Christmas 2020

What a crazy year. It’s been a time of separation and isolation, of anxiety and pain, just plain difficult on a worldwide scale.

One thing that doesn’t change is the fact the Jesus was born and to celebrate his birth we have Christmas. As Linus quoted:

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Merry Christmas to all!

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The Fall Harvest

We immediately think of pumpkin spice latte and raking leaves as October ends and November rolls around.

This year we want to make you enjoy your Thanksgiving more than ever with some special items to bring a smile to you and your loved ones as you gather together.

Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday. It’s a great time for the family to gather. It’s not overly commercialized with gifts and wrapping and items for everyone because you don’t want Christmas day to arrive and have no presents for someone. It means helping in the kitchen, making the meal or cleaning the dishes.

If you don’t want to watch football some of my favorite movies to watch this weekend are The Ultimate Gift and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Enjoy and be thankful for the free country in which you live.

Sincerely,

TopLists.Shop

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Summer Harvest

It’s always fun to start summer. School ends, we can shed the coats and long sleeve shirts, schedules change (sometimes become more crowded) and family trips are just around the corner. Gardeners plant in expectation of reaping their goods in a couple months, be it flowers or good things to eat.

One thing we do in our backyard, is plant sunflowers. Not really so we can eat them but they are free bird food. We regularly see many different kinds of birds enjoying themselves on the seeds come August. I’ll try to catch a couple Gold Finches in the next day or two and post a picture. I’ll also have a picture of our corn. It’ just about ready to eat.

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Seeing the future.

It’s easy to see a short way into the future. For example, when you wake up to get ready for work you already can guess what time you get into your car to head to work, as well as your arrival time. You can guess what you’ll have for lunch and when you’ll come home.

You can see further when you think of holidays. You can probably imagine what Thanksgiving will be like and you may even be shopping for Christmas items already.

When driving you can see a slowdown a mile ahead and to prepare you can take your foot off the gas and glide to the traffic jam. (I live in Northeast Ohio and we know a lot about traffic jams.) or you can notice the don’t walk sign blinking orange to know the traffic light ahead will be changing soon.

The point is, the further ahead you can see the easier it is to make adjustments to avoid accidents or just to make life smooth.

With the in mind just think of how prepared you’ll be if you do your shopping now for birthdays in you home. Start right now.

The TopLists guys.

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The time to bloom.

We all love flowers. Although in a plants life, it needs to be healthy and strong to produce the beauty of a flower. The flower only lasts a short time in one season of the plant that lives year round.

Have your perspective in alignment with reality, not Hollywood. The correct perspective is that we need to live and grow strong in our circumstances and seemingly haphazard life events, but there will be a time when we can flourish and bloom. How do I now? I have 10 kids and some of them have graduated from college and found jobs that they love. Some have just found the job they love without the need of a college degree. I’m proud of each one because they are blooming where God has placed them.

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When expectations don’t quite match reality

I just had one of those days where I wake up unusually cheery and alert with the best of expectations of the day, only to be faced with disappointments at every turn. I should have know when I went out to the chicken coop, anticipating 4, 5 or maybe even 6 fresh eggs, and when I open the door to collect them, I was met with an empty nest. One side of my mouth curls and I sigh a ‘hmmm’ expression. Hindsight is 20/20 but looking back on that day I should have put my pajamas back on and headed back to bed. Mild disappointment met me around every corner that day. I say mild and they could be chalked up as 1st World Problems, but after an onslaught of 30 issues the effect accumulated to a serious issue. Well, what can you do when a day faces you? First, don’t let the day have power over you, keep control of your optimism in your court, especially if by day I mean a person. Don’t give any power over to those who bad mouth you, criticize you, antagonize you. Such a person shouldn’t hold that type of power. Second, there are many reasons to be thankful in the midst of our days. One of them is our freedom. On D-Day 75 years ago tens of thousands of men lost their lives in the effort to liberate Europe from tyranny. They died so that we can live a life of freedoms. Freedom to read the books we want. Freedom to worship God without imprisonment. Freedom even to protest our government. (Try that in Germany in 1939 and you wouldn’t live long.)
Well this is a long serious post. The point is to keep your emotions and spirit in your control and don’t give it over to lousy people. And give thanks for the many blessings we have in 2019.

The TopList.Shop Team

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Memorial Day Festivities

Memorial Day was glorious this year.

We hope you all had a day to enjoy together and reflect on the services our men and women in the military provide. We have enjoyed freedoms in North America for a long time and it’s due to those who serve to protect us.

Thank you to all who have and are currently serving in our military services.

Sincerely,

The TopLists.shop Guys

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Summer is almost here.

Some of us up on the North Coast are finally experiencing warmer weather. It’s just a week or two before the kids are home from school on summer break and family vacations can begin. If you are going to Florida or a local beach, we love going to Presque Isle Beach, make sure you are prepared.

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A Welcome Vacation

Alright, alright I should pay more attention to the lists on TopLists.shop.

We had a wonderful trip to Florida and we needed a Bluetooth speaker, sunscreen, a beach blanket, sunglasses and kite string. If only I had purchased the items on the list I would have looked like a genius.

The trick is when do you purchase these items? I waited too long and couldn’t take advantage of the deals on our website. It seems like there’s plenty of time before the trip, but then all of a sudden it’s too late.

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Sometimes you just gota go…

And by that I mean you need to visit a store in person. But it’s much better to browse our site and make that purchase online. No waiting in line, no finding parking spaces close to the door and no wasted gas.

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