Mittens….take ‘em or leave ‘em?!?

I wanted to take a little time to reflect on the daily Advent activities we did this year.  As I mentioned last month, I tried something new, putting activities in our Advent Mittens instead of trinkets.  And while I loved it, there were days that I found it to be too much.  Even though I had attempted to look at our calendar ahead of time and predict which days could handle certain activities, sometimes, it just didn’t turn out as planned.  Luckily, dear eldest can’t read yet, so I could easily modify things.  I realized that even though some things SOUND good {going to get ice cream, seeing a living nativity, going to Zoo Lights, making a gingerbread house….the list goes on and on…..}, well, sometimes, staying low key, at home, and adhering to our normal schedule is the best choice.

Merry Christmas!

Joy and Peace to you.

And Merry Christmas!

My biggest hope for EVERYONE—-

besides a good night’s sleep {PLEASE, LORD!}—-

is for true Peace to fill our world.

Especially the everyday world and spheres we live in.

In our house, the pirates and astronauts have taken over the nativity and Joseph and the shepherds are all the remain.

But, may you find the beauty in community….

And spend some time in quiet adoration as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

(I’m sure there’s a quiet moment SOMEWHERE to be found!)

Blessings!

DPP ’11 // S’mores Gingerbread House

I have had the hair raising gift of creating Gingerbread Houses with kids for the last 15 years….and sometimes managing ONE of my own, vs. a  classroom of 4th graders with their 1st grade buddies, seems harder.  Case in point.  Today, we decided to add on some of our own items to the Trader Joes Gingerbread House kit.  Alex thought the flat marshmallows would make perfect fence material.  And yes, indeed, they did….til they got too close to my pine scented candle.  Look at the 4th marshmallow in for evidence in the picture above.  And yes, folks, I think we successfully created the first “S’mores Gingerbread House” in history.  Never a dull moment.

a close up!

last year’s creation….

DPP ’11 // PJs

A new tradition!  Christmas Jammies and Breakfast for Dinner.  Matt thought we should have had dinner for breakfast to compensate, but oh, well…..next year.

Drew got two pairs as they were both adorable hand-me-downs and I just can’t get enough of these two in pajamas.  Especially the two piece, button up type.  So cute.

DPP ’11 // Santa & His Little Elf

We have spent the day playing a bit of catch up.  You see, the best laid plans often don’t work so well.  So even though the calendar seemed to be open enough to put “Make Your Own Wrapping Paper” on Tuesday and “Make Paper Snowflakes” on Wednesday and “Go to the Living Nativity” on Friday….well, none of those happened.

So today, we had time and energy to go back and work on those missed activities…

The living nativity will have to wait until tomorrow’s Soup and Sing and Children’s Christmas Pagaent at church….LIVING 1st through 6th graders.  A PERFECT alternative.  Live animals in another form!

And then, Alex and Drew decided to play “Santa Pushes His Little Elf Around in the ‘Sleigh’!”.  It was hilarious.

Sally “Supervised”.

And then we squeezed in today’s Advent activity–

our “family game night” and peppermint ice cream….at 10:30am.

It’s like the “It must be 5 o’clock SOMEWHERE” syndrome.

Happy Saturday!!!!

DPP ’11//St Nicholas Day Shoes

Never having participated in the celebration of St Nicholas Day, I was really excited to spend some time talking with Alex about the real St Nick. Seeing the story of his life spelled out makes so much more sense than my convoluted understanding of Santa Claus as the bright, shiny, down the chimney, giver of all good things. Expectations can be so high for the holidays. And we ALL know that expectations are often broken or unmet in the way we were envisioning. This all leading to temper tantrum city or at least more culturally and developmentally acceptable pouting in the adult version.

So, we gave it a go this year. Alex put out his one pair of shoes—odor producing, sand-filled and all—to see if St. Nicholas came. As I left for my meeting last night, I noticed the shoes on the front porch (Alex made it clear that we didn’t want someone to sneak in our house).

Later, though, they were relocated to the hallway. Nothing too big filled the shoes this morning, just some pictures to color, an orange, a few marbles for the “yeh” jar and some chocolate coins. But the chance to talk about the life of someone worth celebrating, remembering and emulating was well worth it. And frankly, after reading this post, aka Conviction 101, it made me want to bag everything and regroup for the holidays. Just many things to think through and decide about for the future when it comes to approaching the insanity of this season.

Wish I could say my eldest doesn’t have a slight tantrum when the day’s Advent activity doesn’t involve presents or treats or gifts or adventures, but….it is still a process.

In case you want a little background on St Nicholas, here are a few tidbits. There are also some great books and activities on this website.

Today is St. Nicholas Day. St. Nicholas lived in the fourth century, and he was the archbishop of Myra in Lycia (which is now Turkey). There are all kinds of stories about him, but one of the most famous is that there was a poor man who could not afford a dowry for his three daughters, which meant they would have to be abandoned to prostitution. St. Nicholas didn’t want to humiliate the man by giving him charity in public, so he left purses of gold in the man’s house at night — according to one version of the story, he dropped them down the chimney, and in another, one of the daughters had set out her stockings to dry and the gold was put in them. And so St. Nicholas, the bringer of anonymous gifts, inspired Jolly Old St. Nick, Father Christmas, and Santa Claus.

St. Nicholas Day is celebrated in many European countries and in American cities with German influence like Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. On the evening of December 5th, children put out their shoes, and on this morning, they wake up to find those shoes filled with small gifts from St. Nick — chocolates and cookies, fruit, marbles or other small toys.

DDP ’11//Watching & Waiting

Today was blessedly unplanned and empty.  Thank you, Lord.  And yet….unplanned and empty is often daunting and scary.  If it was just me.  Or Matt and me.  Well, unplanned and empty would be so different.  Time to catch up on the magazines I never manage to get through.  Opportunities to start and finish up some fun crafting/DIY projects I have in the back of my mind.  A chance to read the book I’ve been meaning to start since—-SEPTEMBER.

But, unplanned and empty with a 4.5 year old and 14 month old sometimes feels scary, in all honesty.  Like you are stuck and can’t escape.  Almost claustrophobic.

There have been many, many moments in the last year that have felt that way to me.  When the “What next?” question kept plaguing me and I wasn’t sure if the answer would be…”THIS.  THIS VERY MOMENT is the answer to ‘What next?’, Christine…”  Or…”What next?  Well, you don’t get to know the details about that just yet. ”  And so I often found myself looking out.  Almost like the world was passing me by, hoping that something would become painfully clear and obvious.  Like a parade would materialize outside our doorstep with banners announcing the next “thing”.

Advent is kind of like that.  Watching.  Waiting.  Hoping.  Anticipating.  Often times, I’m kind of tapping my feet and fingers, fidgeting in hopes of speeding things up.

Maybe God is just watching us and smiling.  Chuckling to himself as we want more, the full story.  Thinking, “She can’t HANDLE the truth!!!”

Sometimes we keep looking at ourselves, rather than looking outwards.

I love, though, the image at the top….how even the participants in the nativity are looking out.  Alex even put Jesus up on the window lock.  A boost to help him see over the trim.  Everyone had to have a clear view.

And one thing that each of these folks did was to look out beyond themselves.  Beyond the sheep they were to tend.  Beyond their wise men duties.  Beyond eating hay and chomping grass.  Beyond the duty to go to your homeland and be counted.  And they each looked at the One that had been anticipated for so long. It’s my guess that God was looking too.  Well, then it gets all tricky due to the Trinity and all.  We’ll just leave that one alone for now.

I read something a few days ago that talked about how God chose the most incredible path to bring about the arrival of Jesus.  He had been waiting for so long for the day that Jesus would arrive on Earth.  And once Mary was pregnant, God STILL waits.  NINE MONTHS!  I guess time is different for God, but still.  I love that thought.  God still waited.  Along with the rest of humanity.  God, too, waits.

Today we had some great opportunities for waiting and watching.  Waiting for the Christmas tree to be lit in downtown Sunnyvale and watching lots of things that weren’t lights being lit or Santa arriving {cue grumpy, hungry kids}.

Waiting to talk to Santa…

Waiting a long time for dinner in a restaurant.

Waiting and watching from the stroller…

Watching for who knows what {and waving at who knows what} while waiting for lunch…MOM…..

And a teacher moment from Drew…maybe these things are inborn early on?

In the midst of lots of watching and waiting, my deepest fears of what could unfold today, a day without a major agenda, were pleasantly surprised.  The day wasn’t without squabbles, time outs and misspoken words—that is par for the course around here.  But, I still think the random, sometimes unwanted moments of watching and waiting meet us in ways we could never expect.  Maybe even allowing us to see with new clarity something that was before us all along.

….and in case you were wondering….dinner did finally arrive, Santa also made it and Jesus is still perched on the window sill looking out.  Closure for today.

A Jolt

Sometimes I need a jolt.

One moment it might be coffee {thank you, Peets & Taylor Maid}.

Other times, a book.  Or a sermon.  Or a conversation with a friend.

This year, I am finding myself jolted awake as we walk through this season of anticipation and waiting with a 4.5 year old. The almost 14 month old is pretty fun too, and chasing him, keeping him away from things, is a jolt 24/7.  But for my thoughts and mind and awareness, the 4.5 year old is typically the instigator of questions and bigger thoughts.

Anyhow, these two pieces of video footage have done the same thing for me too.  Thanks to Matt and Jane for sharing them originally.  If you too need a jolt from the grip of frenetic buying or a reminder of why this season is more than glitter and tinsel, please watch them both.

I’ll be back later with a December Photo Project picture.  Again, I encourage you to participate in this project.  It truly helps you look and see so much more during this season.

Happy Friday!

Woe. Nellie.

So many crazy things have been unfolding here in the last few weeks.  Yet, boys are still boys.  Life is still busy and fluid and moving.  Sometimes the flow is moving and going, and you have no choice but to go with it.  Swim with the help of the current, and hold on.  Trying to find moments to connect with friends, family and former colleagues has been paramount for me, and yet hard to do when two littles are underfoot.  They seriously seem to have a sensor to know when the “BEST” possible time is to invade.  And scream.  And yell.  Usually when I’m trying to act calm, cool, collected and professional.  Maybe God uses our kids to keep us humble?  Guessing so.

Anyhow, so here are some clues as to why things have been a little “extra crazy”….

First Clue:  I need a new lunch box….

Second Clue:  This book will be dusted off and filled in again.

Third Clue:  I had to FIND this.  Renew it.  And make sure it was still valid.

Fourth Clue:  This well-organized binder of transcripts is going to be my best friend on Friday, as I’m filling out paperwork.  SO grateful I somehow had the wherewithal to put this together years back.

Fifth Clue:  California History, my favorite guilty pleasure, is going to become part of my vocabulary again.

Sixth Clue:  There has been lots of calendar syncing, plans for childcare coverage and imagining….

Well, if you haven’t figured it out, almost four years after stepping out of the classroom, and away from 12 sweet groups of 4th graders that shaped, changed, pushed and challenged me…from an amazing staff that had become family, not just colleagues…with a send off, going away school-wide sing-a-long surprise….

I’m going back!

We were looking at Anticipation last week in our advent study at church and man alive does that sum it up for me.  The feelings of excitement and expectancy and joy and hope.  AND….the feelings of fear, apprehension, and doubt.  Waiting.  Knowing part of what I’m getting myself into, but also, being fully aware that there is a lot to take in and learn.

The way this opportunity unfolded was so unexpected.  I couldn’t have written the scenario.  Put it this way, I cried in the interview. And not because of fear.  It was an “Oh my gosh…I GET IT, God….” moment.  I mean really….part time?  Fourth grade?  In Sunnyvale?  Next door to a friend and mentor from church.  Sharing the position with someone I knew I would connect with immediately.  Truly, amazing.

And now…I’m just really excited to meet these kids.  To see who I’ll be spending time with for the remainder of the school year.  To share the journey of learning and frankly, life, together.

I know that it will be an adjustment in many ways, but what life change isn’t an adjustment??

So, as we have pushed into Advent, I am finding the truth of the words in Ann’s Jesse Tree devotional and the Storybook Bible to be grounding me in unexpected ways each morning.  The concept that “We were made by Love! For love! Made in the image of God to look like His love!  The Christmas story is a love story, the whole blue marble of the world spinning on the axis of His love… Could anything be better?”  It may sound a little like a blurred love scene in a 70′s movie…two characters running towards each other in a wheat field with the sun setting in the distance, golden beams extending….

But——it’s not just an emotional appeal.  The concept that God’s love created each and every thing, even knowing those created things would so quickly turn and, as Ann reflected, “the first man and woman have only stepped onto the stage of creation, their first lines hardly out of their God-breathed mouths, and already the story’s an almost impossible mess.”  The fall.  The “Oops….You really meant we couldn’t eat THAT fruit??” mistake.

I keep coming back to the image of the axis of His love.  The this whole crazy world.  The world that often feels like it’s spinning way too fast.  Potentially flying OFF the axis…that this same axis is the grounding of God’s love.  Our center in the chaos.

So here’s to stepping out into change.  Letting go of some fears.  Standing in the falling leaves, acknowledging what’s been, naming what is ahead and knowing that my concept and understanding of both is bound to grow and change and evolve.

Postscript:  I am grateful beyond belief for my “tribes” the past few weeks. Former coworkers, dear friends, discerning parents and in laws, & my new community here. It has been a big time of prayer and thinking and questioning. New adventures are on the horizon, and truly as Drew’s doing in this picture, I am realizing that in the staggering winds of questions and thoughts gone wild, you have to hold onto what is steady and enjoy the breeze.

The Jesse Tree and Advent Calendar Ideas

As a way to continue the conversation started over the last two days, here is the last installment in ideas for ways to celebrate Advent and the weeks leading up to Christmas.

This year, due to an imposed deadline thanks to my MOPS group, I got on the ball with something I’ve been toying with for awhile—a Jesse Tree.  Matt and I first learned about the concept of a Jesse Tree from a workshop we attended at Montreat a year and a half ago.  We were inspired by the approach the workshop leader, Hugh Donnelly, took with approaching the seasons of the church year and faith development with his children and with his congregation.  He and his wife have created a seasonal table that gives a chance for their children to interact, notice and name the seasons as the year unfolds and his amazing wife MADE the Jesse Tree ornaments from scratch.  Holy COW!  Here’s a peek…

Thanks to the amazing Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts, we are going to try doing a Jesse Tree this year…..without having to make the ornaments ourselves!  She describes that like a tree with deep roots, the story of our faith is one filled with a deep history from Creation all the way to Bethlehem (and beyond!).  It is named after Jesse, the father of David who was the first in the royal line eventually leading to Jesus’ birth. In Isaiah, the prophet wrote, “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.”  The Jesse tree provides a way, through Advent, to hear the story from David to the coming Messiah, each day, pointing to the coming promise and gift of God in Jesus.  Here is the link for the PDF to download the devotionals, ornaments and instructions.  It’s EIGHTY pages, so be prepared (but well worth the ink!).

Yesterday, I also promised to include a list of some fun things to include in a daily Advent calendar—great activities to foster family connection, slowing down, creativity and fun.  At the end of this post, you’ll see my shout outs for all of these great ideas.

Tons of Ideas for Daily Advent Activities

• Watch It’s a Wonderful Life, make spiced cider.
• Exchange gifts
• Make Christmas Cookies for friends.

• Find Mistletoe, hang it in our house and kiss under it.
• Address and mail Christmas cards
• Go to a music store and pick out one new Christmas CD. (Sufjan will change your life!)
• Go to The Nutcracker
• Go to a Handel’s Messiah Sing Along
• Make Thick Hot Chocolate and Homemade Marshmallows
• Host a Christmas Sweater Party
• Put up a ribbon sash for Christmas cards
• Donate canned goods
• Give neighbors a present
• Put up a wreath
• Make a popcorn garland
• 

• Make hot chocolate and read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
• Sing (or listen) to favorite Christmas songs
• Drive around to see neighborhood lights
• Go out and see public light display
• Make a family traditional dessert (my father-in-law, Kerry, holding last Christmas’ amazing brunch sweet treat which will become my new “family traditional dessert!….Ina Garten’s Easy Sticky Buns!!!  YUMMMM!!!)

• Eat out at a festive restaurant
• Go to a seasonal movie
• Tell stories of childhood Christmas around the fire
• Have a romantic candlelit dinner (picnic by the Christmas tree!)
• Make decorative sugar cookies

• Sign up to purchase gifts for a needy child
• Host a Christmas dessert party
• Write out a Christ-centered goal to start early for the New Year
• Have a movie party (classic Christmas clips)
• Go to a Christmas Concert
• Attend City tree lighting event
• Have a full traditional breakfast while listening to Christmas music
• Make paper snowflakes & eat “snowflakes” (yogurt covered pretzels)
• Get Christmas tree as a family (or put up the fake one, like we do!)
• Count all the money in your child’s piggy bank and use it to buy sock for the homeless
• String snowflakes into a garland in kid’s room
• Put shoes outside of child’s room at bedtime for St. Nicholas Day, Dec 6^th and then fill the shoes with treats
• Read the story of St. Nicholas and draw a picture for someone elderly or sick
• Make salt dough ornaments for the tree
• Make peppermint hot chocolate and read Christmas books
• Make Christmas art project
• Make a gingerbread house and/or man
• 
  

• Go to a Living Nativity
• Read the Christmas story (kid’s version) & color a picture of the nativity
• Make wrapping paper (using stamps or markers on white paper or large butcher paper)
• Go on an adventure with someone special or have a fun grandparent playdate (Playing–or feeling?!?!–Aggravation with my parents)
• Draw on the windows (use Crayola window markers!)  
• Call grandparents and sing a Christmas song
• Make popcorn balls (or if it’s been a busy day, just popcorn) and watch a Christmas movie
• Act out the Christmas story at home
• Go to Zoo Lights in Oakland or the Fantasy of Lights at Vasona Park in Los Gatos
• Read Christmas stories & have snacktime by the Christmas tree
• Go to Fenton’s in Oakland/Palo Alto Creamery for Peppermint Ice Cream
• Open Christmas PJs!
• Decorate your tree(Taken a few years ago….Alex, in footie pjs, swimming trunks, sunglasses and regular glasses, eyeing the tree.  Notice the placement of ornaments??  Guessing this will be our reality again this year with a mobile grabber toddler!)
• Shop for gifts for other children
• Unwrap a Christmas book to read (or better yet….get Grandma to record herself READING the Christmas story!)
• Have hot cocoa and cookies with our neighbors (Neighborhood Service Project)
• Open a special ornament and put in on the tree
• Write a letter to Santa &/or the reindeer
• Go to the Christmas party at church
• Go sledding or ice skating
• Shop for a gift or treats for child’s preschool party
• Make an Advent Wreath

• Eat snowman poop!  (seriously….GO TO THIS POST and read more about Bernard the Christmas Elf.  Tara Whitney has a phenomenal blog and the most hilarious approach to the traditional Advent calendar!!)
• If you live near San Jose, Christmas in the Park!

It can be easy to get overwhelmed with too many options, but this list is meant only to give you ideas!  Choose parts that work for you and your family.   Most years, we manage to light one of the four Advent candles.  Sundays get busy and we forget to slow down.  Rather than stressing out, I’m just choosing to let it go instead.  Advent is all about waiting and anticipating Christ’s birth with hope….so enter in to this season and bring your kids along too.  I can’t wait to hear about how it unfolds!  Please add comments to the comments section with additional ideas or resources you have….would love to add to the list!

A huge thanks to my friend, Susannah, who gave me a good portion of these ideas from her post on Advent last year.  Susannah also alerted her readers to another post on the blog, Oh Happy Day, which added more ideas to the list.  Another set of ideas came from Babble.com here.  Tara, at The Organic Sister had another wonderful list.  And finally, all the amazing, local folks who helped me come up with local things to do–thank you!!!!!