Ah, Christmas. The twinkling lights, the smell of fresh-baked cookies, the heartwarming carols wafting through the air. And then… the burnt cookies, the tangled lights, and the desperate Amazon Prime order placed on December 22nd. If you’ve ever felt the sting of holiday stress or found yourself yelling at a roll of wrapping paper, you’re not alone. But here’s a little secret: it’s the mess, not the perfection, that makes Christmas so special.

Somewhere along the way, we bought into the idea that Christmas needs to look like a Hallmark movie—spotless homes, pristine gingerbread houses, perfectly coordinated outfits. But let’s be honest: that level of perfection is exhausting. If you’ve ever stood in the middle of a chaotic holiday kitchen with flour in your hair and a smoke detector blaring, you know that Christmas rarely goes as planned.

So, consider this your official permission slip to let go of the pressure. You don’t have to have a Pinterest-worthy tree or bake the cookies from scratch to create joy. In fact, it’s the little mishaps that often bring the biggest laughs.

Every family has its traditions—some intentional, and others… not so much. In our family, one of those “traditions” was my grandfather burning the bread. Every single year. It didn’t matter if we tried timers, reminders, or even appointing someone else as the bread-watcher—somehow, the rolls always came out resembling charcoal. But it became a running joke, and the smell of burnt bread became as much a part of Christmas as the scent of pine.

Then there was the year everything felt different. My mom was in the middle of her battle with cancer, and for a while, it seemed like Christmas would be overshadowed by fear and exhaustion. But instead, the family rallied. Everyone pitched in—My aunt cooked the turkey, my brother and I decorated the tree, and everyone made sure the bread came out just right. We laughed, sang carols, and shared our favorite family memories. It wasn’t the prettiest or most picture-perfect Christmas, but it became one of the most memorable—because we were together.

Even the very first Christmas was far from perfect. The birth of Jesus didn’t happen in a pristine palace or under perfectly controlled conditions. It happened in a stable, surrounded by animals, in the most humble and unexpected of settings. Yet from that messy moment came perfection—a story of hope, love, and salvation that still resonates today. It’s a beautiful reminder that even the messiest beginnings can bring about the most profound joy.

So this year, let’s rewrite the holiday script. Burn the cookies? Laugh about it. Have to wrap a gift in yesterday’s newspaper? Call it creative. Let the kids decorate the tree, even if it’s lopsided. The truth is, the best memories are the ones where everything doesn’t go according to plan.

Now, here’s a challenge: think about your own “messy and merry” holiday moments. What’s a time when things didn’t go as planned but ended up becoming a cherished memory? Share it with your family, write it down, or post it online. You may be surprised how much joy those imperfect moments bring to others.

At the end of the day, Christmas isn’t about having it all together—it’s about being together. So go ahead, embrace the chaos. Celebrate the imperfections. Let the messy moments create the merriest memories.

Here’s to a Christmas season that’s gloriously messy, wonderfully merry, and uniquely yours.

Mmmmm…I can almost smell the cornbread dressing and the pecan pie already. Thanksgiving is almost here! I love this opportunity to sit down together and connect over a family meal. Putting phones away and welcoming friends and family to the table is something I count as a blessing. Even though there may be awkward moments or tension, food allergies or burnt pie crusts, there are also stories to share and laughs to be had together. And the food!

While it can be tempting to give in to frustration or focus on what we lack, I want to encourage you to look through a lens of gratitude. We have so much to be thankful for! We are blessed by a God who loves us. That is reason alone to be grateful. 1 Chronicles 16:34 reminds us to “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever!” One way we can express our gratitude is through our actions. With a thankful heart, let’s extend this great love to others. Invite them to your table. Choose forgiveness. Be kind and encouraging. Bring joy to others. Let someone know how much you appreciate them and why. Be a generous listener. Look for opportunities to share the HOPE we have in Jesus.

In fact, we’ve got one way you can do just that, coming up Thanksgiving evening at 8pm! That’s when LifeSongs becomes your Christmas soundtrack. Why Christmas music? There are so many people searching. Looking for connection, for comfort, for hope. Our prayer is that those who may stumble upon LifeSongs and hear a familiar holiday tune would find the true “thrill of HOPE” in our only source, and in the reason we have to celebrate: Jesus. Please pray for them, invite them to the table, and that they stick around, even after Christmas, to continue hearing messages of good news and great joy on LifeSongs.

Christmas may be a rare season that has its own soundtrack, but there are so many songs of gratitude and thanks that might be perfect to incorporate around your Thanksgiving table! Here are a few of my favorites:

Happy Thanksgiving! My heart is full of gratitude for you. Now, pass those sweet potatoes!

Before leading worship alongside Maverick City Music – Stephen McWhirter shared his incredible story and goofed off Josh & Libby on Friday’s Morning Show!

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Josh called the Turkey-Hotline at Butterball to get the 4-1-1 from Jan about #NationalThawDay and some helpful tips on cooking the perfect Butterball Turkey this Thanksgiving!

Visit BUTTERBALL.com, call 1-800-BUTTERBALL or text 844-877-3456 for all you Thanksgiving cooking needs!

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Good morning on the LifeSongs Morning Show. Today is a very special day, one week till Thanksgiving, and that makes it National Thaw Day. And who better to talk about thawing a turkey than the experts at Butterball. Jan, thank you so much for joining us on the morning show.

My pleasure, I’m happy to be here.

So break it down for me, what is National Thaw Day?

It’s the day that you should start thinking about that turkey if you haven’t done so already. If you have it in your freezer, take it from the freezer and put it in the refrigerator. If you haven’t purchased the turkey, you might want to think about getting to the store, because it takes a long time to thaw it, and it needs to be thawed in a cold method. The easiest way to thaw it is in the refrigerator. Leave the turkey in the original wrapper, put it on a tray, and allow one day in the refrigerator for every four pounds of turkey. So a 20-pound turkey, for instance, would take you five days to thaw.

Yeah, but then you have to pluck the feathers and all that. It’s going to be a bit of a mess.

No. Our fresh turkeys have no feathers.

So if you missed it, the official Butterball mathematical equation for thawing a turkey is one day per four pounds of turkey.

That’s correct.

Awesome. Now I heard this – this actually I have a request from my program director to ask this question. She heard that you guys at Butterball now have a bake from frozen turkey. Is that actually a thing or is that an urban tiktok legend?

That is a new product that we’re rolling out this year. And it is cooked from frozen. So you just take it out of the package and put it right in the oven. So by next year it should be in all states. Bbut this year it’s not. But I don’t know if people would find it in your area or not. But you can check our product locator on our website, Butterball.com.

Okay, limited edition. If you’re listening to LifeSsongs and you come across the Butterball Cook from Frozen Turkey, take a picture, send it to us, because I want to see. That sounds pretty awesome. My mom says her mother, back in the 1960s cooked their Thanksgiving turkey in the microwave. Is that something you recommend at Butterball?

Yes, you can do that. I’ve done a number of them because I used to do microwave cooking schools and demos and so I’ve done it quite often. First of all, you have to have a turkey that’s going to fit in the microwave. When the microwaves first came out in the late 60s and 70s, they were pretty big so you could get do like a 12 pound turkey, but nowadays the microwaves are pretty small in a lot of cases so you can still do it but you’re going to have to have a pretty small one. So it can be done and it does cook faster, but it’s a lot more work.

I think I’ll stick with the oven or the deep fryer or the smoker. Do you actually, Jan, have a favorite method for cooking your turkey?

I would say my favorite method is probably the grill. I love the nice charcoal grill.

Nice. Well, Jan, where can LifeSongs’ listeners go to get all of their turkey questions answered this Thanksgiving?

Well, they can call us at 1-800-Butterball. We have people here waiting to talk to them and answer their questions. They can also text us at 844-877-3456, or they can reach us at Butterball.com, which is a wonderful website with all kinds of information. And we’re also available on all the social channels, so we’re very easy to find.

Well thank you so much, Jan, for taking a moment to share with us about National Thaw Day, and I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.

I wish you the same. Thank you.

We’ve brined, injected, marinated, spatchcocked, roasted, smoked and fried turkeys over the year and we still haven’t found the PERFECT Thanksgiving turkey recipe. (*Later this week I’ll get to talk with a Butterball representative on National Thaw Day, so maybe we’ll get some helpful tips!) My wife and I have hosted many Thanksgivings – for family, friends and sometimes just our little nuclear four. Preparing the big meal can be stressful – always takes several days – but is such a joy!

We put music on in the house – the whole family gets involved (especially when it is time to make pies). No one enjoys it more than our dog Rose who is guaranteed to get some dropped goodies on the floor. Even though I look back at Holidays-past with rose colored glasses, there are plenty of fights that happen during this time of year too. With so much going on – cooking, cleaning, parties, responsibilities, work, school … it’s not hard to blow up at one another.

Can you avoid hurting feelings by being intentional with one another – making lists – sticking to a schedule … maybe. Sometimes it is inevitable to come into conflict with the people you love most in this world … and I think that’s ok.

I remember when Jesus visited his friends Lazarus and Mary and Martha in the town of Bethany. It was a huge gathering because Jesus travelled with quite the entourage and Martha was busy trying to please everyone. Meanwhile Lazarus was probably hanging with the boys and Mary was simply sitting and listening to Jesus. When Martha blew up at her sister for not helping, Jesus actually told Martha to stop and be with the family.

I’m very much a Martha – this story always rubs me the wrong way because Martha was working so hard to make everyone happy and SHE is the one who get’s chastised? That seems so unfair. Jesus was right, of course. And I have to dwell on this story during the holidays as a reminder that time with Jesus – and our family – is more important than a spotless bathroom or a well brined turkey.

*If you need some help with your turkey – brined or otherwise prepared – I got to chat with an official Butterball Turkey representative on #NationalThawDay!

Hey there.

I’ve been on this “ kick” about LOVE lately. It’s like every devotion I open or podcast that comes up on my feed relates to this topic. I find myself lapping up morsels of wisdom about Love wherever I can get it . I’m thinking maybe it has to do with the fact that within recent months we have had a major election and social media and new outlets have been in overdrive. The news has been reporting in overload and what’s being reported is almost always negative!

I know I’ve been intentionally trying to counter all that “stuff” and fixing my mind on the one thing that sums up what’s missing in all of it: LOVE.

Holidays are coming up and we get to Love more than ever. Some of us have the Norman Rockwell picture and then others, that picture is not quite as serene.

I read this sweet story in one of my recent devotions.

In 1917, a priest named Edward Flanagan opened a home for boys to help the neediest and most vulnerable boys in Omaha, Nebraska. The orphanage took in the homeless boys with criminal records, and the disabled. One of those boys, Howard Loomis, had polio and wore heavy leg braces.

One day, Father Flanagan saw one of the older boys carrying Howard up the stairs. Father Flanagan noticed this kindness and asked him, “Isn’t he heavy?” And the boy replied, “He ain’t heavy, Father… he’s m’ brother.”

Cue the song by The Hollies and sappy tears! This is a beautiful picture of what it looks like to “bear with one another.” In a way, to love someone is to open ourselves to suffering. Their sadness becomes ours. This is one of the reasons we are so often guarded and slow to love.

It can be hard to open ourselves to a relationship that may require from us what could be difficult or inconvenient.

Yet this is what God asks us to do for each other as a community of Jesus followers. He calls us to love in a way that will cost us. God is not asking us to do anything that he has not first done himself. God did not guard his heart from us. He poured it out generously. Jesus bound up his heart with ours. He made our suffering his suffering. He made our pain his pain. And he asks us to do the same for others. This is part of what it looks like to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3 NIV

Praying that you can grin and “bear it” this Holiday Season as you might have some people that are hard to love.

God, thank you that you first loved me. Teach me how to love others well.

Vance & Josh went for a drive (#BROadtrip) to chat about Vance’s time in the Navy, encouraging our Veterans and their families – and where Vance is going for his free dinner tonight!

For all of our Veterans – and everyone who needs prayer – share your needs and we’ll pray for you.

Visit our PrayerWorks page to learn more!