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Our Christmas Favorites

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Christmas Collage

I love Christmas lights.  I don’t remember that I loved them as a child, but when Franklin and I married on New Year’s Eve 1999 our very simple decorations included luminarias outside the church and Christmas lights inside.  Today, our family spends countless hours driving in search of our favorite outdoor lights and Franklin is good to put white lights outside our house for me.  In fact, I love the white lights of our Christmas tree so much so that I put it up the first week of October in anticipation of Christmas.  Initially it’s decorated with fall leaves and gold glittery berries, but as soon as possible the Christmas decorations are pulled from storage.

I would tend to say that our tree is not fancy, as fancy is not a descriptor of myself or my decorating style, but this year in particular that would be a lie.  The base of our Christmas tree decorations had been simple blue, white, and gold balls since we married, but those that had survived years of rough and tumble were looking a bit worse for wear.   This summer I struck gold at a garage sale when I found peacock colored decorations, more than any one tree needs, when a newlywed neighbor and her husband decided on a more traditional theme.  This year our tree is fancy.

In life I’ve certainly learned that I am particular.  I have a particular way of doing things and my expectations for how things are to be done have been cause for frustration.  Many years ago I realized that I would have to lighten up a bit if I was to have any rest in my life.  My family works together to get the cleaning and laundry done and it’s often not exactly how I would do it but I’m grateful for the help.  This is the first year I allowed the Christmas tree to be decorated by my children and as I taught them my method I enjoyed telling them about some of the ornaments and Christmas decorations that are particularly meaningful to me.  I’m sure you have your special stories as well.  I’d love to hear about them.

We have our share of “Our 1st Christmas” and “Baby’s 1st Christmas” decorations and dozens of decorations the kids have made throughout the years.  I’m not making light of these, but they are self explanatory.  There are, however, several ornaments that I want my children to know the story behind.  I’d hate for them to be discarded in my lifetime, never to see the lights of Christmas.  Here’s fair warning: Bailey, Emma, and Caden, I want these in my living quarters when I’m old and crotchety!

The oldest is a 4 square table topper with an angel design.  I do not claim to be a seamstress.  In fact, my mothers are the only ones my children have seen sew, but Franklin and I lost our first pregnancy just before Thanksgiving in 2000 and weeks later as we prepared for our first Christmas together I made this little table topper.  We don’t talk about our loss often but this little table topper is always a part of Christmas.

My dad passed away in 2006 just 9 months after we lost Franklin’s dad, and holidays are certainly a time for remembering these special men.  I have several things that belonged to my dad but he wasn’t one to shop for gifts for us which makes the Christmas ornaments he gave me in 2002 particularly special.

One of my dad’s many hobbies in retirement was coin collecting.  He learned much about coins of antiquity and enjoyed sharing about his collection.  In 2002 he purchased a fine troy ounce of silver for everyone in our family.  He had “Merry Christmas”, our names, and the year engraved and had the silver enclosed in a plastic case with a Christmas ribbon hanger.  He also gave every grandchild a .999 silver dollar for their birth year for the Christmas tree.

While my mother has never been at a loss for something to do, the Summer and Fall after my dad’s passing my mom kept busy with a Christmas runner for each of my siblings and me.  Unlike my machine pieced “quilt”, my mom hand quilted 5 squares for each of us, titling her runners “My Christmas Memories”.  It is beautiful and my picture certainly doesn’t do it justice.  Stop by for a cup of coffee and you can admire her handiwork.

When Emma was 18 months old I was fortunate to visit Washington, DC.  The conference was short and we spent 1 night on an evening tour of the monuments.  We stopped at The White House Historical Association Museum where I purchased my only 2 souvenirs of the trip, The White House Historical Association’s ornaments for Bailey and Emma’s birth years.  When Franklin and I returned to Washington, DC with the Portales High School chorale in 2009 we purchased a third for Caden.  You might be interested in looking through the collection at the official Museum site http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_ornament/ornament.html.

I’ve continued to purchase Christmas ornaments as my souvenir-of-choice when we travel.  In another picture above you will find our Kennedy Center ornament, an ornament from North Pole, Alaska, and a Grand Canyon ornament from this year’s summer camping trip.

Last but not least I’d be remiss if I didn’t include Franklin’s favorite Christmas decoration.  Two years ago the kids and I made 24 glitter ornaments for Franklin and set up a small tree for him.  We splurged and bought every color of fine glitter Hobby Lobby had in stock so the colorful glass balls are all unique.  As I’ve considered our Christmas decorations, I find that this tree by itself is a beautiful picture of Christmas and Christ, the reason for our hope, joy, and celebration during our holiday season.

Two millennia ago, God sent His only son to be light in the world as a humble babe.  When we learn to trust Him and follow His leading in our life, He illuminates our darkness and colors our heart and mind with joy and compassion for others.  I pray you have a Merry Christmas and that 2014 is full of light and color for you and yours!

PS – The roll out for our collection of faith-based leveled readers is right around the corner.  Our final anthologies go to press in mid-December.  Check out more about Me and Thee Studios, our original praise and worship music, and our faith-based Early Reader Collection at http://www.meandtheestudios.com/.  Don’t miss the “Store” where you will want to reserve your “early bird” collection(s) and receive our 10% discount (available only until 12/31/13).

Peter Pan and a Most Refreshing Sleep

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My two youngest and I headed to Norman for Thanksgiving two days early and returned the day after my husband and our oldest headed home.  Franklin and Bailey are tied to the school calendar while Caden, Emma, and I enjoy the flexibility of a home-school schedule.  As our travel days were officially school days, I checked out Peter Pan on CD for the drive.

Written by playwright J.M. Barrie from his original play, Peter Pan is both a familiar story that my children enjoyed (with some challenging vocabulary and structure), and a story with some interesting ideas for adults to gnaw on.  I love these kinds of reads.  I’d not read Peter Pan and have particularly enjoyed thinking through one of the scenarios Barrie presented.

The beginning of the book introduces the reader to three siblings, John, Michael, and Wendy, and their parents Mr. and Mrs. Darling.  While the children do not tell their mother about Peter, who begins to visit them at night, Mrs. Darling knows the name Peter both from her own childhood and from her nightly arranging of her children’s thoughts and experiences from the day.

It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day.  If you could keep awake (but of course you can’t) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her.  It is quite like tidying up drawers.  You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you had picked this thing up, making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it were as nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that out of sight.  When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind; and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on.

I found this idea, a mother sitting beside her children unpacking and airing out the day, re-arranging experiences and thoughts, and hiding naughtiness, hoping it would stay hidden, to be interesting.  I’ve thought about this idea off and on for two weeks.  I certainly don’t assume to know anything about the author and my mind’s wanderings might warrant correction from a theologian, but this idea has been comforting to me.  I’ll explain why.

I love the idea of my Heavenly Father sitting beside me every night helping me understanding and make sense of my day, clarifying and correcting while allowing for discernment.  I imagine Him arranging my thoughts (and problems I might be wrestling with) with His finger, much like the technology of touch screens allows us to grab and move apps on our iphones.  I choose to believe He “airs out” my day for me, refreshes me, and allows me to start each day with new joy and strength.

I often go to bed worn out after a day of work on a project, or lay down thinking about a problem or situation.  When I wake up, I have a solution.  During my sleep, I’m given an idea:  a plan or process for completing a project, a new approach, or the perfect last lick.  While I do believe my mind works better rested than worn out, I believe too that God is ever present and ever active in the supernatural and I believe He downloads into our life (and mind) when we are willing.  In fact, I often pray that I will recognize and act on His will for my life.  Maybe my sleep is one of the few times in my day that God can hold my complete attention.

Job 33 – 14 For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.  15 He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds

I also often wake up in the middle of the night with a praise song playing in my mind, as though a portion of a known song, (6-10 words), is stuck on repeat.  I will go back to bed and wake in the morning with the same song playing.  I think the song has, quite literally, been playing all night long.  The words are always in line with whatever my spirit is wrestling with.

For example, most days I’m sure that this new season is exactly what God has been prepared me for.  I am usually able to stay focused throughout my day and am confident at the end of the day with our home school experience and my Me and Thee Studios progress.  But occasionally I doubt myself all day long.  I had one of those days earlier this week and remember being discouraged when I went to bed.  I don’t remember the song God placed in my Spirit but I think it was a known song and the gist of the refrain was that God is in control and that He has ordained my steps.  Jeremiah (31:26) says of revelatory dreams, “At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very sweet.”  My song filled my thoughts every time I woke up throughout the night and when I woke up the following morning I remember thinking, “Thank you, God, for Your faithfulness in bringing me peace.”

I pray God is generous in unpacking and airing out your days as you invite Him to reveal His will in your life.

PS – The roll out for our collection of faith-based leveled readers is right around the corner.  Our final anthologies go to press in mid-December.  Check out more about Me and Thee Studios, our original praise and worship music, and our faith-based Early Reader Collection at http://www.meandtheestudios.com/.  Don’t miss the “Store” where you will want to reserve your “early bird” collection(s) and receive our 10% discount (available only until 12/31/13).