{Advent} Christmas Eve

It's finally here - what a beautiful, peaceful Advent it's been.  I can honestly say for the first time in a very, very long time, we have actually savored every moment of the season.

Amazing what happens when you say 'no' to some things.

We have lots of fun family traditions surrounding today, a few oldies but goodies and a newbie to the bunch are in our repertoire of memory-making.  Hopefully, I'll capture them all.  Truly, I do this because I want the kids to enjoy reading about this someday.

FAMILY LUNCH
Today, as we've done for several years, we meet my family for lunch.  Because we all splinter off later in the day to do our own Christmas Eve celebrations, this has become a fun way to connect.  Where there's food, we will meet :)

GIFTS FOR JESUS
This afternoon, I'm throwing a new tradition in the mix.  The kids will be drawing photos of the gifts they want to give to Jesus.  Maybe it's loving their brother/sister, giving away a toy to another child...I'll let them decide.  Whatever it is, the spirit of Christmas and Jesus' love must shine through.  I'm anxious to see what they'll do.

CHRISTMAS EVE MASS
After picture drawing and sharing, we'll take baths and get all cleaned up for Christmas Eve Mass.  Someday we'll make it to the Midnight one, but with littles in the house, we opt for the early bird special.

Note:  If you are a rookie parent, send one parent and non-squirmy/complainy children an hour early to save seats while the other parent and squirmy/complainy chilren arrive 15 minutes before Mass to enjoy said saved seats.  You can thank me later for that little tip.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
After Mass, we'll eat the traditional shrimp cooked in a thousand gallons of cream (yum-ola) and pasta dinner.  It's a Southern Living recipe, so you KNOW it's good.  Then, we will eat cake.  Birthday cake, that is.  This is something we've been talking about doing for YEARS and we're finally doing it this year.  Yea for new traditions!!  My fav-o-rite bakery made this masterpiece.  We'll be singing a round of "Happy Birthday Jesus", blowing out candles and then reading the story of the Nativity.

Yes, opening gifts is fun, but when my kids look back in 20 years, I want them to remember exactly why we celebrate.  I want them to have memories of how we celebrated the birth, not just the gifts.  Which is why, in our house, our kids only get one gift from us.  We put much thought into that gift and when it's opened, there is joy.

GIFTS
Everyone changes into their Christmas pajamas and we open gifts.  A couple of years ago, Scott started leading us in prayer over the gifts we open.  We pray for the givers, the recipients and those who made the gift and the jobs that they provided.  It's a really wonderful way to refocus the gift giving and opening. 

PREPARING FOR SANTA
We get the reindeer food, cookies and milk situated just "so" near the fireplace, make sure the notes to Santa have been written (you know, just in case he forgot), say goodbye to our sweet Elf on the Shelf, Sparkly, until next year, track Santa on the Norad Tracker...and then head to bed.

It is a day full of many memories, many reflections and a boatload of joy and anticipation.  Christmas is near!  Can't you feel it??

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!

p.s. photos to come soon of all this revelry!

{Advent} Visit with Santa

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving (hold on to your comments, please) I loaded up the van with Christmas-dressed kids and we chatted with Santa Claus.  Why?  Because I H-A-T-E standing in lines waiting on anything.  Detest it.  Such a waste of valuable time.  And, I want my kids to actually have the opportunity to visit with SC instead of just snap the picture and hear, 'next, please.'

We started going to see him earlier in the season a few years ago and it has been awesome.  Why did I never do that before?!  To be perfectly honest, my kids have no clue whether we're visiting Santa during Advent or just before Thanksgiving.  And, even if they did, I'm pretty sure they could care less.

The rule at our house is one gift from Santa.  Although, we have encouraged them to give him a backup gift idea, just in case their favorite toy is um, unavailable, in Santa's workshop.  In a world of overconsumption and more-more, we are desperately trying to buck the system and teach our children to be thankful.  In fact, a family saying around here is:  You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

Santa is a fun thing we do (yes, we have an Elf on the Shelf), but it's certainly not the focus.  I don't believe he's evil or takes away from the spirit of Christmas.  He can.  But in our house, we work hard to make sure he adds TO the spirit.  It works for us and I wouldn't have it any other way.

And, as a sidenote, you may not know that Santa actually hails from Texas, his winter home is in the North Pole.  Just look at his boots.  Another reason to love him :)

Poor Clare. She is really not a fan of boys - of any kind. The waiters at restaurants, Santa's, babysitters, older brothers of friends. Nada. She only loves eight boys: her three brothers, dad, papa, the two uncles and great papa. If you're not on that list, I guarantee you she will hide behind my leg. If said boy advances to give her a friendly high-five, she will start crying. Case in point. When we celebrated the Feast of St. Nick, she WIGGED OUT. She was terrified "that boy" was going to come in her room. I assured her, I would take him down if he did. Fortunately, I did not have to make good on my promise.

2010

2009

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2005

non-digital - can't find it!

2004

{Advent} Feast of St. Nick

Long before the Santa Claus as we know him appeared on the scene, there was the original.  St. Nicholas.  I have friends who celebrate one or the other, both and neither.  We fall somewhere in the middle.  You might want to re-read this recent post I did about making peace with the man in red.

I have always believed in Santa Claus and I hope my children do, too.  Not just the man, but the spirit.  I believe it's possible to celebrate both and stay true to our Christian traditions.  As with most things, it's when we get too enamored with one and forget the true meaning.  That's where things go amuck.

At our house, on the eve of the Feast of St. Nicholas, which is December 5, the kids put their shoes outside their bedroom doors and awake the next morning to find their Christmas pajamas and a candy cane.  The pajamas are a small gift and the candy cane represents his crozier.  And, we chat a bit about why we celebrate and why St. Nicholas was a man we should all emulate.  The kids even celebrated at school which was pretty awesome, too.  On Christmas morning, the kids experience Santa Claus.  Probably a little counter-cultural, but our children only receive two gifts on Christmas at our house - one from us and one from Santa Claus.  That is, after all, 10 new things in the house!  Ultimately, though, we want to foster a spirit of thankfulness among our children.  It isn't - and never was - about the tangible gifts we get.  That's another post for this Advent.  I'm getting ahead of myself :)

This comparison was on the St. Nicholas website and I thought it was worth sharing.

Santa Claus belongs to childhood;
St. Nicholas models for all of life.

Santa Claus, as we know him, developed to boost Christmas sales—the commercial Christmas message;
St. Nicholas told the story of Christ and peace, goodwill toward all—the hope-filled Christmas message.

Santa Claus encourages consumption;
St. Nicholas encourages compassion.

Santa Claus appears each year to be seen and heard for a short time;
St. Nicholas is part of the communion of saints, surrounding us always with prayer and example.

Santa Claus flies through the air—from the North Pole;
St. Nicholas walked the earth—caring for those in need.

Santa Claus, for some, replaces the Babe of Bethlehem;
St. Nicholas, for all, points to the Babe of Bethlehem.

Santa Claus isn't bad;
St. Nicholas is just better.

—J. Rosenthal & C. Myers

Happy Advent!

Making Peace with Santa

Recently, a post about "Reclaiming Advent" caught my eye on one of the blogs I read.  Not only that, but it got me thinking.  For the past, oh I don't know, forever, I've always found myself rushing through Advent.  I looked up on December 24, shrugged my shoulders and said, 'I guess we'll do better next year.'

Don't get me wrong, there were some moments of brilliance and lots of happy family memories made during those fast and furious four weeks.  But, much of the time things became part of the "checklist."  Host an Open House, check.  Send out Christmas cards, check.  Adopt a child from the Tree of Giving at church, check.  Decorate the house, check.  And on and on.

Last year, in the craziness of Luke+Dell Childrens=4Ever, we were forced to slow down.  And Advent became a whole new beast.

It's funny, because one mention of Santa Claus and you get an auditorium full of raised hands on how to best celebrate and cherish him.  Yes, I said cherish.  You see, I was alot like the author above.  I got really frustrated when I saw how commercialized Christmas was and I found myself being a wee bit snarky at even tiny provocations.  Scoffing at the ridiculous price of Santa photos, but forgetting the looks on my kids faces when they saw him and chatted it up about their favorite toys.  Sighing heavily at the long lines of shoppers.  Completely perturbed at Christmas commercials on television.  All of it and then some.

Then, we slowed down last year and Christmas became so much richer.  Perhaps we were forced to focus on the blessings in our lives like never before.

Fast forward to this year and much of that has stuck with us.  Yes, I still get my Christmas cards in the mail the day before Thanksgiving so they arrive the day after.  It's a family OCD thing.  Truly, though, I LOVE writing them, and even more so, receiving them from friends and family.

When we hauled out the Christmas decorations this year, Anna-Laura beelined to my side and we had a blast putting them all up.  She was so excited and it just made me happy to see her squeal at every new thing I pulled out of the box.

We even went to a bow and package wrapping demonstration at a local store this weekend.  We had such a fantastic time.  And, I found myself really enjoying wrapping presents, adding special touches as I thought about the intended gift recipient.  What a beautiful way to approach gift giving.

As the kids took their photo with Santa, I loved seeing the kids interact with him (benefit of going the day before Thanksgiving - no lines!)  My most favorite moment of the afternoon was hearing Will say, "And, my parents would really like a date together.  So, if you could get them a PF Chang's gift card, they would really like that."

Today, we journeyed to Salado for our annual search-for-the-most-awesome-Christmas-Tree.  We found it.  In case you're wondering, it took 44 minutes flat to find the perfect one.  We were having a tough time choosing between two trees until Scott said, "You know, it's like the Charlie Brown tree.  Whichever one we choose will be perfect because it's ours."  Well said, sweetheart, well said.

We have many things planned to bring home the Advent message to our children this year.  We also have crossed lots of things off that list permanently in an effort to make room for the important stuff.  I'll do my best to share what we do each day - big and small - in hopes that you might be inspired to do things a little differently in your house.  Advent is about preparation.  We are preparing our hearts for the birth of Christ.  Technically, Christmas doesn't begin until December 25!

I'm excited about Advent.  I hope you are, too.

Jesus' Birthday was Fantabulous

Any of you with kids in school know what a rat race December can be.  Well, this year because of all the stuff going on with Luke, we bypassed buying the tickets to that crazy show.  Thank you Jesus.

I didn't remember to send the kids sweet note to their teachers via email, as requested by the PTO.
I didn't remember to bring the juice boxes I signed up for to their party.
I didn't host our family's annual open house.
I didn't get the tree decorated until 10 days before Christmas.
I didn't get the Advent calendar out and "count down the days."
I didn't do a lot.
And I liked it.

I did, however, have the blessed opportunity to focus on the reason for the celebration.  The reason for the anticipation.  Like Elizabeth, who's baby leapt with joy upon hearing Mary's voice, I too, leapt with joy at our "no frills" approach to the Advent season this year.

Christmas Eve was just us this year and it was really awesome.  We made it to Mass in time to score good seats up front.  I had time to nurse Luke in the chapel before Mass and he promptly slept through the entire celebration.  I have to admit, there were some tears shed as I held him, a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, as I remembered another mom.  The kids' behavior was A+ worthy and we even snapped a great photo of the fam, compliments of my bro, at the end of Mass.

We had our annual shrimp and pasta Christmas Eve dinner - yumola.  And, the kids had a grand time opening their presents from the Godparents and Scott and I.  Small, delightful, fun and memorable.

We concluded the evening with Santa preparations.  The usual...mixing of the reindeer food with a dash of magic sprinkles, setting out the cookies and eggnog and tracking the sleigh's flight pattern on the NORAD Santa tracker via the Internet.

Scott and I enjoyed the quiet after the kids finally crashed.  And we were thankful.  For so many things this year I don't even know where to start.  Life especially.  Our faith mostly.  Each other most certainly.

Christmas Day was more of the same holiday cheer.  We were joined by my parents, brother Daniel, SIL Amanda, niece Ava, cousins Mickey, John, Grace and Marie and Aunt Ava Jo and Uncle Joe Mack.  Talk about a house of crazy.  It was awesome!!

"God bless us...every one!"

You better watch out, you better not cry...

I hope I'm not the only one who's kids are bouncing off the walls.  'Tis the season, right?  As a friend says, I'll give 'em a mulligan here and there because of our fall, but really.  Boot camp has begun.  I'm almost 100% back (or at least trying to be).  Something's gotta change around these parts.

We have an "Elf on the Shelf" here at our house, Sparkly, who reports back to Santa each night regarding the kids' behavior.  I love that elf.  Recently, though, not even he could tame the ever livin, ever lovin, compound, complex, bickering, yelling, non-sharing, whining, hitting, procrastinating, lying, tattle-telling, getting every toy out of the toy closet then refusing to clean it up 5 kids we've come to love.

Yesterday morning, Sparkly appeared, along with this note:


Dear Will, John Paul, Anna-Laura, Clare and Luke:

Sparkly tells me that you have been good boys and girls for the most part.  He also tells me that you are hitting each other, lying, screaming and causing trouble.  I hope your good behavior is better.  Don't be naughty this year or I am afraid I won't be able to stop by your house and bring your toys.  Remember the reason for Christmas is not the toys but Jesus.  Make sure you pray everyday.

Be good,

Santa Claus

Seems as if 'ol Santa isn't above bribery and Catholic guilt.  Huh.  How 'bout them apples?

It's a Wonderful Life

Really, it is.  I think back to what a crazy, insane, emotional, wonderful, difficult year it's been and I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner.

A few weeks ago (yes weeks) we went to the mall before all the icky, germy, nasty droves of kids (because mine are sanitized, clean and wonderful) sat on Santa's lap.  I must say, highly recommended.  No line.  Kids had plenty of time to chat with the big fella and there were no tears.  Actually, scratch that.  Clare did start to tear up, but with the sweet urging of the other siblings, she participated in "the picture."  Reason #96 big families are a blessing :-)  I did chuckle when the lady gave us the photo...um, little less tree, little more Luke, maybe?  Oh well.  They're all smiling.  Wrap it up.  I suppose it's less about the photo and more about the experience.

QOTW: December 5, 2008

"Mom, I don't think Clare liked Santa."
Will, just after we took the family picture with Santa

Ya think?