On the Day After Thanksgiving, we celebrated by doing a little online shopping, putting up the Christmas tree, listening to Christmas music (we always love the WOW Christmas CDs), diffusing some Christmas Spirit and Orange essential oils, watching Home Alone and ordering out pizza. It really was a great way to celebrate the coming season.

I know there are many out there who talk about the health benefits of essential oils. They will talk about being eco-conscious, about having a green alternative. And I agree with those things! I love having an alternative to the yucky and dangerous chemicals that are in everything ever. But you know what my very most favorite thing about essential oils is? It's having a way to manage. A way to deal and cope with all the things that get thrown at me in my every day life. People don't often talk about the many ways they "cope" with life. When your kid throws her 50th tantrum of the day. When you realize you forgot to finish that report that was due this morning. When you are overwhelmed, overtired, amped up, or emotionally exhausted, normally there are very few options of healthy ways to cope. You can exercise, cook, read, etc.. but those things take at least 30 minutes! Sometimes you can't even remember the last time you had 30 seconds, let alone 30 minutes to do any of those things! The only two methods of "coping" that take less than a minute are prayer and essential oils. I love how immediately you have a way to cope with anything when you call out to Jesus or use essential oils. When my kids are throwing tantrums, we'll pause, pray, oil up, then proceed. Just taking a minute to pause, pray, and apply an oil and a thoughtful new direction is unbelievably helpful. When we're sleepy in the mornings, and my son comes up to me and says, "Mom I think I need some lemon!" it makes me so stinkin' happy that we have some to put behind his ears. When I'm restless thinking about the million and a half things I need to take care of, like, yesterday, I'm so relieved to know that some lavender or copaiba in the diffuser and some cedarwood on my big toe and I'm just a few minutes to sleepytimes.  What are your ways to cope with everything that life throws at you? Have you thought about replacing an unhealthy coping mechanism with a healthier one? 

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Your kid gets home from school and fills you in on the latest. His best friend, Jimmy was absent from school today, and something has been floating around the school all week.  As you cross yourself and pray for protection, you wonder what else you could do to help protect your kids (and yourself!) from picking up every sniffle, sneeze, and bug that walks past... You know what they say... The best defense is a good offense! What you really need is an immune booster before the entire germ-y grade school shares the door knob and water fountain with your kids. Let me introduce you to Thieves Tea. It's a delicious, sweet and zingy drink to help boost your immune system so you don't have to be terrified when you accidentally touch the bathroom doorknob.

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