Merry Christmas!

On the Eve

Today we will prepare pies and ginger bars; we will lay out our clothes to wear to Church this evening; gifts will be placed under the tree...

and yet, hearts are hurting here in this house.  Assumptions made, a person absent, wounds deep, resentment.  Fake smiles and covering up over the hurt.

It is hard to come to this house where He is not truly the focus.  Prayers that throughout this day we can be present to one another and bring Him here to THIS manger, this hovel, these hearts, this world (my world) that needs Him.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel...

Post-Christmas Thought

I've been thinking of the "present situation" that has become our Christmas.  How we celebrate as been weighing on my heart the past few years.  I have an idea that I'd like to implement, but before putting it into practice our whole family needs to be on board.

So my idea:

1) Feast of St. Nicholas: leave shoes out in hopes St. Nick will stop by.  Awake to little treats (candies, oranges), a new Advent/Christmas book, any other supplies needed for Advent projects.

2) Christmas Eve: Gather with extended family and open family gifts to and from one another. 

3) Christmas Day: Morning Mass, putting baby Jesus in the creche, a special breakfast together, sharing our presents for baby Jesus (see Ann for some ideas), and a day filled with family activities.

4) Epiphany: Wise Men reach the Creche, presents for Pearl and each other (3 simple gifts in honor of the gifts Jesus received)

So that is the idea right now that I'm mulling around.  This is definitely different from what our families did when we were growing up, but I think I really want to start our own traditions.  I appreciate what we've done in the past, but I have it on my heart to step out and make a few changes.  We'll see how the Lord moves in our hearts this year.

Merry Christmas

May the gentleness of the Infant Jesus melt your heart as He has melted mine!

Merry Christmas!

A Social Network Christmas

H/T to American Papist

The Finished Gingerbread Men

This afternoon our gingerbread men were cooled and ready for decoration.  Pearl had a lot of fun with the Craisins;)

A little too much fun...

But once we were through, she got to enjoy her own. (We are taking the rest for the student meal tonight.)

Pearl licked all her frosting off and just nibbled the cookie.  Perfect, because I don't like frosting but love the plain cookie.  Teamwork!

Pearl's favorite spot in the house is by "her birthday tree."  It's just her size:)

When the Gifts are for Him

What to do Christmas morning when all the gifts are for Him.

This is a moving post and one that is speaking to my heart.

Jesse Tree situation

While loving crafty things, I was not particularly blessed with artistic talent. Keeping that in mind I ordered a Jesse Tree for our family. I really like this tradition of sharing the story of our salvation history leading up to the birth of Christ.

However, when I received my package I was a little dismayed to find several pieces of felt, patterns, and directions. I thought I ordered one already made!!

Oops.

So Pearl and I will be cutting and gluing later this afternoon:)

A Few Quick Highlights

The fourth week of Advent brought some "fun" surprises:

1. I believed Pearl to be napping in her crib, but when I heard some odd sounds I went in to investigate...and found her sans pants, sans diaper, and covered in poo. She evidently thought that finger painting could be improved upon. DH took a picture, he was so amused, but I will not be posting it.

2. Pearl wanted to help wrap presents but slipped on some extra paper and fell into the brick fire place splitting her chin open. She didn't require stitches and pulled the Steri-Strips off that were supposed to last a week within 30 min. I believe she'll have a slight scar, but hopefully not.




3. Pearl opened her Christmas presents surrounded by kleenex this year because she has a cold. The slight fever, constantly runny nose, sneezing, generally clingy and fussy, kind of cold. Christmas Mass at Dawn was a little rough for us due to the tantrums she was throwing. After she bit me, I took her to the vestibule. However, she was super cute in her dress that I got FREE!



4. We discovered that Pearl and I eat our Asparagus the same way:)

Merry Christmas

Many prayers for you and your families!

A Frugal Christmas

Fall has just begun and I'm already thinking about Christmas. Probably because here in Florida we have four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer, and Christmas. It sneaks up on you and then it's here. This year in particular I have some reflections to do concerning our Christmas budget.

In our 2 plus years of marriage, DH and I share all our budget concerns, questions and decisions. We talk about all our purchases and make decisions together. So in the past 2 years, we set a Christmas budget of whom we will purchase gifts for, how much we will spend per person and whom we will make a baked good for (generally non-family members).

This year, the budget looks to be especially tight since I have come home to be with Pearl and DH is in his final year of graduate school.

I'm looking to make a signature baked good to give to friends: probably this one.

As for family members who will receive a gift, I've been brainstorming. I'm thinking about working with an online photo site to creat calendars for our parents of baby Pearl (As grandparents, I don't think this one will fail:) The good thing is you can get a discount when you purchase more than one calendar.

But do you have ideas of frugal Christmas presents? Gifts you've given in the past or hope to do in the future?