Celebrating Christmas

I am combining the topics for this week and last weeks Tuesday tell all. Last week's was your favorite Christmas carol and this week is how do you bring the spirit of christmas into your home. I love all the hymns of course and I really don't have a favorite among any of the hymns. Aside from the hymns I would have to say that my next favorite Christmas carol is "O Holy Night" which if I am focused on listening to can really touch my spirit and bring tears to my eyes. In the catagory of radio versions of Christmas music I would have to say my favorite is "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by the Bare Naked Ladies/Sarah Mclachlan. However, I think this year this "Jingle Bells" by my son Beck is going to be my favorite. whenever he hears "Jingle Bells" or even "Jingle Bell Rock" he will start singing and dancing. He gets distracted easily though so I usually have to prompt him to keep going and it is very difficult to get on video. He is much better live than when we try to record it, but I thought I'd post the video anyway. He will sometimes sing the la la la la la la la part of "Deck the Halls". but he is not as good as he is when he sings "Jingle bells".

As far as bring the Christmas spirit into our home. This year I decided to do an advent calendar for the kids. I got the idea to make it out of a mini muffin tin from Studio 5 which worked for us because I didn't need to spend any addititonal money except for the candy. I could just use the muffin tin and decorate it with left over scrap book supplies. It has candy, but also activities to do to celebrate the Holdiay season. The kids are really enjoying it.

Each year I try to get the decorations up as soon as I can so we can enjoy them for as long as possible. I love having nativities around to teach my kids that Christmas isn't really about Santa and toys. They love pointing out all the animals and making the sounds and then pointing out baby Jesus. I also listen to as much Christmas music as possible. I am not much for cold weather and my kids are still small so as far as Christmas lights we usually just see them from the car. I do like to have snow at christmas time and of course the kids love building snowmen with daddy and going sledding.
I think the most important thing that helps me feel the Christmas spirit is the focus of our family home evenings during December.

I know my kids are small, but I really want them to understand who Jesus is and all the things he has done for us and to help them develop a sense of gratitude instead of greed at Christmas time. We are trying to find ways to minimize the focus on the the gifts and if you want some good ideas you can visit Suzanne's blog: goldilocksandthe3bears.blogspot.com. Another way to focus on being content and happy with the blessings we have instead of wanting more is to spend time doing charitable service during Christmas. I like that my kids are able to see us gathering food to give to the food bank and to hear the bells of the Salvation Army donation collectors everytime we go to the store and to discuss the answer to the question "why are they ringing a bell momma?" I like that there are so many opportunities to give in the community whether it is a clothing/coat/shoes drive, toy drive, angel trees, sub for Santa, etc. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but I think it is how Jesus would want us to celebrate the season. I think my favorite thing is the wonder, surprise, excitement and joy that you see in the eyes of your children. They are so young and innocent that a simple candy cane and a checkers game from the dollar store is enough to make them happy on Christmas. They don't need or want a lot and they are just happy with life and being with family. I never realized how much my children would teach me and Christmas time is another time to be reminded of how much I need to be more like them.