Christmas Everyday

Whoa, four posts in one day. I think I need to pace myself. But I saw this and thought I'd like to play along.



The question is, how do we as a family celebrate the true meaning of Christmas?

Well, sit yourself down and let me just tell you!

Since some of my family reads this, I will be honest. Since some of that said family includes a certain college-aged individual who is not shy about calling me out, you can rest assured that I'm not going to whitewash this shindig and try to hoodwink you into believing that we have family devotions every morning, or that we volunteer every week down at the shelter, or even that my six kiddos so altruistically give up their presents each year in lieu of supporting orphans in faraway places.

Nope, none of that.

Here's the lowdown. My big tip to young parents, if you will.

I gave up Advent calendars because I noticed that it totally hyped the kids up and put their focus on getting. One year I made a really cute felt banner with a Christmas tree and 24 ribbons attached to it. I frosted 24 cookies with the numbers 1-24, wrapped them individually, then tied them to the banner. Cute idea, huh? Wrong! I think I had four kids at the time. That meant I had to keep track each day of whose turn it was to untie and eat the cookie. Which meant that I had to also pass out identical cookies to the other 3 in order to avoid mass hysteria. All before 8 AM. Now I love sugar in the morning as much as the next guy, but something seems fundamentally wrong with giving a toddler a frosted Oreo for breakfast. After 24 days of fighting and arguing and "me first" I decided that the advent calendar was the most unChristlike part of my Christmas, so I ditched it and gave it to Goodwill.

Now the kidlets are mostly teenagers or somewhere near that age. They each get their own Trader Joe's chocolate advent calendar, with 24 chocolates weighing in at a total of 1.76 ounces, making each serving about the equivalent of a chocolate chip. And the best part of it is that they can manage the calendar themselves. If they want to open all the doors on December 3 and ruin their Christmas, they have that freedom.

But now, Christ in Christmas...hmmm...how do we manage it?

Well, it's reading a little less of this

and a little more of this.

To be perfectly honest, I don't really try to keep Christ in Christmas. Wha-a-a-a-a-t?

I try to keep Him in every day. It really works much better that way.

This year, as in years past, we are reading this great book. This year, unlike previous years, I will try not to read ahead and finish it on my own and then not be bothered to finish reading it aloud because I am too busy. Maybe this year a certain kid will actually solve the mystery!

In the spirit of Advent, I am crafting handmade ornaments that reflect some aspect of Christ and His Story. These are the first 9. (Get it? Today is December 9; I uncork one each day!)

Then I post about it, in an effort to force myself to actually finish making all 24. Have you picked up that I have a little trouble with finishing things? Yeah, well, my house is a complete wreck too.

Thanks for stopping by! Come on back anytime! (What I love about blogs: you don't have to clean them before people come over.)

Christ in the every day. Consider it.