Christmas Cheer

Christmas Thought: Story Time

I wanted to share some of our family's favorite books to read throughout the Christmas season.

This is my favorite book to read with Matt. Lisa Bergen has a whole series of "God Gave Us..." books and they are all wonderful.

"Room for a Little One" is a sweet book for younger children. I love it the most for the illustrations.

This is also one of my faves! Especially, the cartoon.

Little Critter is also a big one in our house. He has a ton of these books. They are just all around fun to read. We also like looking for the spider and mouse on each page.

My brother and sister in law gave this book to Matt for his second Christmas. This is a wonderful book because it is a collection. It includes "The First Christmas", "A Christmas Carol", and "The Night Before Christmas" to name a few.

Well, these are just a few that we have around our house. I also love "The Tale of the Three Trees", "The Polar Express", and "The Legend of the Candy Cane."

What are your favorites?

Christmas Thought: Advent

This is the first year we have formally participated in Advent. For the past few years we have used Christmas countdown calendars like my childhood Mr. Santa candy hanger, oragami candy cups, and Velcro ornaments on a wall tree. We still, and will always, use Mr. Santa because he was lovingly made by my Great Aunt Laura for my brother and I when we were children.

However, this year I wanted to do more. Not just for Matt, but for myself too. By December 15, I am up to my eyeballs in Christmas "spirit", but not the right kind of spirit. I'm obsessed with baking, shopping, parties, wrapping, decorating, keeping Matt under control, and finding Christmas specials on tv. And, to my shame, God's most precious gift is usually put on the back burner until...

oh wait! what?! how did that happen!!? huh? it's Christmas morning already?

And I missed it. The entire season leading up to our Savior's birth. I hate that. Does anyone else know that feeling?

This year I am trying really hard to do better. Last year I came across Ann Voskamp's free Jesse Tree advent devotion and decided that we would do it this year. I love it!! The devotion is meaty enough for adults but still kid friendly. It's a daily devotion that starts on November 29 and includes a Bible reading, devotion, prayer, application, and hanging an ornament on your Jesse tree.

"Now this Jesse Tree where our hearts climb high in this season of waiting, it’s named after

the Jesse who was the father of David, the first royal branch in the tree of the Messiah to

come, David to whom God promised that his line and his sons and his family would be

King forever. And when his sons and grandsons and great grandsons turned from God and

loved sin more than their Father and their kingdoms fell, and it seemed as though the whole

royal family tree of Jesse had been chopped right off at the roots, our covenant, promisekeeping God, He vowed, “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a

new Branch bearing fruit from the old root… In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a

banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives

will be a glorious place.” (Isa 11:1,10)

So instead of tucking back Advent calendar flaps, we’ll do it this way: we’ll wait for the

Christ like Zacchaeus on the top limb, and we’ll read the stories of the Old Testament, the

whole pageantry of mankind, from Adam to the Messiah, each story pointing to the coming

promise, the incredibly impossible gift, the Glorious Christ. After each reading of another

promise fulfilled, we’ll hang the ornament of each story on the branches of a tree, our very

own Jesse Tree, a testament to our covenant-keeping, people-passionate God, whose love

unfolds like an endless gift down through thousands of years." ~ Ann Voskamp

If you would like more information or find out how to download your copy, click here.

Here is our tree, nothing fancy. Sticks from the yard and things I already had around the house.

If you search Jesse tree, you will find numerous devotions and tree ideas. I like Ann Voskamp's because it is free, everything is provided, and I love her writing.

Rum Tummy Tummy

Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up again. It's always kind of awkward to start a new post after so long. I always feel like I need to do some catching up or explaining, but I never know where to begin. Any of my fellow bloggers feel the same??

Bottom line, I've been crazy busy. I think being a part-time-stay-at-home mom is busier then a full time mom or working mom. I still have all the SAHM expectations on me, but not enough time to do it all!!! In case you are wondering what I am doing now, I sub at Matt's school when I can and work three days a week at our church. The only consistency to my schedule is I know I will be busy!

I wanted to share a funny story with you from the other night. Richard had his Christmas concert Tuesday evening. Of course, Matt was thrilled about leaving his Legos and having to sit quietly in a chair for a couple of hours. However, he was a trooper. He had to sit through 2 orchestras and 2 bands before he was able to hear his daddy's. Needless to say, there was a little grumbling and a lot of begging for my iphone.

Occasionally, he would hear something he liked. Those were the best moments for me. It was fun to listen to him "name that tune" (sometimes incorrectly), watch him get excited, or just see him truly enjoy the music.

The moment that took the prize was when Richard started conducting a piece that was a variation on "Carol of the Bells". All the sudden, Matt bolted upright and started grinning from ear to ear. He begins yanking on my sleeve saying " Mom! Mom! It's that commercial!" I'm a little clueless and ask him what commercial. "You know, the lady who sings 'rum tummy tummy' with the cards. The Target one!!"

It took everything I had not to bust out laughing. My 6 year old was thrilled to hear the song that reminded him of the crazy Target lady.

In case you were living under a rock during the Black Friday shopping season, here she is in all her craziness.