As the Holidays are in full swing, it’s time to begin planning for 2011.

There are also some odds and ends to clean up.

First up is the winner of the His & Her Christmas Giveaway.

And the winner is … Michael, who wants “a copy of the old movie ‘The Money Pit’.  We combined our families into one old New England farmhouse this year and we want to show all 4 kids (her 2 and my 2) that it could always be worse, and remember that the true spirit of the season is that we all have each other!”

Congratulations! Look for an email in your inbox from me — reply soon, so I can get you your gifts. I hope this makes your holidays a bit merrier!

And thank you, as always, for reading.

Second, 2010 saw the addition of several new voices to Simple Marriage. Five monthly columnists shared their talents with us and added great information to our community. One is bowing out next year to focus on her own projects so I am using this time to add to the fold.

In 2011, I am looking to add three new columnists.

Here’s the idea.

I want to add three new columns from other bloggers who can be exposed to the Simple Marriage audience, and hopefully receive some new traffic back to their main site.

These columns need to be insanely useful – one of the goals of Simple Marriage content.  I love that people continue to come here to read useful, applicable information, then work to apply it to their lives and relationships. Read more »

This giveaway is now closed.

The past few Holiday Seasons my wife and I have begun a new tradition; we each take a day off work and spend the entire day getting all our Christmas shopping done.

It has become a day we both look forward to and enjoy.

We get to be together all day, eat lunch, and usually have enough time to get home and wrap everything before picking up the kids.

This year our shopping day is Wednesday – and we’re adding one Simple Marriage reader to our list.

Specifically, one Simple Marriage reader has the chance to win his and her gift cards: one $75 Home Depot gift card AND one $75 Victoria Secret gift card.

I’ll also throw in a copy of Buck Naked Marriage.

If you win, you can use the money to buy gifts for your spouse, your family, someone else on your list, or even yourself.

How To Enter

Everyone has two chances to win. Here’s how:

1. Leave a comment on this post answering this question: What are you asking Santa for this Christmas?

2. For a second entry, Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to use the url of this post and @simplemarriage so I can see it. Or to make it even easier – use the Retweet button at the bottom of this post.

Last year my friend Stu of The Marry Blogger composed a list of the Top 10 Marriage Blogs.

Simple Marriage made the list last year – and it’s time to vote again for 2010.

The nominees are in and Simple Marriage is among the 45 sites listed.

Here’s where you come in:

1. Click here to find the short voting form.
2. Fill it out, should take less than a minute.
3. One vote per person…you can encourage your friends to vote as well.
4. Voting closes at midnight December 14th (but vote now so you don’t forget).

Obviously, I’m biased towards Simple Marriage, but check out the others on the list. There are many great sites helping marriages and relationships – which is awesome!

You know who I’m voting for, but if you want to vote for a different blog, no worries, we’re still friends.

Plus, if you want to spread the word about this, Tweet it or share it on Facebook. Simply copy and paste the following:

Please vote for your favorite marriage blog. http://bit.ly/feNLx9 Mine’s Simple Marriage (@simplemarriage), what’s yours?

I love seeing the marriage blog world grow and reach people all over the world.

By the way: be on the lookout for a His & Her Christmas Giveaway coming next week!

Have a great weekend!

From my family to yours:

Happy Thanksgiving

May your time with family and friends be filled with love and peace.

God Bless,
Corey

(photo source)

For almost 3 years now Simple Marriage has sought to better equip people for life and marriage. Largely, this has been done through the posts written 2 to 3 times per week.

As Simple Marriage has evolved however, there have been new resources added to help you and your relationships.

The following is a brief summary of what we have to offer.

Books and audio

It began last year with A Simple Marriage, a book that is actually half book and half workbook. Filled with great questions, activities, and exercises designed to help you create a better relationship. And the best part, you can work through this book and still reap its benefits with or without your spouse.

The second book just launched last week, Buck Naked Marriage. It covers the basic elements necessary for a marriage to thrive, as well as how to navigate some of the common areas that trip us up at times.

The marriage jams are intelligent solutions for your marriage, delivered on the cheap. They’re sort of like unbelievably affordable, yet truly great therapy, only it’s not therapy and you don’t have to sit on the couch, feel embarrassed or write a check on your way out the door. You can listen to these jams on your own time, where ever and whenever you like.

Online classes

This past summer Simple Marriage began offering classes.

High quality, user friendly, at your own pace content designed to assist you through marriage and life’s issues. And the best part of these classes, we come to you.

Blow Up My Marriage. A 16 week class that targets couples where one or both spouses have said, “I love you, but I’m not in love with you any more.” A radically different way to view what goes on in relationships is presented and applied throughout the course of this class. Due to the nature of this class, it is only offered 2 times each year. The next offering will be in January.

Parenting Without Killing Each Other. If there is one thing that can trip up married life – it’s parenting. So what happens when you don’t see eye to eye as parents. Or, what about when the marriage dissolves and you still have to co-parent and not use your kids as weapons against your ex? This class covers basic ways to approach these parenting dilemmas, and how to improve your relationship in the process. This class is co-led by myself and Dr. Molly Kuzmich (who has a lot more child development training in her background).

Reboot Boot Camp. We each get stuck at times. Whether it’s stuck in a stagnant relationship, a no-where job, parenting role, or any other number of situations, wouldn’t it be great to reboot that area of your life? This class will offer exactly that. Reboot one or two areas – or go through a complete overhaul – it’s up to you.

Free marriage courses

We also have a collection of topic specific marriage courses delivered straight to your inbox, for free. The lessons are all previous posts from Simple Marriage, but they’re broken down by topic. All you have to do is pick your topic of interest, provide your email address, then sit back and a new lesson arrives every other day.

Interested in anything else that would help you? Please let us know.

November 9th marks the launch of my new eBook, Buck Naked Marriage: Strip away the unnecessary and focus on the bare essentials.

You’ll be able to pick up your copy beginning Tuesday morning, but prior to this launch, there’s a bit of housekeeping to attend to.

At the beginning of August I asked for your help in coming up with a title for this book. There were over 100 comments and emails with suggestions, which is awesome … thank you. Among the suggestions, several readers liked the naked theme. Perhaps that says something about our readers? Hmmm?

I guess since I went with the idea as well, that says the same about me.

While there were several naked suggestions, none involved buck naked, so there is no direct winner. Instead, I’m going to send out a copy of this book (before it’s available to everyone else) to the readers who helped create the evolution of the final title.

Joy, of Just Plain Joy, was the first to mention the naked marriage idea.

And, Keely offered up the “bare” essentials idea – she even used the word cheeky in her comment (I love the word cheeky).

I will be contacting both of you via email in the next couple of days, which will include your copy of the book.

Once again, everyone’s involvement in suggesting ideas continues to prove how awesome Simple Marriage readers are!

Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Me and the family

For two and a half years now, I’ve been finding my writing voice, writing about marriage, family, and life.

I’ve tried to take some complex concepts and ideas and make them simple to apply. I’ve also worked to share my beliefs and thoughts with you on a regular basis.

Sometimes this succeeded, sometimes it didn’t.

There are times when I’ve struggled to find my writing voice. To add more than concepts or ideas and be a real person on the other end of this site.

So, in an effort to discover more of my voice, here are some things you probably don’t know about me. Read more »