-which, of course, means the missed holidays and nonexistent weekends. It’s a hard adjustment for families who are used to working Monday through Friday and having Christmas and Thanksgiving and all of the “traditional holidays” off. Since we were young children in school we’ve gotten used to the routine that includes getting weekends and holidays off, and leaving home in the morning and returning around dark. Police life, however, turns all of that upside down (and backwards, and inside out).
But the thing is, holidays aren’t just the days marked on the calendar. Special days are the days that we make special.
I will be the first to admit that our first few “adjusted” holidays were tough. It felt so odd to wake up on Christmas morning alone, or to have Thanksgiving dinner a week early. I soon realized, however, that all of the important elements were still there on the days we celebrated: the family, the laughter, the music, the food, and the prayer. Those things don’t change depending on which day the holiday falls on the calendar and they certainly don’t change depending on the day your family chooses to celebrate.
In Matthew 18 we are told that when a few of us gather in the Lord’s name, He is there. It doesn’t say “if you gather on December 25” or “but only if you gather on Easter Sunday”. No. It says ANY time.
Police families are amazing at being flexible-because we have to be! I’ve learned that it’s a hidden blessing to celebrate holidays on days that work for our family because it forces us to focus on the things that really matter-and that never includes the date on the calendar.
Prayer:
Lord, we are so grateful that You are with us no matter our circumstances. Regardless of the day we are celebrating a special holiday, You are present with us. Help remind us what the true meaning of holidays are and that the things that make holidays special aren’t dependent on the date they are celebrated.
