december {traditions}

I know I'm not the only one out there thinking "how is it December already?".  This fall has flown by!  And seeing as we are still in tank tops and flip flops over here, it just doesn't seem possible that it is almost Christmas!

I have been anticipating this month all year long.  I love the celebration of advent and I spend time throughout the year thinking on it.  This year, I had the privilege of writing a small advent devotion for the children in our church.  It was such a wonderful process and I'm so thankful for the chance!

I have learned so much about different Christmas traditions through blogs, but I always seem to find out the day after something had been celebrated (the nature of blogging of course!).  I thought I'd give a quick run down of what we traditionally do around here, just in case anyone is looking to implement something new this year.

Advent-

Oh, where do I begin?  When we first began observing advent as a family five years ago, my world shifted.  Christmas no longer jumped out at me from no where.  Nope.  We were walking the road to Christmas slowly.  Anticipating the celebration of the birth of our Savior.  Advent means "coming".  The coming of the Christ child, but also the return of the Messiah.  Advent has breathed life into our family and opened our eyes to the true beauty of the season.  {If you would like to celebrate, but are unsure where to start, leave me your email address in the comments.  I'll shoot you a copy of the material I wrote this year.}

St. Nicholas day-

This week we observe St. Nicholas day on December 6.  I finally remembered to order a book on St. Nicholas to share with the children on the eve of St. Nicholas day.  Only took me three years to remember!  To celebrate, Moonpie and Buddy leave out wooden shoes the night before to be filled with sweet treats from St. Nicholas.  This year we will be doing some sort of service project the day of- in the spirit of the real St. Nicholas!  He had a generous heart that reflected the love of His heavenly father.  It is such a beautiful story to share.

Jesse Tree-

I haven't quite decided if we are going to do a full on Jesse Tree this year, or opt for readings out of the Jesus Storybook Bible.  We will have a family meeting in the morning to decide!  Here are some resources we have used and loved:

Holy Experience- we did this one last year.  It was beautiful, and heady.  I think it would be great with older children.

Kimberlee Conway Ireton's devotion- we have done this one several times.  It is short and accessible.  The content is great.  The link will take you to her blog, the devo is on the side tab.

Advent with the Jesus Storybook- this is the one our church passed out along with the devotion I wrote.  I am thinking very seriously about using it and then having the children create an ornament to go along with it for the Jesse Tree.

Winter Solstice-

Winter solstice (December 21) refers to the first day of winter.  Every year we like to observe the solstice with a fire in the backyard and s'mores!  We celebrate the return of the light (the days getting longer) and talk about how that points to Jesus.  He is the light of the world, dispelling the darkness!  We then come in and the kids open their solstice gifts- warm, mama made pajama bottoms and a new book each.   We snuggle up in our pj's with mugs of hot chocolate and read our new books.  It is a lovely evening.

And of course- Christmas!

We celebrate at home with a few gifts each and hand made sibling gifts.  This is the calm before the storm!  We have four sets of grandparents, and four different Christmas gatherings to enjoy!  

One more extra special thing we do this month is a weekly, family movie night.  Every Thursday we watch a Christmas movie with popcorn and hot chocolate.  This is one of our favorite things to do this month.  The kids are already making their movie list!  First up?  Elf!

Please share- what are some traditions you all partake in this time of year?  I'd love to hear!

love and joy

advent day 3 & 4
love and joy

last night we celebrated the final days of advent. because of our late start we had to combine the third and fourth day. we made heart shaped sugar cookies to prepare- moonpie's recipe.




when she saw that we were making hearts she jumped on the opportunity to make the craft. after cutting out 10 hearts, she instructed us to decorate them. glitter abounded. this morning i had john cut a branch for me and we created our advent tree.



our theme for the night was love and joy. and while i would have liked to let each have their own night, love and joy really go hand in hand. where there is love there is joy. we shared how god is love. he can be nothing else because that is what he is. and out of that huge love, we are to find our joy, our peace and our hope.


this was our first year to observe advent as a family and it has been so special for us. for me it has been a great time to let go and let daddy do the planning. in doing so i have been shown that i need to step back more often. he loves this family insurmountably...advent has been a special reflection of that love.




1 John 4:7-8 (The Message)

God Is Love
7-10My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

hope

I love this season of Advent.  I look forward to it all year.  I love the quietness and the reflection of it while we focus on the waiting.
Even though I think about Advent as the year goes through, it always catches me by surprise!  We knew Advent was starting last Sunday, but we didn't get around to observing the first night until last night.
If you haven't started, do so tonight!  Don't let beginning late cause you not to join in.  It is such a blessing. A beautiful celebration of the first coming of Christ and the anticipation of His return.

Isaiah 11:1-10

The Branch From Jesse

 ¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; 

   from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 

² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— 

   the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, 

   the Spirit of counsel and of might, 

   the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— 

³ and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

   He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, 

   or decide by what he hears with his ears; 

⁴ but with righteousness he will judge the needy, 

   with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; 

   with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 

⁵ Righteousness will be his belt 

   and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

 ⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb, 

   the leopard will lie down with the goat, 

the calf and the lion and the yearling^[a] together; 

   and a little child will lead them. 

⁷ The cow will feed with the bear, 

   their young will lie down together, 

   and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 

⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den, 

   the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. 

⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy 

   on all my holy mountain, 

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD 

   as the waters cover the sea.

 ¹⁰ In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

christmas traditions

Traditions are big on my list of "things I want to accomplish as a parent".  I think some of comes out of my being from a broken family as a child.  When you are living between two homes, traditions are difficult to maintain.
I have loved creating traditions for our family!  Sometimes they have been hard to stand by, but just like daily rhythms, yearly rhythms are important and worthwhile.  Here are some of the things we enjoy doing.

Operation Christmas Child

We have enjoyed supporting this ministry every year since Moonpie was very young.  Our children choose to buy for either a boy or a girl, and the age range.  They generally choose a child of their same sex and age.  We buy small gifts and necessities that will fit in the shoe boxes.  They get to choose the gifts that go in their box.  This is such a tangible way to teach giving to someone else that lives somewhere far, far away.  When we pack the boxes we like to talk about where our boxes are going (the globe comes in handy here!) and what we think the recipients will like best.  We for sure thought the favorite this year would be the Groucho Marx glasses!

Advent
I have loved observing Advent with my family.  The celebration of the coming of Emmanuel.  Advent has been so very special to us over the years.  It has really helped to settle our holiday restlessness.  It has almost been like a slow, deep breath.
John typically comes up with the scripture we study each Sunday evening over a feast and lit candles.  Throughout the week we do a Jesse Tree during our school time.  (We have found a beautiful one on A Holy Experience.)

Handmade gifts
made this year:

• embroidered pillow cases (from Alicia and Geninne)

• spicy chocolate bark (inspired by Maya Made)- our changes- organic dried cherries, no pepitas, 1/4 tsp cayenne, 1/4 tsp cinnamon.  OH MY!!!
• oat bath (inspired by Maya Made)- our changes- added lavender to some, added calendula to some

• sailboats for buddy (carved by daddy, sails by me)
• wool felt puppets for the nephews
• daddy made oak puppet stands for the nephews
• lip balm

• daddy made bird house from reclaimed lumber

here you can see the unfinished sail boats and puppet stands as well

• pajamas
• crispy nuts
• sibling gifts

Reusable gift wrapping

Every year I have fun trying to come up with some kind of renewable gift wrap option.  This year I had lots of fun with thrifted and antiqued tins.  They were perfect the consumable gifts we gave (coffee, chocolate bark, crispy nuts, lip balm, soap, oat bath) and very easy to come by.

Christmas festivities

We are so fortunate to have a very large family that lives near enough for us to see every Christmas.  Because we have four sets of grandparents, our kids get FIVE Christmases!  We always like to begin the celebrating here at home before we travel down to Houston to see everyone.

We decided this year to celebrate our own Christmas on Dec. 22.  That set our "Christmas Eve" on Dec. 21- winter solstice!  We went out that afternoon to celebrate my birthday (which falls on the real Christmas Eve) and then spent that evening making chocolate bark, roasting up marshmallows and opening Christmas jammies.  The next morning we woke up and had our Christmas.  On the 23rd we headed down to Houston and moved from home to home until the 25th when we came back to our home!  We always spend Christmas Eve night with my dad and step-mom.  We go to the service at their church and then spend that night with them.  This is the one tradition from our childhood that we have observed consistently.  I am so glad we have stuck with it!  People always ask me if it's lame to have a birthday on Christmas Eve.  I have to admit that I love getting to be with my family on my birthday- so if that means not really getting to celebrate the day of, then I'll take it.

(Here are 2 out of the 4 houses represented in pictures. The other 2 homes are somewhere on John's computer!)

Aunt Sara and Moonpie

Hanging out with cousin Jack

My sister and our grandmother

Front row: brother, sister in law (my nephew in her lap), Buddy, my sister (with Moonpie in her lap)
Second row:  me, John, my dad and step-mom

Another thing we like doing the week before Christmas is visiting our nursing home.  With my bout with bronchitis this year, we didn't make it.

Well- that is a little peek into what we do around here for Christmas.  It makes me a little tired looking at it all at once!

I have so enjoyed getting to see how all of you spent your holiday as well!

hope

advent - day 1

HOPE

today we celebrated the first day of advent (we know, we're a week late!). john led us in such a special time. we feasted, made salt clay candle holders, and read from isaiah 40.

Isaiah 40
Comfort for God’s People 1Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to herthat her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned,that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
The Word of God Stands Forever 6 A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?"All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
The Greatness of God 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not;say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

peace

advent day 2


peace


sunday night we celebrated the second day of advent. the focus of the week was peace. to set the atmosphere we turned off the lights and ate by candlelight. this led to a very quiet dinner- what a change! we read our scripture, sang 'i've got peace like a river', and then john led a craft. i was so impressed with his preparation! my heart was full as i sat and watched as he led moonpie in her sewing craft (buddy had fallen asleep before dinner). we talked about how true peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather completion. when relationships are complete, or whole, there is peace.

what a lovely evening.

our feast: one local omelet and apple turnovers

moonpie sewing her dove with daddy

John 14:27 (The Message) 25-27"I'm telling you these things while I'm still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I'm leaving you well and whole. That's my parting gift to you. Peace. I don't leave you the way you're used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don't be upset. Don't be distraught. (from www.biblegateway.com)

advent

We are in it.  The season of waiting.  Of Emmanuel.  God with us!

Our candles are up.

Our Jesse tree is up (and actually being used!).

I am being reminded to ask what it is that I am expecting in this season of the waiting.

And I am full of thoughts.  Words are seemingly harder to find.  That is a good place to be when you are waiting.  Expecting.

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For a look back at season's past, click here.