Christmas Eve Will Find Me...

(Post copied from http://www.livingonadime.com )
You know the old song “Christmas Eve will find me… where the love light gleams- I’ll be home for Christmas…”? Well, Christmas Eve will find me lounging on the couch by the fire, watching snow flakes falling gently outside my window while sipping my old fashioned cocoa (made with real milk heated on the stove) and munching gingerbread men I baked myself.

As I sit here, my glance turns to the lovely tree piled high with gifts and my joyful heart swells at how blessed I am. What a perfect Christmas setting surrounds me.

Now before you get the idea I’m some sort of paragon of a woman enjoying the perfect Christmas Eve, note that all is not as it seems on the surface. Let me explain. I’m on the couch only because that is where I collapsed in exhaustion. There isn’t a bone in my body that isn’t aching. When I close my eyes, instead of visions of sugar plums dancing in my head, I am having nightmare flash backs of the past couple of weeks.

Taking a sip of my cocoa, I cringe trying not to notice the burnt taste it acquired when it boiled over, making a sticky, gooey mess on the stove. Alas, it is only one in a long line of the usual Christmas events that I unsuccessfully try to pretend didn’t happen.

Then there’s the newly fallen snow — it always looks so pretty on those snow scene Christmas cards, but after spending 30 minutes digging the car out so I could hurry into town to buy gifts and arrive back home to a freezing house, I feel like using all my snow scene Christmas cards to light the fireplace.

Last, but especially not least there’s the tree! Whoever started the wives tale that decorating a tree is a heart warming and joyous occasion could not possibly have ever decorated one. The madness begins when you decide to cut down your own tree.

After hiking a mile through knee deep snow you find the perfect tree only to realize that you left the axe in the car. By the time you hike back to the car and then to the tree again the kids are tired and begging to go home. You have now sung every Christmas carol ever written and you are all eating snowballs trying to quench your thirst because your thermos of cocoa got dumped on the back seat of the car when the kids were fighting over it.

Freezing and frustrated, you hike back only to discover that your 4 wheel drive is snowed under and the tow truck bill alone could have bought a tree for every room of your home!

Once home, you find that the beautiful majestic piece of greenery which looked so perfect standing in the meadow of snow doesn’t look quite the same after you have had to chop it 4 times in order to get it to fit into your house. You wedge it into the tree stand- forget trying to make it straight! You’re just excited that it stays in the stand without falling over. It’s amazing what you can do with baling wire and duct tape.

You string your own popcorn (another story in itself), singing more carols and hang gingerbread men only to find later that the tree is laying prostrate on the floor, stripped naked, having fallen to the mercy of the dog who grins at you, revealing his mouth full of severed gingerbread men limbs and a string from the popcorn garland.

Now you know why my heart swells with pride looking at my tree– because in our home it takes more work to put up a Christmas tree than it did to build the Empire State Building!

To say that I can relate to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is an understatement and in some way or another, I think most of us can. In spite of that, each and every year, we once again try to find the perfect gift, the perfect tree and make the perfect dinner thinking this year we just might get it perfect.

It’s called hope – hoping that this year we will succeed, faith – faith that we will obtain it if we just keep trying and love – loving every minute of doing it. Like little children who forge on working hard in the bitter cold building a snowman, not noticing or caring that their toes and fingers are growing numb, we too love creating the perfect Christmas (or snowman) for our family to admire.

In the same way that we see only our child’s hard work and effort in his imperfect snowman, so our families will see and remember only mom’s hard work and sacrifice.

Just relax. So what if the cocoa tastes a little burnt and the tree is a little crooked. This too shall pass — and then you get to look forward to doing it all over again next year!!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas at God's House

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38

when 20 beautiful children stormed through Heaven's Gate.

Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.

They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.

They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.

They remembered nothing that happened earlier that day.

"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.

"This is Heaven" declared a small boy.

"We're spending Christmas at God's house."

When what to there wondering eyes did appear,

but Jesus, their Savior, the children gathered near.

He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.

Then He opened His arms and called them by name.

And in that moment was joy, that only Heaven can bring,

those children all flew into the arms of their King,

and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace

one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face,

and as if He could read all the questions she had

He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of your mom and dad."

Then He looked down on earth, the world was far below

He saw all the hurt, the sorrow, and woe.

Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched his hands,

"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!!"

"May this Country be delivered from the hands of fools."

"I'm taking back my Nation! I'm taking back my schools!!"

Then He and the children stood up without a sound.

"Come now my children, let me show you around."

Excitement filled the space, some skipped, some ran,

all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.

And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,

"In the mist of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT!!!"

*Nick found this posted on facebook tonight. How beautiful!

Reason for the Season

The sleigh was all packed, the reindeer were fed,

But Santa still knelt by the side of the bed.

"Dear Father," he prayed "Be with me tonight,

There's much work to do and my schedule is tight.

I must jump in my sleigh and streak through the sky,

Knowing full well that a reindeer can't fly.

I will visit each household before the first light,

I'll cover the world and all in one night.

With sleighbells a-ringing, I'll land on each roof,

Amid the soft clatter of each little hoof.

To get in the house is the difficult part,

So I'll slide down the chimney of each child's heart.

My sack will hold toys to grant all their wishes.

The supply will be endless like the loaves and the fishes.

I will fill all the stockings and not leave a track.

I'll eat every cookie that is left for my snack.

I can do all these things Lord, only through You.

I just need your blessing, then it's easy to do.

All this is to honor the birth of the One,

That was sent to redeem us, Your most Holy Son.

So to all of my friends, least Your glory I rob,

Please, Lord, remind them who gave me this job."

~Warren D. Jennings

Peace that Passes Understanding

"He says: the heart is desperately wicked, who can understand it?"  Jeremiah 17: 9. 

God can be the only one to make sense of the recent tragedy in Connecticut. Only He can understand the hearts of men and our choices.

Our hearts go out to those precious children and inncocent teachers and staff who were murdered.

We must allow Christ back into our hearts and our soul as a nation. Schools cannot protect us, police cannot protect us. But He can save us if only we open our hearts.

Christmas Excitement!

First of all we are praying for those beautiful children and teachers in Connecticut... what a horrible tragedy. I held my babies close today and just prayed for comfort for those families.

Today we made a lot of fun Christmas crafts. Vivian and I worked on painting some pretty pictures of a Christmas wreath, we made jingle bell jewelry, and most importantly, we made homemade playdough ornaments.

Our ornaments came out really great. We did 4 colors, pink, blue, green, and yellow. Our shapes were a candy cane, a Christmas tree, a star, and a gingerbread man.

The ornaments were super easy to make. I found the recipe online. Basically it's homemade playdough that you roll out in to shapes and bake. I baked them at 250 for about 2 hours.



Vivian likes to roll out the dough. Yellow was for gingerbread men.



These are the trees. They look good enough to eat, but are mostly salt, flour, and cream of tartar. So... probably wouldn't taste too good. :)



I used a straw to cut out the holes for the string so we can decorate the tree with them.

Here, Vivian is stringing some jingle bells on some silver cord. She is already wearing her beautiful jingle bell bracelet and ring.

Henry supervised all of the projects. :-)

Preparing the way

This weekend Nick and I were talking about how important it is to make sure our children know Jesus and how Christmas is not just for presents and Santa. We were working with Vivian to make sure she understands it is Jesus' birthday, and not simply a time for Frosty and Rudolph.

I love all the old children's cartoons and so does Nick, but I realized something this last week as I watched some of the new ones. These shows on TV have "Holiday Specials," and they usually pertain to something or someone 'saving Christmas.' Or it's about some little animated animal delivering presents or doing something 'magical.' I also saw a couple of instances where one show was teaching about the origins of Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas. They got the information about Hannukah and Kwanzaa correct, in that they are religious holidays, but for Christmas, all that was taught was that it was the time when Santa comes to deliver gifts, and it's about giving to others and decorating the tree.

This made me mad. Why is it offensive to tell children on secular shows about the goodness and true miracle of Christmas? It is something that is more often than not ignored or simply left out. Why is it ok to teach about the menorah, but not the simplicity and filth of our Great God humbling himself to be born into a cattle stall?

As a new mother once again, and now with two children, I can see the wonder and awe of Christ's birth in a whole new light. Mary was not expecting to give birth yet... she had nothing with her to even clothe her new child. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes... rags, and they laid him in a TROUGH!

I am always obsessing about what Henry will wear, and does he have spit-up on his shoulder? Is his diaper dry? Did I make sure to wash his clothes in Dreft? Are his nails trimmed?

Last night we had dinner out, and I took Henry to the restroom to change him. I had everything I needed except baby wipes. I had left them in the car. I had a brief freak-out moment... and then it came to me: Mary did not have these things. What did she wipe her baby's bottom with? The Lord of Lords, the King of Creation, the Almight God, the Prince of Peace didn't have any of these luxuries.

I am humbled to the point of pure shame, where I have realized all that I have, and all that I enjoy, and that my Lord, Jesus Christ, walked this earth in the most humble of bodies, in a time when comfort was not an everyday occurance.

I know I'm rambling, but to get to the point... this Christmas means more to me than ever, and I hope I can express this joy and love to my children so that they truly understand in their hearts the magnitude of this Awesome gift.

More beautiful than any earthly gift could ever be: this precious gift from our Father.

Post-Thanksgiving Update!

Sorry, everyone. It has been a while since I posted. But I have finally gotten a chance to download some pictures and get them on here.

We had a great Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Deboy's. Nick is super busy right now with work. This is 'peak' for FedEx. Obviously everyone is sending packages and ordering all kinds of stuff. So my husband is sort-of Santa Claus for a whole month.... yaaaayyyy. (Which means we see him for about 15 minutes each evening and Sundays.)

Last weekend we all attended a Fashion Show at BSU that was produced by a class David is in. This has been their semester project to design, market, and advertise the entire event. We had a great time! David was in charge of picking out who was going to model. So of course, he excelled at that. Only BEAUTIFUL leggy women were on the catwalk. ;)

Dad was a little out of his element at the fashion show. Mom and I thought he should get up and strut his stuff since the show was titled "Made in the Midwest," and Dad is like, the epitome of Midwest essence. His steel-toed boots and wrangler jeans were quite the statement pieces. (haha)

Henry is quite the little colicky baby boy. We are doing ok, but it seems he has developed quite a set of lungs. I have been trying some soy formula with him, but really haven't seen much of a difference.

I've been back on WW officially (paying member) for the last week, and I weighed in this morning and found I have lost 7 pounds. So, I think I'm going to continue nursing Hanky Panky until the rest of this weight sheds. :)

Have a wonderful weekend! We are decorating our Christmas tree tomorrow!!!!

Dad and Henry at Thanksgiving.

Kaitlyn was able to pour water efficiently. So she gets to stay. :)

Vivian was pooped after we got home.

Our view of the stage at the Fashion Show. Pretty neat!

Backstage after the show. David introduced us to his friend Sarah. She was one of the models.

Mommy!

The boys...

Excited to go eat.