Christmas has come and gone and we are already 1 1/2 months into the new year but I did want to share about last December. The month flew by (seems like each month does that these days) but I really really really enjoyed the Christmas season this year. I always get into the Christmas mood early. It's such a beautiful season and celebration and when I think of Christmas I get all warm and fuzzy inside and so I think 24 days are much too short to savor the full goodness that is wrapped up in the word 'Christmas'.
o right after Elliot's birthday on November 10th I pull out the Christmas tree and spend the next few days decorating, blasting Christmas music through the house and making all the special treats that go along with it all.
I thought quite extensively about Christmas this year and why I love it so much (apart from the fact that Jesus chose to surrender to earthly restrictions for me) and I have come to the conclusion that a lot of it has to do with traditions. And traditions stir up memories and for me these are mostly happy ones, thus giving me that aforementioned warm and fuzzy feeling. So it's been important to me to create traditions for our family so that when the boys look back on these years they'll have warm and fuzzy feelings, too.
But more than that it's become important to me to stir in them an awareness that Christmas is so much more than presents (their top priority) and baking and eating cookies (comes right after presents). So last year we tried the Jesse Tree and I love the idea. But it was all a bit last minute and did not have the effect I was hoping for.
This year I stumbled across this Advent Chain from spelloutloud.com and it was perfect. Each morning we would recite Isaiah 9:6, read the verse on the chain link and then they got to eat their chocolate for the day (thanks to the advent calendars my mom sent).
It made Advent fun for the kids and special for me. Focusing on the One who sacrificed everything so that He could become my Good Sheperd, Savior, Friend, Wonderful Counsellor, Alpha and Omega,...helped me remember what Christmas is all about.
What a wonderful memory and what an awesome reality!
