Christmas Plan 2013

No, I didn't get tired of counting my many blessings and reasons to be thankful in November, I just wasn't diligent in continuing with the daily posting! That being said, I had an incredible time with God on the journey to discover His blessings in the everyday happenings of life. A journey that I wish to continue as we prepare to celebrate Christmas.

Christmas around our house has always been a time of connecting and focusing our attention on the reason for the season, Jesus.  I have been sharing our advent activities on my blog for the past couple years and am doing it again this year.  For sure you will see repeats from years past but I do try to change things up a little each year.

We've already begun our Jesse Tree readings for this year. We will light our first advent candle tonight as it is the first Sunday in the month.


 

Our daily countdown activities for this December are as follows:

1. Celebrate Christmas Past (look through old pictures)
2. Coloring book fun
3. Plan RACK (Light 'em up) activities
4. Shape Tracers
5. Spaghetti Dinner and Lights
6. Family Movie Night
7. PJ Book Day (take library staff treats)
8. Christmas Card Day
9. Homemade Hot Cocoa
10. Snowman craft
11. Christmas Tree Game
12. Paper Snoflakes
13. Carol at nursing home
14. Carol and celebrate birthday
15. Family Movie Night
16. Snowman Door Hanger
17. Candy Cane Craft
18. Christmas Puzzles
19. Bake and deliver neighbor treats
20. Legend of St. Nick with craft
21. Nativity Craft and activities
22. At home pedicure
23. Gingerbread day
24. Bake Jesus a birthday cake (attend Christmas Eve Service)
25. Christmas Day Celebration!

As far as gifts go, our family keeps it pretty simple and small.  The girls exchange gifts on Christmas Eve so they have something to occupy them during rehearsals for church. The kids get new pajamas after church on Christmas Eve and then wake up to a few presents under the tree. While I've always loved the idea of three gifts per child (just as Jesus received 3 gifts) we fall much more in line with this way of presenting gifts.

One new advent happening I am adding this year is marriage countdown activities. I've always done this with the kids but this year Justin and I will be counting down the days too.  I downloaded the marriage advent activities from The Generous Wife (on the right hand side of her site). I read her blog daily and am always encouraged in my walk as a wife.  Happy Home fairy has some cute ideas to keep your marriage fun, light and spicy during the holiday season. Check out her site for a ton of other great ideas too!

I would love to know what wonderful things you have planned or what traditions your family has for Christmas.  Please share so we can all gain new ideas and learn from one another.  Be blessed and be a blessing this Christmas season!

Advent Celebration

We began our Advent Celebration last night with a family worship time.  We sang together and Lydia read the Bible reading for the first Jesse Tree ornament.  It was a wonderful time and it is my prayer that this time together will really focus our hearts on the reason we celebrate.  Jesus! Blessings to all of you during this season.

Jennifer Wilson - You are the advent calendar winner. Thanks for reading.

Christmas Advent

Now that you have taken a look into how our family is celebrating a Thanksgiving Advent of sorts I wanted to give you a sneak peak into our Christmas Advent. Each day in December leading up to Christmas we have a special activity planned.  Some are simple crafts, others are baking adventures and we also have some service projects in the mix too.  I made another simple calendar like I did for Thanksgiving and have the slips of paper with each activity written on it as a count down to Christmas.

I love spending time together as a family and I know that by planning out different activities for us to do together not everything will go according to my plan.  That's O.K.  (or at least I am learning to be ok with it.) I want my husband and my kids to want to be at home more than anywhere else in the world and for me that means taking time to think through how we can spend time as a family and planning fun activities.

Thanks to the internet I have no lack of ideas to fill 24 days with great Christmas ideas.  I have some friends that have a few really great ideas.  Check out how Lorrie and her family celebrate Advent.  Also, check out this great idea that Ashley and her family did last year.  In addition to all the fun activities I have planned we will be using Jesse Tree devotionals each night as a way to bring our attention to Christ's birth as the reason for the season.

I love spending time all year gathering supplies for the activities we do in December and hope that you feel inspired to  spend some time connecting as a family and sharing in the joy of the Christmas season.  If you would like to win a handmade (by me) advent calendar please leave a comment and I will enter you in the drawing.  The contest will end on Friday, November 25th, 2011. Please leave a way for me to get in contact with you so I can send it to you.  Thanks and many blessings to you!

Here is a picture of the advent calendar you could win if you leave a comment.

Stolen Moments

I was recently talking to a friend of  mine who is homeschooling her kindergartener.  She said it feels like this is a stolen year that so many people don't get.  I loved the thought and can totally relate to the idea of stolen moments with our kids.  Being a stay at home mom I have had and continue to have stolen moments with my girls.  Despite a few evenings out with friends, a Bible study or two and a handful of retreats I have been here for every moment of my kids lives.  I will always cherish that. 

The question that I have though is, how do we continue to have those stolen moments when we send our kids off to school? What happens if you are a working mother? How can we ensure we still have moments that are special, unique, or should I say "stolen" in the midst of busy lives?  I am far from an expert but I would like to suggest 3 ways that help me experience those special stolen moments.

1. Plan for them. There is nothing more special to my husband or my children than when I plan a special date, project or time with them.  I love finding inspirational ideas for creative things to do with my kids from other parents, blogs I read and most importantly just watching my girls in action.  I love seeing where their imaginations and passions are and then planing something to specifically match their interests.  This is probably my favorite way to create memories and have special moments with my family whether as a whole or as individuals.

2. Make them part of your routine. I know it may seem ridiculous to say you can plan or make special moments happen, but in my experience, you can.  One activity our family regularly participates in is what we call word box. Often times when we eat dinner together (yes, we eat together every night) the girls will request we play word box.  I found these great conversation questions and we all go around and answer the question.  I realize this may not sound much like a special moment but let me remind you , kids say some pretty funny things.  I wish I could say I was really good about writing down, blogging or scrap booking their funny answers but I am not.  I do like to think that the lasting effect of those moments is greater than my inability to document them! The key here is to evaluate the things you already do in life and see if you can't come up with a creative way to build in memories.  If you are in the car together, eating dinner, bath time, homework, bed time, these are all great times to build in moments that draw you closer to each other and to God. We don't always have to look for ways to add to an already full schedule we can just capture the moments that are just part of the life you are already living.

3. Recognize and revel in them when they happen. One day last week Lydia was up and ready particularly early and we had an unexpected moment together as a family.  Rather than our usual running around and trying to get out of the house on time we had a fun dancing time in the living room.  I am sometimes uniquely aware of how quickly my girls are growing up and on this particular morning I was totally present and engaged.  Justin was walking through the room with his ipad and was listening to something (as he often is) and I just started to dance with Lydia.  Justin turned it up and began dancing too.  Then Emma joined in and we had such a fun and refreshing time together.  It only lasted about 5 minutes but they were a special and for me "stolen" few minutes. I can think of nothing greater than living with the ability to recognize, cease and revel in these unplanned times.  I defintely lean heavier towards the first 2 ways but God often surprises me with the unexpected moments just to keep me humble and expectant. 

Our families are worth fighting for. Our husbands and our children need to know how much we love them by showing them how we love them.  I hope you find some ideas you can use in your own life to steal away some moments with your family in the upcoming week.  Please feel free to share what works for you in your family and what some of your favorite moments are.  Thanks for reading.

Advent Activities

I am excited about our advent activities this year. We are celebrating Advent with a Jesse Tree this year. The girls and I made a "mailbox" out of a paper bag and hung it on their wall. Each day they check their "mail" and I give them an ornament for our Jesse Tree. Being a paper crafter, I am making these myself but believe me when I say they are not elaborate.

I found inspiration for the Jesse tree here and she linked here for the devotions I decided to use. No pictures today of our first couple days but wanted to get the information out there for anyone who may want to do this before it is too late.

Blessings during this wonderful season!