In honor of St. Nicolas Day, we added a little bit of Christmas to our house today and I loved it! We also had hot chocolate with peppermint sticks and got out our Christmas books. Its the first time we've ever done anything for St. Nicolas day, but I think next year we'll do it again. We might even start separating our usual "Santa" traditions from Christmas day, I'm not sure. Every year, I seem to get a new idea or tweak our routine a little. We keep what we like and just don't repeat the things that don't work.
I have to admit that sometimes the first week of Advent is quite a discipline for me. It can be hard to wait for all the fun of Christmas. I know my kids don't always appreciate my crazy ideas about slowly waiting and preparing during Advent. They see the all the lights and trees at our friends and neighbors' houses and they say, "Why can't we have our tree up yet?" It gives me an opportunity to explain the church year and the discipline of waiting and preparing our hearts for the most important guest, just like we prepare our home for Christmas. But, I have to admit sometimes I feelthe same way they do and I think, "Why do I make such a big deal about Advent, anyway?" There are other times, though, when I'm so happy not to be on the same hectic holiday schedule that we are surrounded by in our culture. Celebrating Advent is like my get out of jail free card. It gives me permission to pick and choose the things I really want to do and to look for the most important things to do.
So here is the Advent calendar/ Jesse Tree the kids and I made together. We had fun picking out pictures from magazines or drawing them ourselves. Although, I must admit the boys got tired around day 20 and Elena and I finished it off.
And finally, I was able to find purple and pink candles to put in our Advent wreath, which makes our Advent celebration complete. We're reading Bible stories listed on our Advent calendar and lighting the candles, hopefully as part of our bedtime/story routine. Some weeks we are better at it than others, but its always worth it when we do.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
A little bit of Christmas
Posted by Paula Velez at 9:14 PM
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4 comments:
Paula, I have always enjoyed the traditions that you and your family have around this time of year. I can't wait until we are able to start our family and have these types of traditions as well.
Mrs. Lefty, why wait for kids? I think Anthony & I started doing an Advent devotional before Ethan was born, but I'm not sure. You and Mr. Lefty could come up with some fun things that the future littles would just have to put up with :)
I had grand plans for Advent this year and they got lost in two weeks worth of guests and sick kids. Next year! I've already started a file and am adding things into my Google calendar for 2009.
We've done St. Nickolas Day since Hanna was quite small. We read about the real St. Nickolas and take a day for family time. As Tom progresses in ministry, I know it's going to be harder and harder to have those quiet moments so I continually try to set them as tradition now.
St. Nickolas Day also became a great way to celebrate our family traditions together before leaving for California. Santa's elves always brings us something to encourage family time and I love it.
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