I really DO love my life! What an amazing day! Actually...it's been a pretty great week! We've really been praying about keeping our focus this month firmly where it belongs...on Christ. As everyone knows, with all the hype and marketing...it is so easy to be distracted by the deceiver...to focus on the "holiday" and the 'busyness'.
We started a few years ago, to basically get rid of all Christmas decorations that were not Christ centered...I kept just a couple homemade things that either my mom made, or were special gifts....but I started collecting nativities.
This year, we pulled out our Christian unit studies. One is Christian symbols of Christmas, another is the history of Christian Christmas hymns, and my favorite is 25 names of Jesus. These have been constant, wonderful reminders of why we are celebrating Christmas...and my little ones are really getting it...and reminding us frequently as well! LOL
Yesterday, after Ron had put up the outside lights....Ronnie and Anna ran outside to view them, where Anna exclaimed "OH! They are PERFECT, Dad!"....then..."why do we put up lights for Christmas?" To which Ronnie, with all the wisdom of his almost 8 years replied " Because Jesus is the light of the world, of course!" Which made perfect sense to Anna! LOL Oh, the perfect trust of children!
Today, we had an amazing day. We have a tradition, that every year, Ron takes all the children to pick out the "perfect" tree....and I stay home. The 5 of them find the perfect tree and lug it home, where Ron and I string the lights, then the kids help decorate it....well, today for the first time in 20 years, Ron & I put up the tree, with Christmas carols in the background without any swearing, attitudes or fighting....we even teased each other and laughed! LOL What a blessing!
Then, instead of the very healthy meal I had planned, we ate hotdogs (yes, on buns!), and tater tots in the livingroom in front of the fire while we watched "White Christmas"....what a fun, memorable evening we had! Half-way thru the movie...Sara (the expert) started roasting marshmallows,too. I think this should become a tradition...when Mom relaxes the "food police"...and we all just have fun!
Will be posting some pictures and observations of things we are doing differently this year...some things that are helping us to be Christ focused....and making memories, as well! Hope you all are having a blessed start to our Christmas season! ~Sue~
