Christmas Highlights

I'm still unpacking, but I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the highlights of our week.

Sunday night we had our Carols & Candlelight service at church. That was a really neat time with music and drama, and remembering the light that Jesus brought to a dark world. I sang in the choir, and Hubby was in a drama. I was very proud of him. I don't think I've ever seen him so nervous, but he did it.

Monday we had a cookie party with our small group. I love this group of people. They took us in when we didn't know where church "home" was, and we've been with them ever since.

Tuesday we did Christmas with our kids. You would be shocked if I told you how little I spent on them, but they were thrilled. Big Sissy got Beauty and the Beast barbies, and the Beast transforms into the prince (her favorite part of the movie). Little Sissy got a Little People castle with a king, queen, horse, drawbridge, and a playground. Together they got a V-Smile TV game system that my cousin Julia gave us. Little Buddy got snap together beads. He mostly loved climbing over all the boxes. When we told them we were going to more parties and getting more presents, they said, "I thought we already did that." I love that they still are satisfied with simplicity. I wish I could keep that going forever.

Wednesday we celebrated with Hubby's dad's family. We opt out of drawing names on that side, so we took some Mr. Potato Head accessories for the girls to open and play with there.

Thursday was Christmas. That was the big day. We spent the night with my parents on Christmas Eve so we could make it there in time for the big Christmas breakfast with my family. My mom always makes quite a spread, then we do presents with all of them. There's a LOT of us, so that takes a while. Then we have a little break to regroup and make more food, then we go to my aunt and uncle's at 2:00 to celebrate with my dad's family. Again, that's a big group. We left there at 6:30'ish, and all 3 kids were asleep within minutes--never to wake up again until the next morning. Actually, Big Sissy did wake up briefly while Daddy was laying down with Little Sissy and I was nursing the baby. She cried until I came in there. She was so disoriented she thought we left her at the party. "Mommy," she said groggily, "this room sure looks a lot like our house." Poor babies. They were so exhausted!

The highlight from that day, though, was Santa making his visit. The two little ones really don't care yet, but Big Sissy was into it for the first time. She wrote Santa a letter and asked him for a doggy with green spots. Santa wrote her a letter and told her that his helpers just made brown this year. He hoped that would be OK since it was still different than her brother and sister's (they have blue and pink). Then he put green stickers all over it just for her. That was a great solution, and she was so excited that he came!!!

Friday we unpacked and repacked and went to IL again to celebrate with my mom's family. This year the adults brought gifts for Arms of Love, a pregnancy resource center, instead of exchanging gifts. It was like a baby shower looking through all the fun baby gifts. I hope we continue that tradition every year! The kids also did a repeat of the talent show that they did on Thanksgiving. Big Sissy seemed a little overwhelmed this time, but Little Sissy sang Away in a Manger (pretty well, actually).

Saturday we celebrated with Hubby's family and spent all day with them. This is a very fuzzy picture of me trying on my new scarf that my 11-year-old niece picked out for me.

Sunday we went to church with my family and then came home after naps. Whew! We may be going through withdrawal tomorrow--from sugar but also from seeing family. We enjoy our time together so much. The good news is that we doing a family weekend in January with my family and going to Indiana in January with Hubby's family. I have to come down gently...

I hope you all had a great Christmas and are preparing for a wonderful 2009.

The Tornado Has Struck

I'm back! Sorry for the blogging hiatus. It wasn't planned. I just got a little overwhelmed with all the activity, and the introvert in me just ran out of words. We had a great Christmas!!! I'll say more about it later, but for now...here's what my living room looks like.

ABC's--Fancy Style

We have all been a little stir crazy this week. With the weather being bad, we haven't really gone anywhere. The good news is I'm almost caught up with my laundry, I got 6 months of photos put into albums, and I'm about halfway done with Christmas update letters (I was too cheap for cards this year--sorry). The girls have done a good job of entertaining themselves--and us--while we're "snowed in." The other night they wanted to do a concert. They got themselves dressed in their fancy clothes, told us where to sit, and performed SEVERAL numbers. Little Buddy joined right in and was very excited.

So here's their ABC's--fancy style. Some funny details are Little Sissy's dress tucked into her bloomers (I think this is a gypsy halter top she pulled on), a necklace hanging from something random on her dress, my open dishwasher, and the bag of trash sitting there. (I don't know why I bother with a cute little trash can. It's filled within an hour and then the bag just sits next to it on the floor.) Hope you enjoy the concert. They would never do it if you were actually here. Well, Little Sissy might.

Snopes for God Rumors

I wish there was somewhere you could go to when you hear a religious extremist say something that just doesn't sound right, like a snopes for ridiculous religious ideas. There is actually something like that. It's called context. It means rather than trying to extract meaning from one isolated verse in the Bible, you need to read the surrounding verses, chapter, book, and ultimately the whole Bible to see the coherent message. Sometimes it helps to check out Bible customs as well to see what was going on. But since most people don't have time to read the whole Bible as often as we should or don't know how to access resources, there needs to be a "Snopes for God Rumors."

It has come to my attention recently that there are people who think God is opposed to Christmas trees. I'm really surprised that I've never heard this before, since I've seen a lot of bans in my lifetime: Disney World, Crest Toothpaste, trick or treating, Liz Claiborne products, McDonald's, etc. But the Christmas tree one is new to me. The supporters of this idea misuse use the scripture in Jeremiah 10:2-5 (from the King James version).

2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

5They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

Here are some problems that I see. First, the King James Version is a translation from 1611. It's hard to understand because it uses Elizabethan language from that time period. There are other really good translations that use more modern language. Second, you have to understand that the Bible sometimes uses a word like "tree" to represent something made from a tree. Like when you hear that Jesus died on a tree, He actually died on a wooden cross--made from a tree. Third, you have to dig deeper to see what the heathens were doing with the trees. They were not decorating them with nice silver and gold garland and ornaments. They were fashioning images out the wood, then covering it with silver and gold to make idols to worship. This scripture was talking about worshiping created things rather than the Creator Himself. So unless you are praying to your Christmas tree, I don't think this passage is relevant to making your decision about whether to have a Christmas tree. If you just don't want one, that's your prerogative; just don't use this passage as your reason.

One legend of how the Christmas tree got started actually revolves around Martin Luther, a founder of the Protestant faith. The story goes that he was walking through the forest one Christmas Eve. As he walked he was awed by the beauty of millions of stars glimmering through the branches of the evergreen trees. So taken was he by this beautiful sight that he cut a small tree and took it home to his family. To recreate that same starlight beauty he saw in the wood, he placed candles on all its branches. This is only one of many legends, though. Even if the practice originated in pagan rituals of some kind, that meaning has been long lost. Now they are just beautiful decorations, and the evergreen still represents life. I think God is definitely in favor of life! So there you go. That's my snopes answer for "Does God hate Christmas Trees?"

Stay With Me Here

I am not a frilly kind of mom. We wear very comfy, practical clothes most days. On Sundays, though, I usually get the girls all dolled up in their cute dresses. Now that it's winter, they have to wear tights. Little Sissy doesn't like them because they're itchy and the toes are always crooked. Big Sissy doesn't like them because they're always coming down, bringing her panties with them. Today when we got home from church, she said, "Mom. I better take my tights off. They keep distracting my panties."

Focus, panties, focus. Girls have to start early keeping everyone on task!

Cookie Day

My very brave friend Mandy invited some of us "young" moms over to make cookies today. She has 5 children, I brought 3, and there were 6 from 3 other families. That makes 14. Three of them were older, and 2 were babies, so there were really 8 preschoolers and a 7-year-old rolling, cutting, and shaking sprinkles. Did I mention she's brave??? I'm just happy nothing got broken. Thanks, Mandy, for helping our kids create fun memories together!

My Little Presbyterian

We've been to a lot of different churches the past decade while we try to find the best fit for us, and I've noticed that each brand has their own key words, or points of emphasis. My husband graduated from a conservative Presbyterian seminary, and we noticed right away that they were big on emphasizing grace. We were not brought up in a church whose emphasis was grace (we were more "law" kind of folks), so it was very refreshing. We've tried to incorporate it into our lives as much as we can and teach our kids about it. We even named one of our children after the concept.

Tonight Big Sissy had her Christmas program. It was very cute, and somehow Little Sissy slipped into the mix of children and got to sing along with them. I'm sure the teachers were wondering why they didn't remember her, but she knew all the songs from listening to the CD over and over and over and over in our van the past few weeks. We thought it was kind of funny so we didn't make her get down. (It was informal, moving through the Christmas Journey with small groups of children.) By the time it was done and our children had consumed more than a reasonable amount of sugar at the end, it was late and everyone needed to get home to bed. At one point, after waiting for what seemed like forever for Big Sissy to get her seat belt buckled, Daddy told her if she didn't hurry up she was going to "lose" her new camel and star that she just got at the program (paper things glued on craft sticks).

She sighed and said, "Dad, can I get a little grace? I'm working on it."

I had to turn my face toward the window and hold my breath so I didn't laugh out loud. She's a good Presbyterian already.