A Special Christmas Season

This year I felt the spirit of Christmas permeate our hearts and home. Participating in the #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative gets a lot of the credit. Emily eagerly awaited each morning to flip a square over and watch a movie about it. I love seeing all the different ways Christ blesses our lives and how we can be as he is. We did not always do something out of the ordinary each day, but I gained an important perspective on what I do as a mother, wife, and friend on a daily basis. It often falls into the tasks and roles that Jesus carried out. We also try to point out to Emily when she lights the world like Jesus does. I am grateful for her example of acceptance and enthusiasm for Jesus Christ.

Nathan also figured out how to climb up on chairs and stab things with all sorts of utensils during December.

As part of Joy School Emily and her friends learned a little Nativity play. They practiced for two weeks before performing it for us at the beginning of December. As December has continued on we have played Nativity countless times. Emily is an incredibly nurturing Mary who has the entire account memorized. The many times daily reminders of the birth of Christ has left me lots of time to ponder about his entrance into the world, for which I feel grateful.

Church was canceled on the 19th in Indiana because the church parking lot resembled an ice skating rink. We invited a few friends and neighbors over to sing Christmas music at 10am. We sang through the majority of Christmas songs in the hymn book and children’s song book. After an hour we had warm sourdough bread, cheese, apples and oranges as a little lunch. We finished the morning off with singing popular Christmas songs (with Jingle Bells being the number one requested song) before everyone returned home.

We had many Christmas projects in the works this December which filled our evenings. Andrew and I talked while we sanded, glued, knitted, designed, and researched. We finished the curvy boards using a homemade beeswax olive oil finish.

Emily and I made the finish during the day so it would be cooked and ready to use at night. That in itself was a fabulous experience. While I chopped the beeswax Emily was adamant that she did some hand sewing. I set her up with scrap fabric, a needle, and thread for her first sewing project. It lasted just long enough to get beeswax in the jar and set up the stove.

A few years ago I found a pair of knitted baby shoes that I wanted to make. In April I decided I would learn how to knit and make the shoes for a friend. It was an off/on process for a couple of months. I learned how to knit following these tutorials (very clear, brief, and easy to watch certain parts on repeat). I started with this basic pattern for the shoes and then sewed them together with ideas from this tutorial for felt shoes. Once the shoes were finished I added metal stamped circles with initials into the laces of the shoes. It was my first experience with metal stamping as well as knitting, so I had to take a picture to document before sending them to a good home.

For our family we made everyone a wood ornament. I designed them in illustrator (thank you pen tool and pathfinder!!) and Andrew took the file and laser cut them on campus.

Emily learned Away In A Manger and Fairest Little Jesus Child. She has been singing them all month at random times and I love hearing the sweet singing unexpectedly.

There has been lots of make up application during nap time.  I can’t seem to find a safe place to put the markers that Emily can’t find and climb to.  She had no idea that she had actually drawn all over her face and was surprised when I showed her in the mirror all of her efforts.

We took a Saturday afternoon to make fudge and deliver it to friends.  Andrew and Emily were the tag makers while I cut and wrapped the fudge.  It was incredibly cold and icy outside and we slid all around the neighborhood.

While I was out mailing a christmas package and buying a few final presents, Andrew cut Nathan’s hair – his first real haircut.  I came home a cried for a bit.  Andrew graciously let me trim around his ears to let me be part of the process.

The freezing temperatures has forced our time to be spent primarily indoors. This has led to dance parties throughout the day to try and expend the extra energy.  Emily insists we are in a purple palace.