It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I know, not really. It's been looking like Christmas since Labor Day. And it's been looking like Christmas around here for several weeks now, but it sounded like a better title than "Christmas."

We started the Jesse Tree this year, and I have really enjoyed it. I sit down with the kids every morning and we do our devotional on the couch, and they take turns hanging the ornaments. It's been a great way to start our school day!

(I got our Jesse Tree devotional free from Ann's website. If you've never been there, her writing is absolutely amazing!)

Of course our Advent Calendar that my Mom made for us when Ansley was a baby still brings them lots of excitement each morning. They take turns hanging an ornament, just like my brother and I did when we were growing up. Such fond memories!

I love our memory tree. It's in the schoolroom this year, and it's so much fun to linger over each ornament, remembering that season in our lives. There are ornaments from when we were first married and lived in various states, ornaments from our first year as a family of three, ornaments from my childhood, and ornaments as a family of four. Next year I'll have our first ornament as a family of five to reminisce over! Each ornament brings such fun memories for us, and always prompts a story about that time in our lives. Our kids eat those stories up!

It doesn't matter that we have a Little People nativity set, especially for little people. THIS is the one they want to play with. And it's fine with me. This nativity gets rearranged several times a day, and the story gets acted out and played with over and over. But I guess there comes a point in motherhood when the memories are more important than the neatness. So the wise men are coming straight out from the manger instead of to the side like I would do them?  What matters is that they love it, and they play with it, and they know the story of Jesus' birth because of it. What doesn't matter is that the donkey's ear is chipped and sometimes baby Jesus is born surrounded by animals instead of people.

I hear an awful lot of people around here grumbling about the snow, but I don't understand it. I love the snow! It could snow every day in December and I would be perfectly happy. I don't love quite as much the five pairs of jeans each child goes through in a snow day, or the drips across my floor or snow covered mittens on my magazine. But, despite all of that, I still love the snow, and I love that my kids love the snow so much! Maybe because it's a novel thing, or maybe I have my own personal oven growing inside me so I welcome the cold, but snow is always just beautiful to me. (Even when we lived in Idaho and it snowed like 8 months out of the year, it still never got old to me!)

These were taken Sunday evening, when John and I enjoyed an Andrew Peterson concert with some friends. It was a wonderful concert! But coming home in the snow was quite tricky. When I got home I had to snap these pictures of the snow piling up on our deck.

We also made snow cream for the first time, but nobody liked it. Maybe I didn't use a good recipe? It was Paula Deen's, which I assumed would be most unhealthy and delicious, but I think we just got the unhealthy part.

There's been lots of Christmas cookie baking, Christmas parties and Christmas music all day long.

Such a beautiful, nostalgic and wonderful time of year.

"So when my body's weak and the day is long, when I feel my faith is all but gone, I'll remember when I sing this song that I believe. I believe he is the Christ, Son of the living God, my Lord, my Savior."  -- Andrew Peterson

Comments

[Amber]

Hey there! I got the Jesse Tree this year, and I can't wait to use it. (We are waiting until next year when Landon can actually sit and listen instead of distract from the devotions!!!) Just a little jealous of your snow covering. I love snow, too. And as I always say, if it's going to be this cold anyway it should be beautifully white! Be careful driving. :)

[Renee]

I enjoyed this post about Christmas traditions and memories and celebrating with children. We are doing our felt Jesse Tree again this year (although Lydia isn't listening!) Merry Christmas!

[Ashley Lee]

We enjoyed adding the Jesse Tree to our yearly traditions several years ago, too. Sadly, it's in storage this year along with all the rest of my Christmas things. Enjoy being surrounded by all your precious Christmas memories and enjoy making new ones this year. I love the way the kids organized the nativity scene. :) Kids are so creative and see things in such a different way that is so innocent and precious. When Olivia was about 3 or 4 she placed all the nativity people on a train and created a story--All Aboard for Bethlehem. Thankfully, I typed it out and have it to keep in her memory box.

We made your chocolate covered pretzel M&M treats last night and they were YUMMY! I had a hard time sharing them, but it was a good thing we took them to a church event tonight or I would have gained 10+ pounds eating them all by myself (I made quite a large number). Thanks for sharing the recipe. I plan on making more this weekend for us and I will NOT be sharing them this time.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!