Christmas Traditions

Per tradition around here, I let the kids make the Christmas wrapping paper. 

Saturday morning (thankfully it was still warm here before our cold front on Sunday) I rolled out paper on the driveway and gave the kids red and green ink pads to stamp their hands and feet across the paper. 

This year the 8 year old was less interested in stamping than he was in managing his younger brother and sister's work.  Fine by me!  Instead of reminding the 4 year old over and over and over not to put the red hand in the green ink, I sat on the patio, painted my toenails (really!), took a few pictures, encouraged, and let the 8 year old handle most of the project management, which he totally loved.

I finished the Christmas dresses I made for my daughters.  They are easy pillowcase dress style, only I didn't make mine with a pillowcase, and I did a fabric tie around the neck instead of a ribbon.  My 3 year old has a matching dress and even if we don't get her home from Ethiopia before Christmas, I'm still getting a picture of she and my 6 year old daughter in their matching dresses some day.  And I made the hem extra wide so I can let it out and they can wear the dresses next year!  But we are still clinging to hope that our new little girl will be home this year for Christmas.

My husband had his annual gingerbread house decorating with the kids.  They did a gingerbread village this year with several small houses instead of one big house.  I've started purchasing this village kit for them on purpose because I couldn't handle all the drama and moaning of trying to get the roof to stay on that big house when the icing just kept it sliding right off in year's past!  Anyway, the kids like each having a little house to decorate!

And we are reading our Countdown to Christmas Advent Devotional Book each night after dinner.

I'm grateful for the daily chance to reflect together as a family on the true meaning of Christmas -- Jesus!  Not Santa, not presents, not parties, but God's love for us, for the whole world!

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 John 4:9-16

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