{"id":23202,"date":"2025-11-12T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=23202"},"modified":"2025-11-13T05:36:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T11:36:46","slug":"%f0%9f%8e%84stop-and-smell-the-christmas-roses-%f0%9f%8e%84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=23202","title":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udf84Stop and Smell the Christmas Roses! \ud83c\udf84"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some folks rush home after trips just to get back to their \u201cto-do\u201d lists \u2014 not us! After the Tulsa wedding, we headed to Branson, MO where Christmas lights meet Southern charm and joy practically jingles in the air! We determine to make sweet moments count!
And let me tell you \u2014 Branson just might be Heaven\u2019s satellite office this time of year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everywhere we went, Jesus was the headliner \u2014 not the afterthought. At the Christmas Wonderland Show, we clapped along with Santa and his high-energy dancers until the scene changed to honoring all the veterans in the auditorium. Yes, Carl, was one of those who served our country valiantly!<\/p>\n\n\n

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Then the music shifted to \u201cSilent Night\u201d and \u201cO Come All Ye Faithful.\u201d Suddenly, I had happy tears! Only in Branson does Santa share the stage with the Savior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the showstopper of all showstoppers \u2014 “David” at the Sight & Sound Theater. Oh my goodness, I\u2019ve never seen anything like it. Live animals, towering giants, real waterfalls, and special effects that made me want to applaud God\u2019s creative team right then and there! As we watched David go from shepherd boy to king, I thought: this is what faith looks like when it\u2019s lived out loud.

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And just when our hearts couldn\u2019t hold more joy, we spent the evening with The Duttons \u2014 a family full of music, laughter, and love that radiated straight from the stage. It wasn\u2019t just a concert; it was a celebration of family, faith, and the joy of using our gifts for God\u2019s glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of it \u2014 the lights, the laughter, the faith \u2014 reminded me how easy it is to slip into \u201csame-oh, same-oh\u201d living. But oh, what blessings we miss when we stop noticing the beauty God tucks into our everyday world!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let\u2019s unplug, look up, and soak in the moments. Let\u2019s trade scrolling for strolling \u2014 through His creation, His people, and His goodness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 118:24 reminds us: \u201cThis is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because life\u2019s too short to just exist \u2014 it\u2019s meant to be experienced. And every day is a gift worth unwrapping with joy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some folks rush home after trips just to get back to their \u201cto-do\u201d lists \u2014 not us! After the Tulsa wedding, we headed to Branson, MO where Christmas lights meet Southern charm and joy practically jingles in the air! We determine to make sweet moments count!And let me tell you \u2014 Branson just might be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1210,26490,1769,32808,32811,3178,102,40,32810,32809,41,4159,32815,32812,503,32816,32813,32814,512,32807,598],"class_list":["post-23202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-branson-mo","tag-christian","tag-christmas-roses","tag-christmas-wonderland","tag-creative","tag-david","tag-inspiration","tag-jesus-the-headliner","tag-jingles","tag-joy","tag-lights","tag-live-animals","tag-o-come-all-ye-faithful","tag-santa","tag-shepherd-to-boy","tag-showstopper","tag-sight-and-sound","tag-silient-night","tag-stop-and-smell","tag-veterans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23206,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23202\/revisions\/23206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}