I have to confess that Christmas felt a little weird for me this year. I have always been drive-my-husband-bonkers-crazy-in-love-with-Christmas. Especially the Christmas music- I'd play it in July if my family would let me.
This year, not so much.
On one hand, I enjoyed the extra time of bible study and prayer that always accompanies Advent. I always feel so much quieter and peaceful during the Advent season. But Christmas? The music, the smells, the look and feel of the season? So not working this year. It stressed me out big time. It feels so weird to say that, me-who-loves-all-things-Christmas...
Anywhoo.
The kids, on the other hand, had quite the blast.
They always get spoiled rotten by their grandparents. It's delightful to watch their out and out glee as they get something they've been wishing and hoping and praying for all year round; there is something about bringing that kind of delight to a child. Ben and Isaiah really like their just-like-daddy farm/work boots.(John Deere brand, of course!) Lorelei loved the new doll baby and stroller she recieved. (It is absolutely hilarious to see her have three babies in her sling on her front, back, and hip, and then another four piled into the two seater stroller! Two are usually upside down and at least one is totally devoid of clothes. I get to giggling every time I see her do it!) And David, as usual, enjoyed everything he got, but he really enjoyed the big box that came with a present. He has literally played with it non-stop since Christmas day. So next year, we figure we'll just get him some different sizes of cardboard boxes. *grin*
Here's a smattering of pictures from the fun:
(I love the one of David, even though it's horribly blurry.)
Yup. Our Christmas was about all things barn-related. The boys really want to know just when we will be moving to a farm...it may be sooner than we all thought!
Right now the kids are playing "Ace of Cakes" and making dinosaur and princess cakes. Heeeee. Our whole family has a little bit of an obsession for Duff and his whole cake crew. If a "Ace" marathon happens on Food Network, we all pile up on the futon down stairs and watch and giggle. The things you can do with gum paste!
In true fashion, we're going to attempt to make a gingerbread barn tomorrow. I feel sorry for my kitchen counter already. The last gingerbread thing we made was a train at Grandma's house last year. She was wiping blue and green piping frosting from underneath the tables and counters for a few days. Beware the unwitting soul with light colored pants that slid underneath the table at dinner! I still laugh thinking about it!
For his birthday activity, Isaiah really wanted to go to the local light show near us. Two something miles of christmas light displays in all sorts of fantastic shapes- dinosaurs, snow men makers, even a volcano with fire at the top! The kids were in wide eyed wonder the whole time. I personally think it was more fun to watch their faces than the lights. David's eyes where about to pop out of his head- it was like he was trying to look everywhere at once. The hot funnel cake at the end wasn't too shabby either.
Ever the good mama, I have to go digging for hats and gloves and boots for all the snow that is being predicted for this weekend. I've only been reminded of this wonderful storm warning fourteen bajillion times in the last hour by certain boys who are beyond excited at this possibility.
It's beginning to look (and sound, and taste) a lot like Christmas!
I went the simple route this season- only about a fourth of my decorations are out. I like the quiet simplicity of it. What you can't see in these pictures is that the bottom half of the tree lacks ornaments because certain little ones keep pulling them off! It's probably a very good thing that my (very breakable) angel collection is not out this year.
Merry Christmas to each of you, dear readers! You've been with me through such a rough year, a gift of community. I wish you a blessed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day- may the joy of our Savior be with you through out the Holy days. We've been so very blessed this year, and now it is time to turn in. All the presents are wrapped, the outside lights (finally! *giggle*) hung, the water stored in old milk jugs- no frozen pipes are going to bother this Christmas...and we and our goofy gaggle of kiddos are settling down to an epic board game night, complete with popcorn and homemade pizza. May the blessings of our Lord be with you!
(or, my version of how the Grinch stole Christmas.)
We were able to go to my childhood home for Thanksgiving this year- a fact which might seem normal, but isn't.
Over the river and through the woods to Grandma's takes approximately 8 hours, which does not jive well with the fact that work often means 4 am shifts on Black Friday.
Yup. You heard right.
4 am.
For the last eight years (longer than James and I have been married, I might add!), one or both of us have been one of those poor unfortunate souls working retail. I get the shudders just thinking about it. Which means- early shifts, late shifts, 18 hour + shifts in the worst place you would want to be the day after thanksgiving. Screaming, angry, mobbing people whose selfish, materialistic tendancies walk rough shod over the rest of humanity. And for what? Seriously. Answer me that. Please explain to me why a $40 toy (usually $59) is worth utterly and totally disregarding all sense of manners, causing others emotional and physical pain, and giving everyone a serious case of heartburn? That used to be a few years ago. Now, people are dying in the ridiculous stampedes. And the irony, and trust me, there is irony galore on Black Friday- the tinny speakers squawk out "Peace on earth, good will to men" while beautiful store displays of ribbons and glitter are left in so many tatters by the end of the weekend and the whole mall looks like a mine field of over consumption and disrespect. To think about it makes the bile rise in my throat.
I did not realize how much our involvement with the dark underbelly of Black Friday had totally colored our approach to Christmas until this year- when, for the first time, neither of us was near a mall or retail outlet and we were able to go somewhere else to celebrate the holiday!
You see, James and I both cringe when we hear Christmas music. We roll our eyes when Christmas decorations appear in September, and by the time Thanksgiving arrives, we are so *done* with Christmas that we can't wait until it's all over.
Oh, we go through the motions all right: put up the tree, hang the lights, wrap the presents, celebrate Advent. But our hearts aren't in it, at all. I guess you could say, the Holy Days lost their holiness and just seemed empty and cliche. Materialism and consumerism have sucked all the joy out of it for us, and more than the average American precisely because we worked in retail.
Come this Thanksgiving, and it sort of dawns on us that we are free. No horrible Black Friday, and a chance to go somewhere else for a change. We sure did laugh at ourselves, let me tell you. When you dread something all year and the dread is taken away, it sure feels weird and funny!
The thing is, I know intellectually the reason for the season- why we celebrate Advent, where the focus should really be. But the Grinch ( I hear he goes by other names too, deceiver, father of lies) stole my Christmas, you see. It makes me sad that my heart has turned cold and cynical about the season. I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until I had the chance at fresh perspective from a different angle.
Christmas is STILL about Emmanuel. God with us, in the messy, angry, stampeding, dirty world that had little time to notice a wee babe in a manger. Even when we don't pay attention, even when we rush, the miracle that happened 2,000 years ago is still resonating in quiet whispers.
This season, I am taking Christmas back from the Grinch. I am going to be still, and I am going to listen. And I hope- that I give in love, with honor and respect for those I love and cherish, and for those who are around me in my daily journeys. To honor the humanity in each person this Christmas, and so, honor the Christ who loves them all.
We've just returned from a wonderful Thanksgiving trip- more on that later. I am buried up to my ears in the vacation laundry and unpacking that comes with the joy of having a large family, and stealing a few moments here and there to dig out the Christmas boxes so that we can begin to decorate.
Looks like I need to decorate in here too- that fall banner doesn't quite work anymore, now does it? Soon, soon.
Since my Christmas joys have been getting off to a late start, and we haven't been able to start Advent in earnest, I have been very thankful for Anya's (Sanctuary Moment) meditations on Advent, particularly since we've been close to computers but not candles! Go head over there, and I promise I'll be back tomorrow with more Christmas joy...
I'm sorry if it has been a bit quiet here...it's actually been a bit on purpose. Two things, seemingly unrelated, got me to thinking about Christmas within my own heart. There is both an outward and inward act of celebration- if we choose to do so. I think it is quite easy to dwell and focus on the brighter aspects of this merry holiday because it is so much fun and so pretty. Yet, there still is that Silent Night. What does that mean? What does it look like? These are the questions that I have been asking myself. Anna of Pleasant View Schoolhouse posted just a small little note about scrubbing the house clean for Advent, an outward sign of preparation. It struck me because I think of preparing for Advent often in terms of decorating: the tree, the wreath, the Nativity...but not really in any other term. And Anne at Holy Experience has been doing a bit of a series on preparing for Advent as well. These two ladies' thoughts have been in the back of my mind as we approached the first few days of Advent. I've realized that I've been in need of a deep heart cleaning. The older I get as a follower, the more I realize that I need to spend times when I take a step back and just dwell with the Emmanuel, Who is with me. The Beloved One, whom I often spend so little time with. Sure, I have my snippets of conversation in the midst of a blindingly quotidian day stuffed full of toddlers and laundry. But there are times that I need, nay, I must be in His presence. This is not easy. Yet I feel as if I need to take some time to sit, and really look at this last year. Clean out the cobwebs, 'fess up to the mistakes, ask the Great Physician to heal the hurts...so that I am ready. In some ways, this inner Advent dovetails nicely with the turning of the year and the chance to begin anew. I've never actually thought of Christmas as an introspective time, but my perspective is changing- perhaps due to a quiet search for peace. I had nearly gotten to the point in late November that I was actually dreading the holiday season, and that thought really bothered me. ( Seriously? I am usually so crazy about Christmas that you can find me listening to carols in the middle of summer.) I knew that something was wrong, and I began to pray about it, really question what was bothering me. And God quietly answered back..."Come and see. Come on a journey to a little town, on a hill, and see what it is really all about...pay attention." So that, in my broken way, is what I have been trying to do these last few weeks...a quiet focus on the Gift-giver, and the Gift. Just trying to be quiet, trying to dwell in the "silent night" as much as is possible even with caring for the children and tending the house. Next week, the merry making will begin, and for the first time in forever, I feel ready. It's almost like having a brand new party dress, but in the spiritual sense...if that makes any sense. In short...I want to live up to the legacy of my name: Joy Noel, which together means "Christ's celebration". And you can't do that with a dirty dress!
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