Moving and the story of journey

Only four weeks to go and our Advent adventure will be underway! I'm planning on popping into your inbox one more time for before November 29. In the next post I want to introduce you to the Three Wise Movers and tell you more about what to expect in the comments section... but for today's post, we're all about moving and journey...

Moving Day

If you've ever moved house, you'll appreciate the full on chaos that seems to come with the process. Nothing ever quite goes to plan. Sometimes moving house happens at the same time as other life events are also playing out - it all adds up to stress, uncertainty and unpredictability.

Moving a newsletter resource turns out to have a similar vibe - but here we are! Counting Down to Christmas has moved from Substack to Ghost. We have our own website address... https://www.countingdowntochristmas.co.nz/

If you're receiving this email - the website will be visible to you when you sign in to the site using your email address. A one time code will then be sent to your email address for you to login. The good news is you don't have to remember any passwords! It's all connected to your email address. You'll see not just the Home, About and Resources pages, but posts from last year's Counting Down to Christmas too.

I've put some other housekeeping info at the bottom of this email, and if you want to be sure you'll receive Counting Down to Christmas this year, all the 'need to know' information is in that section - but first, let's explore a bit more about what's up ahead with Who Packed the Turkey?

Destination or Journey

Humans have made great progress over the last two hundred years, increasing the speed and ease of travel. However, we still can't snap our fingers and move from one destination to another. While teleporting might happily exist in science fiction, in real life, it takes time to get from one place to another. Often, we place our emphasis on the destination as being the most important part. As it is in travel, we also apply this emphasis to life. Destinations are milestones or achievements we strive to reach. The goal is to get somewhere and plant our flag, saying to ourselves, 'I've arrived!' Those moments of destination in life we strive for are significant: passing our school exams, getting a job, earning a degree, getting married, having a child, buying a house, climbing Mt Everest.

We often tend to write off the journey as the annoying bit we had to go through to get to where we wanted to be. We celebrate the destination and we endure the journey. Yet most of our lives are lived in the journey, not in the destination.

I'm a journey person. I love a good road trip. That's not to say I don't enjoy a destination either, but there's something special that happens on a journey. You know that feeling when you're about to go on holiday and there's a lot of stress getting ready to pack up and leave. You hop in the car and the first signs of relief can be felt—but not fully. There's still traffic to navigate and a drive ahead. Yet as you get underway, driving further and further away from home and getting closer to your destination, things gradually change. The process of the journey starts to take place. You start to take notice of your surroundings. You enjoy the company of your travel buddies. You actually listen to the music on the car stereo. Anticipation for what's ahead builds.

Welcome to the journey! This Advent, we are going on a journey together. Our ultimate destination is Christmas Day and the celebration of the birth of Christ. I hope on this journey we take together, there's something for everyone to enjoy and find inspiring.

The power of story

There is something about stories that take the reader on a journey that has always appealed to me. Stories come alongside us and move us to new places. They make us laugh and cry, challenge our thinking, comfort us in our chaos, show us new ways, and bring us joy. In a world that feels very heavy and hard right now, with so many pressures and challenges, this year's Counting Down to Christmas offers a powerful and refreshing dose of story.

I love Anna's story so much. She arrived in my imagination, so vibrant and real, and her story flowed with such ease and joy. Every morning, I wrote a new chapter. During the day, I'd wonder what was going to happen next, creating characters and situations in my head. I'd sleep on those thoughts and wake in the morning ready to reveal more of the story. Writing it felt like a revelation to me, and I hope you have the same experience.

In my own journey of life and writing, this story is a first for me. I've been a published writer since I was 16, starting as the editor of The Miracle, our youth group newspaper. Three years later, I was the sub-editor of the NZ Baptist newspaper and the published author of my first children's fiction book. My writing has always followed these two different streams, and they've always run alongside each other, never connecting. This fictional offering feels like a significant project for me. For the first time there is a convergence - a destination, if you like—but with a beautiful journey to get here.

Moving in the Nativity story

Something that has always struck me about the Nativity story is how much moving and travelling happens. There is Mary's journey as she rushes off to visit Elizabeth when she finds out she's pregnant. Then Mary and Joseph have to journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem because of the census. (Google Maps says it's a 35-hour walk.) The Bible tells us that the shepherds, "hurried to Bethlehem" after the angel told them the Good News. Presumably they were in the hills outside the small town. As for the Magi, we know they travelled from distant lands to find the baby king. Their journey was likely weeks or months long. And let's not forget all the angelic appearances – travels of a more heavenly nature. Whatever aspect of the Nativity we focus on, we find a story of movement.

The ultimate travelling moment comes in the arrival of the Son of God. The Christ child is known by many names. Immanuel (or Emmanuel) translates to 'God-With-Us'. This is God's journeying story. God's Son, sent by God, meets us right where we are, no matter our age, our faith understanding, our religious experience, our health or our wealth, our education, our skills, our limitations, our interests, our work ethic, where we came from, where we're going, what we wear, what we eat, what we do with our time, whether we're 'nice' or 'naughty'... God arrived for every single person. God on the move, coming to us to show us love and to guide us on a journey. Love enduring, love forever, love sustaining, love we can't really understand or appreciate... this love from God is the fuel that keeps us moving.

It is also what connects us to God's story. We're part of the story. This isn't in an 'I've arrived' way, but more of a 'I'm on a journey' way.

Moving in Who Packed the Turkey?

Anna's story is told in layers. She's also on the move. She's moving house and she's about to become homeless. As someone who isn't familiar with the Nativity story, she experiences something of a gradual revelation as she discovers more about the story of God-With-Us throught the surprising coincidences her own story shares with the Nativity story.

We, the readers, get to share in her gradual revelation as we journey with her, opening the chapters day by day. This is one of the things that I'm so excited about sharing with you in the lead up to this Advent. The underlying theme of journey resonates with everyone in some way. We're all on our own kinds of journey, in life and in faith... and the story will resonate with different people in different ways. Only a few weeks to go and we'll get underway! But as promised, here's another sample chapter.... jumping right into the middle of the story to Chapter 19 - Night Sky

If you missed the first chapter from my last email I've included it here too.

Spread the word

I'd love it if you could help spread the word about Counting Down to Christmas and our theme this year from Who Packed the Turkey?

Here's a download to share with friends. It includes a blurb about the book and how to subscribe.

Planning on getting a group together. Purchase the group plan of your choice, then provide us with the names and email addresses of everyone in your group.

Housekeeping on our move to the new website

Here's a few questions you might have about our move from Substack - and my best attempts at answering them!

What do I have to do about the move from Substack?

Hopefully nothing! If you see something unexpected - please feel free to contact me. It wasn't completely straight forward to changeover as there were some legacy plans in Substack (higher prices) and I've had to manually adjust plans to the new pricing structure. Please contact me if your subscription details seem wrong or unexpected or if you're unsure about anything.

What's my subscription status?

Once you've logged in - click on the icon at the bottom righthand corner and view your account settings. It will tell you if you're on a Free plan or a Paid plan or a Complimentary Plan and hopefully it also includes date you need to renew.

Will I receive Counting Down to Christmas 2025?

If you're on a Free plan you will not be receiving daily emails/posts with Who Packed the Turkey? in Counting Down to Christmas this year unless you upgrade your plan before the 29th November.

If you're on a Paid plan, your Stripe settings should have carried over and it will auto-renew. If your card is not current you should receive an automated email from Stripe requesting updated information. Your renewal date should show on your plan and if it's before 29 November 2025 you will need to make a payment if you want to receive daily emails on Who Packed the Turkey?

There may be a few reasons why it shows you're on a Complimentary plan

• previously you've paid via invoice or through the Kererū website.You can continue to pay in via these methods, and we'll update your renewal date OR click on the upgrade button. If you have not paid for a subscription for this year's Counting Down to Christmas in the last month, you will need to upgrade before 29 November 2025 if you want to receive daily emails on Who Packed the Turkey?

OR

• previously you were subscribed as part of a group. Contact your group leader to see if they'll be paying for a group plan again this year. If not, you will need to upgrade your plan before the 29 November 2025 if you want to receive daily emails on Who Packed the Turkey?

OR

• you've previously written or contributed to a Counting Down to Christmas or similar Kererū Publishing resource in the past, and this is a gift of thanks to you for your work. You don't need to do anything - you'll receive the daily emails on Who Packed the Turkey?

How do I renew or upgrade my plan?

To upgrade your plan for 2025 you can do this very easily now through our Counting Down to Christmas website. This is my preference! It's going to make things much easier going forward and you have full control of your own subscription. At our end Ghost takes no fees so we receive the full subscription payment. However, if you'd prefer - you can also upgrade through our Kererū Publishing website or send me an email and I'll invoice you and manually update your plan.

Can I still access the content on Substack?

No you can't access the content on Substack, but the good news is that you can access it on our new website. We're closing Counting Down to Christmas on Substack. For now we still have Taking Flight, The Seed Disperser and 5 Senses to Prayer on Substack, but we have plans to move all our resources eventually. If you want to see old content from previous Counting Down to Christmas series in 2021, 2022 and 2023, they're all behind the paywall here in the new site. Our series from 2024 was a free series and will continue to be available to view for free for all members whether paid or free.

If you have any questions about any of the above, please send me an email and I'll respond as quickly as possible.

On the journey

Caroline