Sunday 13 December 2009 - Keeping Advent ~ Plans for Week 3

Since this is the week of JOY, we will be doing activities that will bring JOY to us and others:

• Sunday ~ Light the candle of JOY ~ go to Luminations
• Monday ~ Salvation Army Red Kettle Day
• Tuesday ~ Gingerbread Day
• Wednesday ~ Blue Santa Day
• Thursday ~ Samaritan's Purse Catalog Day
• Friday ~ Ornament Making Day
• Saturday ~Cookie Baking Day

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Sunday 6 December 2009 - Keeping Advent ~ Plans for Week 2

Here is what my children will find in the Advent box each day this week:

• Sunday ~ light the candle of PEACE
• Monday ~ we'll begin reading Bartholomew's Passage
  
• Tuesday ~ tonight we'll watch A Charlie Brown Christmas
  
• Wednesday ~ let's make some paper snowflakes
  
• Thursday ~ write notes to grandparents
  
• Friday ~ let's hang our Advent lights
  
• Saturday ~ we'll go to the Old Town Holiday Stroll (a street fair in our town)
  

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Friday 4 December 2009 - Saint Nicholas Day

We don't really do santa claus, and for my children that has never been a big deal.
Jesus is real; santa isn't.
Saint Nicholas was a real man who lived, loved and obeyed God, died and is in heaven.  You can read all about him here.  We honour him because he exemplifies the spirit of Christ-like giving that we focus on during this season, and we want to follow his example.


Like Annie at Learning As We Go we participate in Operation Christmas Child. 
We also give to The Salvation Army, and this year we will be taking part in Operation Blue Santa, because Frap's workplace is involved with that.
Like Amy at Splendor in the Ordinary we give chocolate coins and tangerines (and candy canes).
Like Kerry at A Ten O'Clock Scholar we have a special breakfast.
Ours is a mini preview of our Christmas brunch tradition.
We read  The Legend of the Christmas Stocking (which we own) and any other appropriate books I happen to find at the library.

We also have a family tradition of decorating and hanging new stockings every year on the 5th of December to open on St. Nicholas morning. 

I tell the story of how that began in a separate post.  If you are interested, you can read it here.

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Friday 4 December 2009 - Our Family's Stocking Tradition

Here is the story of how our tradition of decorating new stockings every year came about.

I dreamed of knitting beautiful stockings for my husband and I and all of our children.

Our first child was born in August, 1990 in Seattle.  Her Grandma in Texas sent her a pink Baby's 1st Christmas Stocking that year.  We hung it up along with my childhood stocking and one I purchased for my husband two yeas before when we got married.  The following Christmas I was pregnant with baby #2; I had been given someone's old sewing machine, and I had bought some beautiful red pinwale corduroy.  I sewed new stockings for four.  Two years later I added another red corduroy stocking for our third daughter; although it was never quite finished.  Still, it served its purpose.  Two more years ~ one more daughter ~ third daughter's stocking still not quite finished ~ can't find any more red pinwale corduroy.  Not to worry; fourth daughter used pink Baby's 1st Christmas Stocking, and I had another year to work it out.  Then...

We move halfway across the country ~ without the sewing machine.  I have another baby on the last day of November ~ a boy!  My parents come from Seattle to meet their new grandson, but won't be staying all the way till Christmas.  We decide to celebrate with them on Saint Nicholas Day instead.  Now we need 9 stockings, so we buy those cheapy red felt ones from the dollar store and decorate them with glitter glue.  Of course, the next year all of the children are a year older and don't like their childish decorations from the previous year, so they beg to do new ones, and...

Voila'! A family tradition is born.

I still have dreams of knitting beautiful stockings for each of them.

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Wednesday 2 December 2009 - WeblinkWednesday ~ Advent Links

• Our daily Advent practice includes a Scripture reading, a devotional reading, a seasonal read aloud (or two), a seasonal activity (craft, cooking, destination, etc.), and of course music.  Someone has put all of these things together in one place online at  A Christian Christmas Advent Calendar .

• A wonderful, WONDERFUL collection of Advent devotionals, prayers, resources, as well as some beautiful artwork ~ you could spend hours perusing this ~ I have
  

• And if you still haven't visited the Advent Carnival, well, what are you waiting for?!

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Monday 30 November 2009 - Twelve Years Ago...

We welcomed our first son into our lives.  We had chosen his name when we were still engaged ~ a full decade and four daughters before that November night in 1997.  It was like finally meeting someone we had been waiting all those years to see.


Now...
He looks like his daddy ~ he always has ~ except his curls are blonde ~ for now ~ I always wanted a boy with blonde curls and big blue eyes.
He is almost as tall as me, and his feet are bigger than mine.
His voice is beginning to sound a little less like his sisters' and younger brother's.
He builds robots, and mows the lawn, and serves as an usher, and helps teach children's Bible class, and is the senior puppeteer on the team...
He is growing into a young man ~ right before my very eyes.
I couldn't be any more blessed...
or proud.

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Sunday 29 November 2009 - Keeping Advent ~ Plans for week 1

Our Advent calendar this year is a small round papier mache' box I bought at stuff*mart for 67 cents and painted purple.  It will sit in the center of our Advent wreath for the next 26 days.  Each day during our morning time one of the children will open it to reveal that day's scripture passage and a special activity.

Here are this week's activities:

• Sunday ~ Light the first Advent candle: HOPE
• Monday ~ Celebrate J~Man's birthday
• Tuesday ~ Watch A Charlie Brown Christmas oops! wrong Tuesday! & have a C.B. Thanksgiving feast (popcorn, toast, pretzels, and jelly beans)
• Wednesday ~ Take a walk under the full moon & come home to hot chocolate
• Thursday ~ still to be decided, probably a craft of some sort
• Friday ~ Journey to Bethlehem (at a local church)
• Saturday ~ Saint Nicholas Eve (I will post more later about this)
  

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