So Far in December...

I'll admit, I've kind of been stressing out this Christmas, even though all of my shopping was done before December, and even though I cut out a bunch of things I usually do (making candy being the big one) in order to try an simplify this year. This is going to sound so dumb, but here it is, I think I've been stressing over trying to put more Christ in Christmas.

I spilled the beans the other day. With thoughts swirling around in my mind, and feeling the responsibility I have as a parent to teach my kids the right things, etc. etc. You know how that can weigh on you sometimes? Anyways, Lincoln came up to me at the wrong time in the middle of this thinking process and asked me if Santa Claus was still alive or if he was already dead, and if he was dead was Jesus going to resurrect him? I told Lincoln that Santa wasn't a real person, that he was just a made up story that we have fun with at Christmas.

I'm not sad about it. We've never really done the Santa Claus thing with our kids anyways, because we're always at someone else's house during the  holidays, and our kids have been so young for it, that it just seemed like more of a hassle anyway. And, honestly, we really don't want that to be the focus. I feel like we can still have a wonderful Christmas, with fun family traditions, and not have Santa. I just finalized it the other day without really planning on it. But now Lincoln knows, and there will be no back tracking.

 I just really want Christmas Season for our family to mean something. I want us to be focused on our Savior, and come to know him better during this time. And I am having trouble deciding how best I want to do that for our family.

I've heard and read about a million different people's traditions. They are fun/spiritual/organized/festive and more. A lot of them are things I'd like to implement later, when my kids are a little older. I really liked the idea of doing an advent type of thing, where every day you read a scripture, an inspirational story, and sing a hymn...but trying to put it all together was stressing me out also, because lets face it, my days are very lopsided at the moment. Some days we barely sit down, let alone have the time to read three extra things, and some days we have all the time in the world and we could do a million activities. And I didn't want to start the expectation, and then have the kids be disappointed on the days when we just can't fit it in.

I came to the conclusion that I like the idea of having traditions, but feel trapped by the lack of flexibility involved with so many of them. After many long hours (usually very late in the night) of thinking over my dilemma, this is what I finally hammered out for our family this year.

We made a paper chain together.  Just to count down the days. It doesn't have any other special things that go along with it. I've seen fancier countdowns, but this one was simple, and Lincoln was able to cut out all the strips and staple them with very little help from me, and Ivan helped me glue the numbers on to each day. So I feel that by keeping it simple, more people were able to participate.

We also have Sparky the Elf, which was a gift from a friend. Every day Sparky hides somewhere new, and the kids have to find him. I decided that our Sparky is not going to focus on whether the kids are naughty or nice, but instead, our Sparky is a singing elf. So every day when he's found, he whispers in my ear a different Christmas hymn or primary song, and then throughout the rest of the day, the kids and I work on learning and singing that song. It's been fun, because we can sing while we're doing chores or driving in the car, or whatever. On busy days we sing less, and on free days we sing more. I decided to specifically stick to the Christmas hymns/Primary songs as a way to focus more on the Savior. There's nothing wrong with the other kinds of Christmas songs, but my kids aren't picky about what we learn to sing, and I thought, if they're happy either way, let's do the hymns.

And we've been doing art projects of course. I decided that instead of trying to do a certain number of projects a week or in some kind of time frame, that I would just make a list of projects I wanted to do, and then when we were having slow days we could pull them out. That way, I feel like I'm well prepared instead of falling behind. Besides our paper chain, we've done two fun ones.

First we did the stained glass. Last year we did stained glass snowmen and candy canes. I thought this year we'd give the Nativity a try. I think it turned out really well, except for lacking a Joseph. Ivan did the angel. Lincoln did Mary and Baby Jesus. I did the shepherds and wise men. They are hanging up on our sliding glass door. If your interested, stained glass patterns are pretty easy to find, just do a google search for "easy stained glass patterns Christmas" and lots will come up. I just printed the pattern, cut it out and traced it onto black card stock, cut it out again, stuck it to some contact paper, used different colored tissue paper for the colors, and sealed it with a second piece of contact paper.

 
Our next project were these cute brown paper bag stockings. They were easy too, and kept the kids entertained for awhile. Cut two stocking shapes out of a brown paper bag. Decorate. We used crayons, markers, and glitter glue, but you could use whatever you want. Then fit the two stockings together, and punch out holes all the way around. Then take a long piece of yarn, and stitch them together. Lincoln could do the "sewing" all by himself. I had to help Ivan a little bit, and while I was helping Ivan, Lincoln stitched his and Adelia's. (Adelia scribbled on hers a little, but I helped her decorate the rest.)

Some of the other crafts on our list include handprint/footprint angels, a string of gingerbread people, handprint Christmas trees, and paper plate angels. I might also see if I can get the kids to draw the Nativity. There are a whole bunch of cute snowmen/snowflake crafts that I looked at too, but I'm trying to save those for January.

And Christmas books! We've been reading them like crazy. There are a million and one Christmas books out there, but, again trying to keep to my purpose, I've decided that we are going to mostly be reading stories that have to do with the Savior or the true meaning of Christmas in some way. I have two exceptions to this, which are Twas the Night Before Christmas illustrated by Tom Browning, because I love that poem and the illustrations are great. And The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg because we already own it, and because the illustrations are great. Other books we've been reading include:
-How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess(That bit about Christmas not coming from a store....good stuff)
-The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats
-Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell
-Christmas in the Manger by Nola Buck
-The Story of Christmas by Patricia Pingry

And we've been doing Christmas related family home evenings. Last week we read the story of the Christmas orange. I wrapped up an orange for everyone, except one of the packages didn't have anything in it. (I gave that one to Aaron on purpose) When we opened our presents I made sure to  hype up how wonderful the orange was and how exciting it was to get one. Aaron did a great job of being sad that he didn't get one, and I talked with the kids about how sad Daddy was, until one of them came to the conclusion that we should share with him, just like in the story. Tonight we read the Teach the Children story, and the kids helped me hang the different ornament symbols on our paper Christmas tree. (You can find both stories by doing a google search for them.) Next week for FHE we are going to act out the Nativity.

Last week we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional together. As usual, I was touched by Elder Uchtdorf's talk. I think he was probably speaking for me to hear when he said “We have in our minds a picture of how everything should be—the perfect tree, the perfect lights, the perfect gifts, and the perfect family events. … [But] sooner or later, something unpleasant occurs … and the picture-perfect Christmas we had imagined, the magic we had intended to create, shatters around us.”
However, if we focus our hearts and minds on the true spirit of Christmas, President Uchtdorf said, “we will recognize wonderful things happening around us.” He continued, “It is usually something small—we read a verse of scripture, we hear a sacred carol and really listen to its words, or we witness a sincere expression of love. In one way or another, the Spirit touches our hearts, and we see that Christmas, in its essence, is much more sturdy and enduring than the many minor things of life [that] we too often use to adorn it. “We realize in these precious moments what we feel and know in our heart—that Christmas is about the Christ.”

That Christmas is about Christ. That, in one single, simple sentence, is exactly what I hope I can convey to myself and my family this year, and every year.