Christmas Musings

We've banned Santa from the house. Ha, well, mostly. We might watch another movie or 2 that includes Santa, but that's it. There is so much Santa in our culture that it was completely taking over. Lily used to see Santa figures in stores and call them "Noah". But as it got into December, she became more aware of who he is, and we started hearing her talk about Santa a couple times a day. We figure we will see Santa plenty out in public.

What is comes down to is that we want Christmas to be about Jesus in our house. We don't need something to believe in - we have Jesus for that. We don't need something to bring us joy - we have Jesus for that. We don't need Saint Nicholas to teach us how to give to others - why on earth would we think it's okay to replace the God who came to earth and gave HIS LIFE for us, with a human example of giving? Not that Saint Nick can't be a good example for us, but when Christmas is about Jesus' birthday, why not use JESUS as the example? There is nothing more awe-inspiring than the Christ child. That is the kind of joy and magic I want Lily to experience at Christmas. 

So, we took a picture with Santa, and we will see a movie or two. But, we are no longer watching the Christmas specials of tv shows. None of them talk about Jesus. Instead, Lily and I took a special trip to Christ Centered Book Store tonight and bought a bunch of dvd's, books, and coloring books that tell the story of Jesus' birth. I thought Santa could be done simultaneously, but not so much at this age. And by "done", I mean enjoying him as just another cartoon character based on a historical figure. We have had to revamp. She is just getting confused, and for me, that feels like a fail as a parent. We can probably expand our inclusion of Santa in a couple years, once we have built a firm foundation of understanding of what Christmas is all about. We don't have a vendetta against Santa - this is about what we want to teach our child and how she is learning at this stage in her life.

I have also noticed how often she gets asked what she wants for Christmas. The first few times, she didn't have any idea how to answer that question. Now she is either answering with "a little brother" or "a baby sister", depending on the day, haha. It made me think, though. What message is my child being taught by having everyone who crosses her path ask her WHAT SHE WANTS for CHRISTMAS? What does that teach her about Christmas? I don't think it is really sinking in this year, but it's making me think about next year. I may have to limit that question among family and friends. We strive so hard to bring joy to our children's faces, to see them enjoy Christmas like we did in our childhood - but I wonder, are we missing the deeper lessons? It's definitely nothing I ever thought about until it was like a slap in the face yesterday. Someone asked Lily that question and suddenly it just clicked in my head - what lesson is she being taught?

I don't want her behaving for gifts. I don't want to parent her in a manner that changes her behavior, but rather in a manner that changes her heart. 

We did find a great DVD - Why Do We Call It Christmas? It's by the creator of Veggie Tales. It goes through all of the Christmas traditions and explains them historically in a manner that kids can understand, and Clay and I actually learned a lot, as well. They all point to Jesus, which was good to see, and it talks about who Saint Nick actually was. While she won't grasp everything this year, I think it will be a great educational tool as she gets older.

So, last year we started traditions that we have continued into this year. We found a great advent calendar that has a little cardboard book for each day that explains a little part of the Christmas story, and then those get hung on the tree as ornaments. Lily is loving that. I have also taken the star tradition we started and written it into a book. It's just something that we can use at home, but I do plan on sharing it with friends, so message me if you're interested. I don't think I am good enough at writing children's books to actually do anything further with it.

God created banquets and festivals for the Israelites to celebrate, and Jesus commands us to partake in communion. So, I know it's a good thing to commemorate His birthday with a celebration. I just hope I have chosen to do it in a manner that pleases Him. That's why people get so worked up when it comes to how others celebrate Christmas - because it's about Jesus, and anything that involves Jesus is IMPORTANT. But, we answer to God one day for our decisions, not other people, so I've decided to ignore all the people who think my child is missing out on something because we don't do Santa the typical way. I'm not sure how anyone who has Jesus could ever be told they are missing anything. I also don't want to be seen as someone who judges others because they do something different with Santa than what I do. That's why I talk about it here, and generally keep my mouth shut in public. We all have our own convictions, and I don't want to come across like I think mine are better - they're just mine - and I am just a sinner trying to follow God's guidance as best I can. I'm sure my way of celebration isn't perfect.

I wonder if we will still celebrate Christmas when we are in Heaven. I hope so. I don't want to ever forget what Jesus has done for me, even once I am blessed with spending every day in His presence. That's what Christmas is really about. I've written a whole post on what I do for Christmas, but Christmas is really about what HE did. May that be my focus from this moment on.

For God so loved the world, that HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Birthday, Butterflies, and Thanksgiving

Yeah, yeah, this post is nearly 3 months late. Life has been crazy busy lately, but I finally have a minute. 

Last year we spent way too much money, especially considering it was only us and her grandparents. Her cake was less than 20 bucks this year from BJ's - I cringe when I think about how much it was last year.

We had a pool party, which was tons of fun, and I didn't have to worry so much about entertaining everyone :)

 

 

 

   

She had a really great time. I'm pretty sure she thought it was her birthday for at least a week, because we kept getting cards and gifts in the mail :)

Also that week we went bought her a membership to the Butterfly Estates. She LOVES that place. They are so amazing with the kids there - explaining everything and letting them hold both caterpillars and butterflies.

I love watching this - she is so sweet:

For Thanksgiving, we took a 15 hour trip to Florence, AL, and then drive from there to Jackson, TN for one night. We hadn't been to Jackson in about a year and a half, and we got to see lots of people we love and have missed. My favorite part of the trip was Lily spending time with her cousins - they all absolutely love each other.

We will be going to Disney with them the week of New Years, and I can hardly wait!

Content

I have been having a pity party for a long time about the fact that I am a working mother, who would prefer to be a stay at home mom. I spend time reading blogs written by other moms - lots of them stay at home moms and moms that get to home school. Finally, I realized early last week that I was allowing my unhappiness with my current position to rob me of joy, when I really should be putting my faith in God. He has me right in the position I need to be right now.

Give thanks in everything,for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things.

Philippians 4: 4-8

Be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

1 Samuel 12:24

My mind has obviously been in the wrong place. I should be thankful, in this economy, that I have a job that helps to provide for my family. I should put my faith in Christ, that I have this job for a reason at this time in my life, and that everything is working out according to His plan. 

I've decided to stop moping and embrace my current circumstances - to be content. Yes, I am a working mother, but I do have every other Friday off to spend the whole day with my child. I have flexibility in my job that a lot of mothers don't have. While I can't home school her right now, I can teach her certain things on the days I do have, and on weekends, and I will just have to put in a little extra effort on weeknights, no matter how tired I am. 

I would like to start the process of memorizing Scripture with Lily. The last Friday that we had together we finger painted some note cards and then I wrote Bible verses on them. I taped them on the wall near her room. Now when she misbehaves, or gets hurt, or any other circumstance where I can apply one, we walk over and read together the one that applies. She is capable of memorization - I know this for sure because she has so many songs memorized. However, I am new to teaching a child, who is not quite 2 yet, how to memorize Scripture. So far, she is just repeating after me, which I am only capable of convincing her to do half the time. We have started with Genesis 1:1, and we'll see how that progresses. I'm sure I'll learn a lot through this process myself. 

I want her to have a Biblical worldview, with a firm belief in the authority of Scripture, so we regularly read books written by Ken Ham or other Answers in Genesis staff. This is especially important to me since I have a science degree. I want to teach her other things, though. Does anyone else have experience teaching a not-quite-two-year-old? I saw my friend Tiffany posted a picture a little while back of her daughter tracing her name. I tried that with Lily this weekend and she loved it. She can't do it without help at the moment, but she still thought it was a lot of fun. She is young, but SO smart, and needs a lot of stimulation. I would love to home school her, and since I can't, I plan to teach her certain things during the times we do have together, so if anyone has any advice, I would love it!

Now, the pictures!!!
Here are some fun ones of our labor day weekend. Friday night, Lily's friend, Barlow, came over for the evening.

Holding hands to pray.

How cute are these girls?

Lily dancing with her friend, Ariel, at Steak-n-Shake Saturday evening. I'm so glad she has an older friend who is being raised to love Jesus that she can look up to as she grows up.

Labor Day - heading out to go to Nana and Papa's house:

Two Godly men who love her very much - Daddy and Papa.

And I can't forget the most amazing moment last night. Lily, Clay, and I were all sitting on the couch together, and she was very sleepy. She leaned over and put her head on my chest and looked up at me and said, "You have pretty eyes." And I promptly cried. She is so sweet :)

Day with Mommy

Lily's preschool is closed for a week due to teacher training before the next school year starts. Clay took last Wednesday and Thursday off to watch her, and I watched her last Friday, and also today and tomorrow. 

For those of you who may not know, we have a pretty awesome living situation. Places circled from left to right - our office (we happen to work in the same building on different floors), our church/Lily's preschool, our apartment.

So, work is only 3 lights down from our apartment, and our church is pretty much right across the street. We have gained about 2 hours together every day since moving here from Atlanta and no longer having such a long commute into the city. It's pretty awesome.

Anyway, the point of all that is Lily and I walked across the street this morning to say hi to Papa at his office, since the K-12 school is also at the same location as the preschool/church. Then we went to the playground for awhile.

It was pretty hot, so we only lasted about an hour before we headed back home. Lily took her nap, and I was able to clean practically the entire house during that time. Clay came home for lunch, and she woke up just in time to snuggle with him for a few minutes before he had to head back to the office.

She had ravioli for lunch, and of course, used the sauce as body paint. I was only able to entice her out of her prolonged bubble bath with the promise that we would make cookies on a stick.

Nana gave us this kit last week -

I've been thinking that she's old enough to help me do a little cooking for a while now, so we are finally getting around to it. Now if only I could make something happen with the matching aprons pattern that I have....

Stirring the eggs and butter.

Adding in the dry ingredients.

She did a lot of stirring, but when it was mommy's turn to stir she played some pretty awesome drum beats on my sugar and flour canisters.

So proud of the cookies!

Adding the sprinkles.

There are sprinkles all over her and all over the counter, and after tasting some, she could barely sprinkle them anymore because they were sticking to her hands, haha.

Finally eating one.

She looks way too grown up.

Now I have more to clean up ;)

I am making a casserole for dinner - pretty much the only casserole I will eat, and then maybe we will go swimming with daddy tonight.

I should just never go back to work ;)