We have but eight more sleeps till Christmas. So far, I
think I have enjoyed this Christmas season more than seasons past. I have
stayed in the moment more than is usual for me. I have enjoyed the simple
little celebrations of Christmas that we have done every day. I think focusing
on the blessing of giving as well as the art of living with and for my children
has enlarged my own soul. Writing now to re-cap a bit on what our daily
Christmasy activities have been so far.
- Tree trimming party at my parents
- Family tree trimming with just the five of us: Christmas carols and honey eggnog
- Made Thimble cookies
- Decorated a homemade card and delivered Thimble cookies to some family busy unpacking from a move.
- Packed up a bag of toys and clothes to give away. Delivered said bag to the good will.
- Made and decorated snowflakes. Hung them in the window.
- Watched Muppets Christmas Carol.
- Drove around town and looked at Christmas lights.
- Made cake in a jar. Tried a fun recipe where you bake the cake in canning jars and put the lid on when still hot to seal it. Can be given as gifts with pretty bows and ribbons tied on the top.
- Made Gingerbread cookies. The kids get their chunks of dough and away they go. These are not for giving away; way too much touching and rolling and touching and re-rolling to make these edible to anyone but them.
- Started brushing up on the Christmas story in Luke 2.
- Attended a Christmas party and caroled at the door.
- Located all the Salvation Army bell ringers around our town and gave contributions. We parked, divided the money and went together to deposit it in the red tin.
- Fun craft: red construction paper and cotton balls, bows and markers; a stocking takes shape. Pasting the kids pictures in the center endears them to the heart. My daughter opted to paste little eye balls over the stocking and though I did not prefer them, it was her work of art. When I was little, my five siblings and I decorated these picture stockings at church. My mom hangs them up every year, though faded, and with shabby cotton balls still clinging to the top.
- Christmas potluck at church. Kids made lovely paper ornaments at Sunday school. Love those homemade things.
- Watched White Christmas. Wonderful movie. Though it is more on the adult side, with the singing and dancing my kids think it’s great. Mason was singing “because we love him, we love him” around the house when it was done. If you have never watched it, do.
- Took the kids to the Dollar Tree, dollars in hand, with the intention of picking out presents for each other. It was a kick trying to get mason to decide on something for Daphne. First he wanted to look for a doll. Then he found a car and wanted to get that but ended up finding a cheerleader megaphone type yellow plastic toy which he purchased. While we were there we loaded up on a plethora of gross yet colorful candy and went home to make Gingerbread houses. Usually my sister hosts a gingerbread house making party but lately it has become more of an adult affair, (steep competition) so we decided to do our own at home this year. Messy and fun.
We have another week to go. Try and be a blessing this week
to someone else. Remember the reason for the season and for Pete’s sake DO
SOMETHING CHRISTMASY
So Cute!
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