The Pressure's Off!

Our first rainy day of winter. And I'm enjoying it. It's the first day I have sent my kids to school with shoes in a VERY long time, and Belle was not amused that she had socks on. I love that last winter was so long ago in her mind that she has forgotten completely what socks are and how they feel!

I had a revelation whilst driving the school route this morning. It was prompted by a conversation I had with a new friend last week. For the last 10 years, she and her husband and now family of 4 kids have not celebrated Easter or Christmas. For them, learning about the reasons behind all the present day traditions and celebrations led to feeling convicted not to partake in any of it, as when you really get down to it, it's mostly all pagan festivals we've kind of adopted as being the norm. So for them, they celebrate three festivals - Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. Easter, and Christmas Day don't feature at all on their calendar. 

That conversation prompted something I recalled from 'God Grew Tired of Us' (heart wrenching title huh?) this profound documentary (a must see) on the orphaned boys from Sudan and

their travels, and the journey some of them made to America. The one man

(once boy) was interviewed at Christmas time in America, and his face 

painted a picture of a thousand words. He was utterly confused. 

He kept asking what this Christmas thing was, and why it was celebrated

like this, and what was with the Santa and the trees? The director than cut to a 

shot of how they celebrate it in the refugee camps - and the JOY, the pure 

joy was almost tangible.. No trappings. Nothing false - just real fellowship for a 

real reason.

And my revelation was this: if we CHOOSE see these times of year for what 

they really are - consumer driven festivals that happen to occur at set times each

year, then we can choose to celebrate the truth whenever we want throughout

the year. Why am I trying so hard to make these seasons so significant? Why not just live the truth all year round? I cannot tell you what a feeling of relief that brought me. I'm not going to spend hours researching how to make Easter meaningful, or print coloring in pages of tombstones rolling away or anything like that. I'm 

going to wait...and when I feel led, we'll talk about the birth of Christ, or his death in our normal daily lives.

I'm not sure we're about to embark on anything quite as radical as not celebrating it altogether, as there are things within these seasons that I love, but it's certainly given me much to dwell on.

Food for thought huh?

Christmas Catch Up

So...this is my post-Christmas post.

And Christmas was....pause...search for the right words....pause...unexpected. But I have learnt some lessons and look forward to remembering them next year!

Christmas Eve was a non starter. Not only had I not planned anything special, but the boys were shattered from their week of not being well, as well as the excitement of presents to come to the extent that they were in bed by 6pm! I felt grim the whole day - thankfully just nauseous, no actual follow through, and so it was also an early night for me.

Christmas morn was lovely. Especially waking (at 0515 the first time, which we pushed to 0615!) to little whispers about bumps in stockings and all the wonder and delight that that entailed...

Braveheart is, by no stretch of the imagination,
a morning person!

Eating sweets before breakfast -
a child's idea of bliss!

Then after giving them time to enjoy their stockings (an aside here - we have never explained anything about Father Christmas, whether he's real or not: the culture has done it for us. I'm amazed by what my kids understand about sleighs and reindeer and all of that, without any of it passing my lips. Food for thought about what else our kids pick up on that our culture has taught them huh?), we progressed to the lounge where we gave them the presents we had bought for them....their joy and delight is priceless. I love having Christmas with my kids!

(not sure why the picture quality is so bad - apologies)

I tried to dress Belle in this lovely dress my cousin sent over from the UK a while ago, because Belle loves dresses and loves pink, but for some reason this dress freaked her out! She sobbed and sobbed - we even took this photo to show her she looked like a princess - but took the dress off within a few minutes! I think it was the fabric that freaked her out!

Sadly Braveheart started feeling very ill mid morning, and he spent the day getting paler and paler.

Family arrived around lunch time for a festive meal....

The boys laid this - was so proud of them
 for helping and following instructions!

For Braveheart, the Christmas ham is the best part of Christmas and marks the season for him - and he only managed one piece and that was really pushing it! Poor man!

Sadly this part of the day was the unexpected part...epic politics in an extended family that made lunch awkward and positively horrible - bleugh! However dear friends popped in at the end of the day and that was grand - I was so thankful that friends can lift your spirits in spite of hovering black clouds.

Since then Braveheart has pretty much been on his bed, poor guy, just zapped of energy and appetite, so here's hoping with the dawn of tomorrow all will be well!

The lessons I've learnt?

I've learnt that traditions don't just happen. They take some forward thinking and planning. I've recently come across so many posts about a Jesse tree, and am so keen to make that a part of our Christmas next year. I think it's a beautiful way to remember the reason for Christmas.

And I want to create a special way of celebrating Christmas Eve, whether it's a meal or doing the nativity story or something like that. We've often had people over on Christmas Eve that have no friends or other family around, but this year I guess we just let time slip by.

 I want to teach my kids to be thankful no matter what they receive, and to encourage them to experience the joy of giving.

And I guess it all comes down to us as wives being the fragrance of our home. Yes, a marriage lends a distinctive stamp to the nature of our families. But we, as mothers and wives, hold such a special calling and responsibility to flavour our homes with grace and love, so that our children and our husbands love being able to call it home. And that means finding out what God is asking of us as wives and mothers in our homes.

That my friends, is a snapshot of the things He is laying on my heart.

How was your Christmas?

Christmas Like a Child

Braveheart and I happen to be Third Day fans, and this song spoke volumes to me during Christmas of 2006. Christmas can be such a tricky time trying to balance our expectations, and those others have of us, as well of all the 'adult' responsibilities we pick up along the way. I love being reminded that there is an innocence, a beauty, a simplicity to this season that has been robbed from us....but if we will stop a while, and look again, with fresh eyes, this season can be significant again.

And for the record...my children are making this season so special - their enthusiasm is contagious!

Merry Christmas y'all!

I want to feel Christmas, how it used to be With all of its wonder falling on me This season has felt so empty, oh for quite a while I want to feel Christmas like a child I want to see snowflakes fall to the ground My brothers and sisters all gathered around Singing "Away In A Manager" as we sit by the fire I want to feel Christmas like a child It's been so long now, I can't say Just when I lost my way But I'm going back to how it was When this day meant everything And we spent our time remembering The baby Child born for us It's all about Jesus, asleep in the straw This infant, this King, this Savior for all So I don't need bells to be ringing 'Cause I'll join with angels singing Gloria And I can feel Christmas like a child I want to feel Christmas like a child..

Stockings for Santa

Just in the nick of time, with all but two days to spare, I managed to finish quilting these stockings for the boys. And I am quite proud of myself for actually seeing this project through to the end, and accomplishing something I have been desiring to do for almost a whole year! The boys are thrilled, which makes me more than happy too!

Sadly my boys and my little girl have not been well this week - they boys have had a nasty tummy bug, which Belle seemed to catch  (for only one night though). The boys have yet to shake it completely, and they have been very floppy ( I've never seen them just lay on the couch all day!) and lacking any appetite whatsoever  - I'm hoping that by the time they wake up tomorrow that will be full of beans again!

Christmas Eve, and the kids were in bed by 6 - does that give you an indication of just how unwell they are? Poor little people. Tomorrow, we're having all the family (Braveheart's and some of my extended family) around for lunch tomorrow...

May your Christmas be awesome!

Christmas Concert 2010

The three wise men, aka King Arthur and friends 

Belle was mesmerized the entire time -
just too sweet. And I sobbed the entire time!

The shepherds and angels  -
Aragorn is in the lighter colored outfit