The 25 Days of Christmas Day 10

MGM's big gift is a play kitchen.  We found it on Craig's List for a good price AND it included all the play food, pots and pans, and dishes!  We couldn't love it more except...the colors.  The colors are not bad in and of themselves, but this kitchen is going to have to be sitting out in our dining room from now until MGM (or a younger sibling of hers if we ever have one) gets finished playing with it.  That could be as many as 4- 7 years from now!!!  So I decided I would like the kitchen to more match our decor, which I am sure will change in 4-7 years, but I am pretty sure it won't change to pink, blue, and yellow.  Here are the before pictures.  The after pictures are yet to come.  I plan on working on this project a little every night after MGM goes to bed.  Everyone keep your fingers crossed! 

The 25 Days of Christmas Day 9

LIGHTS, LIGHTS, LIGHTS!

We love lights around here.  We love that so many people go through such an effort to light up their homes for our enjoyment.  We went for a walk the other night to look at the neighborhood lights and they were great!  Everytime MGM see lights she says, "Pretty!  Daddy? Pretty!"  To which my hubby replies, "They are pretty."  It is our prayer that as MGM grows she continues to be attracted to light- the light of the world! 

The 25 Days of Christmas Day 8

Sorry, life got a little busy! Here are the Days of Christmas I have missed posting lately.




Craft Night! I love to make things for people. I love to hang out with friends. So what could be better than making things with friends? I gathered with a group of former teachers to make outfits for our little ones to wear during the Christmas season. It was so much fun we decided to do it again next month!! I am so excited. Well, I am practical, if nothing else. I decided not to appliqué a Santa or the word NOEL because then MGM could only display the results of my hard work for half a month, so I decided to appliqué a penguin.  Check out the pictures and tell me what you think.  And yes, I did add that cute ruffle to the bottom of the pants.

The 25 Days of Chirstmas Day 7

Waiting is part of the Christmas season.  More specifically waiting is part of the Advent season. I was thinking about that and talking to Little Britches about that today because waiting is not something is is naturally good at right now.  But then again, I am not sure I am naturally good at it either, but at least I don't shout No! and start to cry, usually.

I was thinking of how when you are a kid (or a teacher) waiting for Christmas to arrive seemed to take forever, but as an adult (who is not teaching) Christmas's arrival seems to be on the fast track.  Then I realized that waiting is what it is all about and we only wait four weeks, but Zechariah and Elizabeth waited everyday of their lives.(Luke1)  They waited on the promised Messiah to come.  They were not the only ones who waited.  Their parents and grandparents before them waited.  There had been hundreds of years of waiting for the Messiah to come.  (I am pretty sure I would have given up after the first 100)  Yet at the appointed time (not a minute too soon, or too late) the waiting was over.  Oh how I pray that my waiting is filled with meaning and not just the busyness of the season, and I pray that when I am, by God's design, waiting on something I will not lose heart, but will remain faithful to the one who I am waiting on.  

The 25 Days of Christmas Day 6

Getting the family together to have pictures taken for the Christmas card is difficult.  A toddler just does not understand the value of everyone looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.  Here were some of our attempts.

The 25 Days of Christmas Day 5

In an effort to focus our heart on Christ during this season we are doing short advent readings from The Story of the Nativity by Tracy Harrast.  So far it has been great!  Everyday's reading focuses on one thing in the Nativity scene.  Then you get a reusable sicker to stick on the background provided.  The readings are short and they include a suggestion on how to worship today that relates to the part of the Nativity story told on that day.  For example tonight we read about Joseph.  We read that an angel told him to marry Mary.  He obeyed God even when it was hard to do so.  Then it suggested that we pray, asking God to help us be obedient even when it is hard to do so.  The only complaint I have is that Little Britches likes to stick and unstick the stickers, so they are pretty much useless as stickers by the second day.  I am thinking of making magnets out of all the pieces and letting her play with them on the fridge.  We will see if I get that done.  I have quite the todo list!

The 25 Days of Christmas Day 4

Sometimes things are not always as you remember them.  Then it is hard to know if you changed or if it changed.  This is what happened to my husband last night as we went to Sights and Sounds of Christmas in San Marcos.  He had been before and really liked it.  He had fond memories of a wonderful display of lights and of people enjoying the simple joys of the season.  When we arrived at the event there were some lights displayed, but not as many as he remembered.  And there seemed to be people everywhere eating turkey legs, funnel cakes, and ice cream cones.  There were some dancers clogging on stage.  The youngest one was my mother's age.  I was trying to imagine my mom up there prancing around with the whole front of her shirt covered in sequins with fringe hanging off.  There were carnival rides, a model train set up, a sock skating rink, Frosty the Snowman playing on a big screen, kids waiting to talk to Santa, and a "Little Town of Bethlehem" with people in costume and doing thing that would have been done in Bethlehem around the time of Christ's birth.  It was funny because we quickly decided it was all a little overwhelming for us and Little Britches, especially because we were out at her bedtime.  She was being great but she kept putting her head down on her daddy's shoulder and saying night night.  We did decide to walk through the "Little Town of Bethlehem" part on our way out.  We watch some people making candles and someone making bread.  There were Roman soldiers around, which Little Britches call knights based on a picture from our computer of a school mascot.  We saw camels and donkeys and sheep.  There were lots of people everywhere, but we had trouble finding the nativity scene.  The place where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were was off in a corner.  When we found it there was no one there.  The crowds were more interested in the candle making, bread baking, and the swords of the soldiers, but they were either not interested or had moved on from the nativity.  It was kind of sad.  I pray that this season I do not become more interested in the bright and shiny things of the season than I am in the nativity, for it is because of Christ's birth I celebrate.  Here are a few pictures from the night taken on my phone because I forgot my camera.  boo!