Traditions

I cannot believe it is almost Christmas ... I mean every year it sneaks up on me, but this year it's like the time has just flown by. I always hope that I can sit back and enjoy the holiness of the holiday - to really take in the majestic gift of Jesus' birth and hence the celebration of Christmas, but the business of life takes over and as always I now feel rushed. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely enjoying every second of the preparations but just once I would like for the time to pass slowly and allow me ample time to absorb it all.


Speaking of preparations, I thought I'd share a few of ours with you. I have been looking for an advent calendar that I can make (but might just end up buying one on sale after Christmas :) to help focus our preparations during the Christmas season. Like I said, the time has flown by and I didn't get one made in time for this Christmas, but I'll let you know what I end up making/buying for next Christmas. We do, however, have our own little Christmas countdown. I made this "chalkboard" with a scrap piece of wood from our garage and a can of clearance chalkboard spray paint. I've told you that I'm all about re purposing and reusing and I actually made this for Eliza's first birthday party. To go along with the countdown, I wrapped Christmas books (in tissue paper because E loves tissue paper :) and we have opened one each night and read it together as a family before bedtime. I taught second and third grade, before staying home with my sweet girl, so I already had a good selection of Christmas books. I found some additional inexpensive books to add to the stack and I have loved sharing these wonderful stories with my baby. I am planning on wrapping these same books up again next year, so that we can continue the tradition, maybe adding a new book in the mix each year. This is a new tradition for us but on Christmas Eve, I will wrap up a Bible, and we will unwrap the Christmas story and read about Jesus' birth - which is an old tradition in my family.

 

 

Our little family started another new tradition this week. We wanted to drive around to look at Christmas lights, so we put our PJs on early (all 3 of us :), ate breakfast for dinner, and loaded up the car, hot chocolate in tow, Christmas music playing, and drove around to check out all of the beautiful lights around town. We all truly enjoyed it and will be sure to do it again next year.

Playing with her bell - after reading tonight's book: The Polar Express

In PJs with Mama, ready to look at lights!

 

 

Now this last one is a tradition that we started last year, with my sweet Daddy or Pops. E was about 10 weeks old this time last year, and recovering from RSV, so we didn't love the idea of taking her to see Santa. Pops had access to a Santa suit, so he volunteered to be E's personal Santa for a photo op. She did great and we have a precious picture on the mantle of her first visit with Santa. Well, we decided to do the same this year, and make it a tradition of taking pictures with "Santa Pops". Below is last year's picture compared to this year's ... I guess every parent needs a screaming Santa picture! It didn't matter one bit that Pops (whom E LOVES) was under the suit, she was not amused!

 

 

Tradition is tradition, so we'll try again next year! :)

 

 

I can't think about traditions, or Christmas, or anything really, without thinking about the parents of the precious children that were lost in CT this week. I honestly have no words, and can't even imagine trying to write about how broken my heart is for everyone involved in this tragedy. But as I think about our family traditions, I am devastated that none of those families will ever be able to carry out their past traditions ... but I pray that one day they can make new traditions. I pray that they can find some comfort in the midst of their suffering. I pray ... and I realize that the Lord knows their heartache ... that God has been there ... he lost his one and only son. He GAVE UP his only child for me ... and you. I can't imagine the pain the parents of those babies from CT are feeling, but God knows, because his child died so that we can live - eternally with him. Oh praise Him!!! Let us never forget how amazing the gift of Jesus is - what sacrifice the Lord made for each of us. So even though the countdowns, books, activities, and pictures are fun ways to celebrate the season, my family's most important tradition will be to always remember the ultimate gift that God has given us - in that perfect tiny baby.

 

Thanks so much for reading! I love that we already have 3 followers and I hope that eventually we will have more. I would love to hear about any of your family traditions, if you feel like sharing.

 

Merry Christmas friends - May Your Cup Runneth Over!!!





Blessings and Burlap

Praise God from whom all BLESSINGS flow ...

Let me tell you how the blessings have truly been flowing over the past week through this blog. I have only posted twice (I guess this makes 3) and I have truly been blessed through your comments - both online and on the phone or in person. Everyone has been so kind and encouraging about my posts ... so far :) ... and I'm so very grateful. I felt very vulnerable starting out, writing about what's on my heart, but I feel so much more comfortable now that I know you are enjoying it. Not only that you are enjoying it but that the Lord is speaking to you through it. Some of you have told me how the Lord is blessing you through it and I'm so thankful for that. That was my hope for this blog - that is exactly why I risked the vulnerability - but what I didn't expect, what I didn't hope, was that I would be blessed as well. I guess I was thinking more about the readers, and not as much about the writer, but you  - the readers - are truly blessing this writer. Praise God!

He is also blessing me - well teaching me and through the learning, I'm definitely being blessed. I just LOVE it when the Lord shows us his sense of humor and He was showing it off in my life this past week. If you read my last post, I talked about trying my best to place more focus on the nativity scene in my house and less on the Christmas tree. Well ... I had a very clear "Will you practice what you preach?" moment after writing the last post. To try to  make a long story short (but still explain it well) we now have a decorated tree at our house - after 2 attempts. I was so excited when my hubby told me about the online deal saver (through the state paper) for cutting down your own tree at Harmon's tree farm. I loved the idea of our little family venturing out to the farm to find the perfect tree and cut it down ourselves, especially because this is the same tree farm where my parents took my brother and me every Christmas when we were growing up. And Harmon's is closing after this year so it would be our last chance to experience such a fun (and nostalgic) family outing. We made it to Harmon's, after lots of looking, finally found a tree that seemed to fit our family, had fun cutting it down (sweet Hub might not describe the actual cutting down part as all that fun, it looked like really hard work :) and took it home to decorate. Well ... the poor tree wasn't exactly the right size for our stand and in the process of trying to make it work ... we lost what proved to be a very important piece of the bottom of the tree. We thought taking some out would help it to fit in the stand but apparently it only helped it to stand totally lopsided and still not sit correctly in the stand. Poor tree! We decided to give up on her and my precious servant of a husband went to Lowe's at 9 pm because he knew how much I had been looking forward to decorating it the next morning as a family. He picked out a beautiful tree and thankfully she sits perfectly in our living room (and perfectly in her stand)! So ... we still had a wonderful experience and we now have a wonderful tree. But I was once again reminded that the tree should not be my main focus ... that I need to continue to fix my eyes upon Jesus. Praise God!

I also told you in my last post that I love all things burlap these days and that I'm trying to incorporate burlap into my decorations this Christmas, so I thought I would share a couple of ideas with you.

Wanting to spice up our mantle (without breaking the bank) I created a burlap "garland". I had already purchased some wide burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby (half price) so I layered the lights in the burlap and used it on the mantle. The great thing about burlap is that I could push the lights right through it to shape the garland.

I was trying to come up with a creative way to display my family's past years Christmas cards so I decided to carry on with the burlap theme. I placed another piece of burlap ribbon over the back of a door and used small clothes pins to display them. I actually used this piece of burlap in a fall wreath and made an "M" out of buttons, so I decided to reuse it and keep the "M".

Lastly, in hopes to not over due the burlap, I used a small piece of the ribbon around a large mason jar. In the jar is a little piece of our first tree attempt - I just couldn't let her go to waste.

So again ... Praise God ... for His many blessings ... and for helping me to finally finish my decorating!

Thanks for reading friends - May Your Cup Runneth Over!