roundupHappy New Year! Right now, resolve to read your fellow Guild members’ posts once a month when you see the Round-Up! Here’s your first batch of the year. This is how you keep in touch with the real people this Guild is made of. The gratitude you’ll feel for the heart-sharing going on in these blogs is its own special reward for making this little commitment to be an active participant in this community. At least, that’s what I feel, and I hope you will, too!

Connie Rossini on giving all your merits to God…even (I love this part) if you only have a few!

Michael Seagriff‘s passionate call to Eucharistic adoration

John Konecsni wants Advent to be made much of….and I agree

One wishes Erin McCole-Cupp’s post on how Christmas wasn’t s’posed to be could be recited at women’s shelters and soup kitchens and at bars and to people in long lines at Wal-Mart. I can hear real people saying, “Damn Straight!”, “Amen” and “You got that right, sister”! This gal’s writing for a lot more than tomato pie!

Larry Peterson dishes up world peace the Savior’s way…and you can feel how deeply he wants to help bring that peace…lovely!

Monica Kusatz McConkey has a wealth of ideas for experiencing Advent and Christmas together as a family…go ahead and read now for next year so you can be ready to keep Christ in Christmas and get ahead of all the distractions!

Dennis P. McGeehan shares some seriously warm and fuzzy feelings here…very beautiful!

And I, Charlotte Ostermann, offer you some of my best advice on escaping a common trap you might not realize you’re in! Less Christmas-y, more New-Years-y. Let me know if it helps!

Blessings to you and yours.