I. Love. Christmas. Its absolutely, no question, my favorite
time of year – the snow, the lights, the busyness, even the cold is fun,
because it comes with hot chocolate and firesJ
I am also very sentimental (really to a fault sometimes) which means I LOVE
traditions, and there are so MANY at Christmas! We just couldn’t wait to start the season this
year, and actually started decorating 2 weeks before Thanksgiving! We are going
to be out of town much of December, so that was a big reason for getting a jump
on things. And I’m so glad we did, because as I look at the next 2 weeks
preparing to leave for Washington, I am a little overwhelmed by all that needs
to get done…and I believe that Christmas decorating should be a FUN process and
not part of a to do listJ
SO, 2 Saturdays before Christmas we got out all our décor and spent the day listening to Christmas Pandora, drinking hot chocolate (Caleb LOVED his first taste of itJ), and “decking the halls”!
This is my picture of “Joy” – Caleb in his jammies reading a story with Daddy by the “tinkle yights” J
Speaking of Christmas Traditions, we are excited to start some with Caleb this year! We will be doing an advent calendar with him for the first time – just chocolate kisses this time. But when I made this calendar a few years ago, the idea was that it was reusable and we could put really anything in the little boxes. So next year I’d like to do something more meaningful – like activities each day or something.
We are going to go through the advent wreath with Caleb this
year too, using his Jesus Storybook Bible (the BEST children’s Bible I’ve ever
seen!). Each candle represents a covenant promise made by God to His people
prophesying Jesus’ coming. We did the first one tonight (late, because we weren’t
here last Sunday!), and it was the covenant made with Adam and Eve. Here is the
excerpt from the JSB Bible, just because I love how its written:
“God loved his children too much to let the story end [when
Adam and Eve sinned]. Even though He knew he would suffer, God had a plan – a magnificent
dream…One day, he would make the world their perfect home again. And one day he
would wipe every tear from their eyes. You see, no matter what, in spite of
everything, God would love His children – with a Never Stopping, Never Giving
Up, Always and Forever Love. And although they would forget him, and run from
him, deep in their hearts, God’s children would miss him always and long for
him – lost children yearning for their home. Before they left the garden, God
whispered a promise to Adam and Eve: “it will not always be so! I will come to
rescue you! And when I do, I am going to do battle against the snake. I’ll get
rid of the sin and the dark and the sadness you let in here, I’m coming back
for you!” And he would. One day, God himself would come.”
Well, then we went and got our tree the Saturday before
Thanksgiving! We’ve always gone to a farm near us that is family owned, so even
though they weren’t technically open yet, they said they would be there and we
could come! So we were the only people there…but that was kind of funJ It was FREEZING
outside and really windy so Emma and I hung out in the gift shop:
He loved the barn cats and played with one while they got
our tree ready!
Here it is all dressed upJ
Both the littles LOVE the tree:
It is so much fun to sort of re-experience Christmas through
the eyes of children! I pray that as we raise our kids we can show them the
TRUE “magic” of Christmas – the incarnation of Christ – and re-experience the
awe of that miracle ourselves!
