Christmas

Welcome to the Nest!  I love decorating for Christmas with my family.  A few years ago, though, I was completely overwhelmed with small children, a demanding holiday party schedule, and too much baking, decorating, and wrapping expectations – all put on me by me.  I spent a few years trying to figure out how to simplify it all so that the ‘stuff’ was meaningful and fun for everybody (me included) and this is what emerged. 

The fireplace is my favorite part of our living room.  It’s very traditional and is fun to decorate.  My husband builds fires for me on the coldest nights of the year, and so I snapped this picture to show you the best of the best.  Normally, the four stockings are spread out on the hangers, but we move them so they don’t singe on fireplace nights.  And the pictures?  Yes, they’re all crooked.  I can’t hang anything straight to save my life.  My Big Helper is good at that, and soon she’ll be tall enough to take over that task.  Until then, I’ll keep adjusting.

Our tree is the fullest, fattest tree we could find in town, although not the most shapely.  It’s decorated with ornaments that have been passed down through my husband’s and my family, as well as the ones that we’ve collected and made ourselves.  Each one reminds us of someone or something important.  We have white lights on the tree, and it’s topped by an angel to remind us of that special angelic announcement after Jesus’ birth.  (My Big Helper especially likes the way that she turns colors when turned on.)

The entire tree is standing on a platform made of a full sheet of plywood placed on three short sawhorses my grandfather made years ago.  It’s covered in white cotton and surrounded by red cloth, and on it we arrange our Christmas village each year.  I nearly stopped this tradition when the kids were small because it’s a lot of work, but it’s also beautiful.  We love pulling out the buildings and the decorations and inventing stories to go with each.  “The mail man must go over here because he has a package for the kid in that house.  The cow should go outside the fence near the barn because she got loose and is running away!”  While there’s no deep meaning for this, other than tradition, it reminds me of that:  family.  Of watching the houses and the cars as a small child and being in awe of the lights coming from within each one.  I still turn on all the lights each evening and again early in the morning, while I read and study my Bible by the light of these decorations.  It feels peaceful and expectant to me.

When my husband and I were first married, I bought this ceramic nativity set.  While not especially historic, it is heavy and detailed, and the kids and I set it out and arrange it each December.  I’ll put Jesus in the scene early Christmas morning, and the kids always run and cheer his ‘arrival.’

We display the nativity on my great-grandmother’s sewing machine.  Papa bought it for Grandma for Christmas back in 1933, and it’s a special piece in our house – as is the bell also on it, which belonged to another great-grandmother who used it to call her students to class.  With these important people gone, I use these pieces of their lives to tell their stories, much as we use the nativity to tell part of Jesus’ story.

When My Little Man was small, we made this simple nativity together. It’s made out of three small flowerpots, a golf ball, and some scraps of yarn.  I don’t know that he remembers making it anymore, but he knows that he did, and he proudly arranges it on the table each year. 

Behind this nativity is our advent wreath.  Though not traditionally green, the carved wood is beautiful, and it’s tall height allows it to function as our light at dinner on special Advent evenings. 

There you have it – you’ve now seen the biggest part of our Christmas decorating.  Do you decorate for Christmas?  How?

Years ago, when the kids were really, really small, I taught preschool – and although I’m certified to teach that, I had never worked a in traditional preschool, and I didn’t have the usual bag of tricks to use.

So when Christmas rolled around, I wanted to give the kids something that they could use to prepare themselves for Christmas – something kid-friendly.

Something that was not gluing cotton balls on Santa’s beard.

I wanted something more meaningful than that, but I couldn’t find anything – and so my pastor helped me write an Advent plan for preschoolers.

Since then, our Advent journey has changed a lot.  We don’t do the same thing every year, although much of what we do happens as a whole family, and many things have become traditions that we all look forward to.

However we’re celebrating, I’m trying to make sure that we don’t lose sight of Jesus as the reason for all of the hubbub and commotion.

So, in random order, here’s how we’ll be celebrating Advent this year:

• The kids and I are going to use the Scripture Advent Journal each morning after breakfast.  I gave the first page to them yesterday, along with a large package of Melk the Christmas Monkey will be making an appearance in our house this year.  He’s not going to be a daily guest, as the season is just too busy for that – but the great thing about the Melk program is that it’s flexible.  We can incorporate Melk with some things that we already do, and we can make it as involved as we want it to be – and each activity points to Jesus.  I can’t wait until the day that we make a wreath!  My Big Helper loves to decorate, and she’ll love learning about the meaning behind that tradition.
• We light Advent candles.  Once each week during Advent, on a night when we’re staying at home all evening, we begin dinner with the Advent wreath.  My husband reads a portion of scripture, and then I light the appropriate candles.  We talk about what each candle symbolizes and what the scripture means while we …
• Eat dinner by candlelight.  We turn off all of the lights in the kitchen, light a few tapers on the table, and eat by the light of those and the Advent wreath alone.  On non-wreath nights, we eat by the light of the tapers.  It creates a cozy hush around the table, discourages eye-wandering and mail-reading (you can find something to read wherever you go in our house if you’re not picky) and reminds us that this night, this time, this season – it’s all special.  It reminds us that Jesus is our Light.  It’s all leading up to something wonderful and miraculous, and it builds our anticipation.
• We’ll go on our annual Christmas Family Date Day.  About a week before Christmas, my husband will take the day off from work, and we’ll head out altogether.  We’ll first tackle some sort of mission project to spread some Christmas cheer – delivering cards to a nursing home, taking stuffed animals to the fire station – whatever need we’ve found this year.  Then we head out of town to enjoy a day together.  We usually have a nice dinner somewhere, and then do something fun, like seeing a Christmas movie or going ice skating.  If we head into any stores, we actively look for shopping carts not in cart returns that need to get put away.  Maybe moms with their hands full, or people with mobility problems, or just carts endangering vehicles – we’ll try to help them all get the carts put away safely.  We end the day by driving around and looking at Christmas lights.

 Do you celebrate Advent?  What does it look like at your house?

 

 So … the Crayola Twistables thing might seem random, but it’s not.  I’m working on a new Bible project for kids, and Twistables are the perfect medium for this – they apply smoothly, you can read through them, and they blend and layer well.  I wanted my kids to have a set in preparation for that, and getting them now worked well for us.  More about that to come – but in the meantime, if you’ve never tried Twistables, they’re definitely worth checking out.