Yesterday, the last day of November, we awoke to a Marshmallow World (cue Bing). Our first real snow of the season and it was our first snow day, too. The way it should be, in my opinion. I think snow days are like found money and should be treated as such. Do what you want with it, it's a gift!
And, now, in the blink of an eye, it's December. Bring on Christmas! Actually, in my house, Christmas has been here, but now it's official. The first pocket on the Advent calendar has been emptied. It has begun!
So, this morning I found myself thinking about how I'd like this month to play out. I had already decided to do something different with the Advent calendar. Usually, there is one piece of candy in each pocket, and each day someone gets a piece of candy from that day's pocket. In the past, if the kids didn't like the candy in their day, they dug around in the other pockets and made an exchange. This year I decided to put three little, bite-sized candies in each pocket. I told everyone that when it is their day to pick, they need to decide with whom and how to share their treats. I'm leaving the who and how up to them. I would just like them to learn to enjoy giving and sharing. So far so good. Asher had today, and he gave a piece to his brother (with whom he had been fighting this morning). My heart swelled!
Other things I'd like to do? Well, I'd also like to make talking about the Christmas story a part of every day this year. From beginning (prophesies and promises), to angel-visits (Mary, Joseph, shepherds), to Happy Birthday! I am going to start tonight, at dinner. I've printed out a few verses from the Old Testament to read to the boys. There is plenty for us to chew on with these few verses that I think I'll take a few nights to talk about them. I would also like to read Luke 2:1-20 to them every night until Christmas. I want this to become second nature to them.
Why? Well, you see, they have a mom who is crazy about Christmas. The snow, the colors, the images, the stories, the food, the songs, the movies, the cookies, the giving, the receiving.... I loooooove Christmas-time. I also love Jesus. Much more than Christmas-time, as a matter of fact. I don't want my boys to confuse anything, about me and my beliefs or about Christmas and Jesus. The best part about Christmas is that we get to celebrate that Jesus was born. The rest is decorating and baking and crafting. It's stuff I love to do, eat, listen to, look at, sing, give, unwrap, and so on, and so on.
I hope my boys will always love this time of year. I hope they will always have wonderful memories every time December rolls around. I hope that they will be able to share some of things we do today, with their families someday. I also hope, more than anything else, that the common, thread, theme, song and thought will be Jesus.
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