shhhhh.....it's snowing....

Looking out my window and there it is...softly, gently, quietly coming down.

I let go all of my lists (for a second), let go all of my performances and let go all of my fears and worries because 

WORRY IS BELIEF GONE WRONG.

Because you don't believe God will get it right.

"In the thin air of Advent, you may not even know how to say it out loud: 'I thought it would be easier.' And your God comes near: I will provide the way.  You may not even know who to tell: 'I thought it would be different.' And your God draws close: I will provide grace for the gaps.  You may not even know how to find words for it: 'I though I would be...more." And your God reaches out: I will provide Me."

"God gives God.  That is the gift God always ultimately gives.  Because nothing is greater and we have no greater need, God gives God.  God gives God, and we only need to SLOW LONG ENOUGH to unwrap the greatest Gift with our time: time in His Word, time in His presence, time at His feet."

Slow....slow....slow....slow.........

Let go...........

wait.....

The answer to anxiety is adoration in Christ...

"Jesus doesn't merely come down to show you the way up - Jesus comes down to make Himself into the Way to carry you up.  Jesus doesn't show you the steps to get to heaven - Jesus is the steps to heaven.  He comes to us not in spite of our failings - but precisely because of them.  Ours is the God who is drawn to those who feel down.  Ours is the God who is attracted to those who feel abandoned.  Ours is the God who is bound to those who feel broken."

"God doesn't want to number your failures or count your accomplishments as much as He wants you to have an encounter with Him....God looks at you at your lowest and loves you all the way up to the sky."

My five minutes of window gazing is up.....so good for the soul...

Here we are...day 4 into the Advent season and I love it.  Why don't I focus my attention on Christ like this the rest of the year? Because just a month ago my heart was discontent...unhappy with this house, the craziness of life, the kids, my husband...life.  But forcing myself to keep up on the kids' devotional and the advent wreath...I have thrown myself back into the arms of Jesus and how sick I am that I forget that is the only place I need to be...can be. 

I'm reading about Zechariah and Elizabeth...because they are a part of the Christmas story.  So much silence from God and then Gabriel...the angel...the "sentinel of God", "the messenger who inhabits God's presence" appears and is with Zechariah in the Holy Place.  Gabriel which means "strength of God" is with Zechariah which means "God remembers".  Zechariah questions the angel of the Lord.  God silences him.  God has the power to silence him...take away his speech...does He not also have the power to give him a baby? 

Sometimes God has to catch us off guard and in big ways.  But this wasn't a form of punishment...but a form of His almighty power.  

What I have grown to love about this story is Elizabeth's joy and Elizabeth's heart.  I'm sure she had her days of doubt but she is in love with her God. Elizabeth made room in her heart, body and soul for a miracle.  And God had the situation well in hand.  I love how Liz Curtis Higgs puts it, "Through all her years of feeling less-than, Elizabeth had worshiped a more than-God.  Now she intended to give him the glory for it.  What's the opposite of disgrace? Ah. Grace.  God filled her with his favor, his mercy, his loving-kindness."

In my own heart, do I always make room for him? Do I push aside my busyness, my fears, my worries, my wants to make room for him here? with me? in me?

Every Christmas season I get weary.  I can't explain it.  In the "waiting" I get weary.  But every Christmas Day I rejoice with gladness.  Maybe it's because I am waiting.  Maybe because I am living the actual Advent season here.  Waiting for the coming Christ...to rescue this weary, worn, broken world.  God was truly silent.  The world was truly broken and wearily anticipating the promised Savior.  Then he came...

"in searching for a King but finding a child...no crown...no thrones...still they bowed down"

He comes when you least expect it and in ways unexpected.  

I'm sure there were many people in the time of Elizabeth and Zechariah that had given up hope.  That had maybe thought God wasn't there...the promised Savior wasn't coming. 

I was watching Grumpy Old Men...yes...me and there was scene with the old old OLD man and his still old son sitting on a bench talking about his age and the old old OLD man says, "I'm beginning to think God forgot about me"...referencing his age and still being alive.  

"God always sees - and He will always see to it.  Your legs may be weary and your heart heavy and your questions many, but whatever your are facing, it is always named Mount Moriah: the Lord will appear.  The Lord sees.  And He will see to it.  And He will be seen.  Every mountain that every Christian ever faces, the Lord levels with sufficient grace: The Lord Will Provide."

I can clear my schedule for a month but I can't clear for the rest of my life.  I can clear that schedule and make room for Him in my home and in my heart for a month no problem...but it's in the everyday mess that I struggle with.  

...and this is where I fail.  I think the gospel is old news sometimes.  I've accepted it and believe it but then I go right back to works...to the to do list's to make God proud.  But then I fail and the guilt takes over.  I forget the goodness of the gospel is for me...every single day.

"The flesh is performance driven (especially in this season) and I need to become Cross-centered again."

I don't need the Gospel just once - no one needs the Gospel only once - because all the bad days need the Good News of His grace again and again.  

"The gospel isn't a one time message for the unbeliever but the constant miracle for the imperfect and this changes everything...evangelize yourself today."

Help me Lord to be filled with joy and adoration like Elizabeth.  Help me be awed by your power and love like Zechariah.  Help me to not be overwhelmed by the season but overwhelmed by your goodness God.  I want to overflow with goodness to others. Help me see that the greatest gift you grace my soul with is YOUR PRESENCE. 

As you can see my decorations are very simple.  I think you can make your home look gorgeous for Christmas with the nature God gave us.  I made cinnamon  ornaments and use them to decorate lots and make garland out of. This garland is made out of wooden stars from Michaels and twine with cinnamon ornaments.  The tree is from our backyard and the bucket and stool were from garage sales.  I used any white vases I could find from my kitchen from a pitcher to a gravy pitcher to a creamer dish and filled them with evergreens.  I used old chalkboards and searched pinterest for ideas to write on them.  Wrapped wine bottles in twine and stuck everygreens in them.  I got $5 wreaths from Wal Mart and hung them in my windows. Got cheap berries from Michaels and everygreens and pinecones and filled every wooden basket I had and put a candle from the dollar store in them.  My house smells like evergreen and looks pretty (I think).

Oh! and we made this yesterday...so take this recipe and make it today.  Just be prepared to have a stomach ache and become incredibly addicted! 

Here is the original recipe with my few substitutions:

3 cups rice chex cereal

3 cups corn chex cereal

3 cups golden grahams

(I used 4.5 cupes of rice chex and 4.5 cups of multi grain cheerios because I didn't have the other cereals)

1 1/2 cups mixed nuts (I used slivered almonds)

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1 cup sugar

1 cup corn syrup

3/4 cup unsalted butter

Mix cereal and nuts in a large bowl.  Combine sugar, corn syrup and butter in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Boil for two minutes and pour mixture over cereal.  Stir to coat cereal mixture and allow to cool on wax/parchment paper.  Store in air tight container.  Congrats you are now officially addicted to Christmas Crack!

What we can't afford....

That's a wrap.  

The Pioneer Woman came through once again and the Tukey...well it made my husband fall back in his chair, roll his eyes back in his head and look at me and quietly said (because his mom was in the next room), "This is the best turkey I've ever eaten." That smile...that's what I was striving for.  Potatoes and turkey gravy with green bean casserole and pies, pies and more pies.  Pumpkin with crust cut outs, pumpkin without, pecan pie and the best apple pie we've (yes it's a team effort when it comes to pies) ever made together.  

The table was set and we were there...starting a new tradition of just being us on Thanksgiving.  Because one day it will grow.  These four boys will be bringing home girls someday and we hope marry girls someday and bring grandchildren home.  So this year...it was small and quiet but I know it won't be but a blink of my eyes and this table will be too small...

and just like that...after the turkey brined for a whole day and baked for half of another day...we wrap up Thanksgiving and move on....to my favorite time of the year.  I have three favorites.  Thanksgiving (hence the reason I don't rush past it to put my Christmas decor' up), Christmas and Easter.  Because in this house...they are not about the Turkey and sweet potato casserole, family parties or the ham.  It's not about the games played and the games watched or the rushing to buy the perfect gift and wrapping and unwrapping...in this house it is about one thing...ONE person...Jesus. 

So as I begin putting away my fall decor' and unpacking the Christmas decor' still lost in the garage from the move I begin to think...

There are a million different ways to have a great Christmas.  But there is only one way to ruin a Christmas.

Every year people leave their families on Thanksgiving and go rush through a crowd to buy, buy and buy some more.  Get the deals and the steals and who cares if you don't need it or if it's not even for Christmas...it's a good deal.  I know this...this used to be me.  Spending waaaaaay too much on this friday after we give thanks (that's now turned into Thanksgiving Day) and realizing half of the money spent wasn't even on Christmas gifts....just good deals. But who cares if you can AFFORD it right? In America, I always thought it was easy to look "well off".  Just put it on credit cards and take out loans and you are living the American Dream right?  

Whether you can afford to shop all December long or not...here are some things you cannot afford this Christmas...

Not only we, as a nation, but we as children of God cannot afford to make Christmas about anything else than the One He sent.  Jesus.  I'm not talking about a cake on Christmas Day or a small devotional.  Advent is about preparing and waiting.  Waiting for the coming Christ...the REAL WONDER of Christmas.  Two days until Advent and it's not too late to start.  It's not too late to start half way through December.  But a Christmas without Christ...is just a Holiday. It's the time to clear your calendar and slow your pace and wait...anticipate...and shouldn't we do this all year long...

"No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him...the dear Christ enters in."

It's where you start from the beginning because that is where Jesus is.  The entirety of the Word of God is about redemption...Jesus coming...God's love for his children. It's where you read about the connections from the Old Testament to this Jesus...God in the flesh.  The God who holds the UNIVERSE, not just our small world, in the palm of his hands...he came down in flesh...not as a mighty king or a valiant warrior...he came small and dependent and through a virgin.  Christmas doesn't lose it's wonder when you don't have piles of presents or an elf on your shelf or a Santa in your chimney...the wonder is in Christ.  

And because of this incredible wonder there is one other thing you cannot afford this Christmas...

You cannot afford to not be thankful.

Because when you think of this....how can you not fall to your knees and give thanks...

"How many kings stepped down from their thrones.  How many lords have abandoned their homes.  How many greats have become the least of these.  How many god's have poured out their hearts to romance a world that is torn all apart...how many fathers gave up their sons for me...only ONE did that for me!"

You can afford to make it a great holiday...but if you don't PREPARE ROOM FOR HIM then it's not the best Christmas...

"Let every heart...prepare him room.  For nothing else compares with you.  Restore the JOY of our salvation Lord.  Prepare our hearts for more of you."

I must first preface this with this: In no way is this post judging those who do Santa and the Elf on the Shelf.  This is how WE do Christmas and you may have your opinions on our theory.  I am strictly writing this post because I've been asked multiple times how we keep Santa out of Christmas so I decided to write a blog post instead of answering everyone individually. ;) with that being said.....

It's beautiful here. 

 Hundreds of reasons to give thanks to the One who created all seasons. 

Winter is upon us. 

I have frosted window panes, weighed down pine trees, wet floors and snow drifting and blowing in all directions...even up the hill from the river. 

I have turkeys and pumpkins and leaves and feel like I am in the wrong season.  That instead I should have snowflakes and snowmen and evergreens.  Winter in the middle of November...I love it!  The season we concentrate on giving thanks and finding Joy in the midst of our giving thanks. 

There are Christmas trees on facebook already and oh.the.commercials.  Those commercials that glorify big chain stores and not being content with what you have.  Those commercials whispering in your ear that for your kids to have a good Christmas they need more things. And instilled in us is this desire to please our kids and give them everything we didn't have.  It was instilled by a God who loves us despite our faults and too wants the best for us...but what we think is the best for us isn't always what He thinks is the best for us...same for your kids.  What they think is the best for them...isn't always the best...in fact, most times it's not.  

I remember growing up and I remember Christmas.  It was definitely about the birth of Christ but it was also about Santa and all about gifts.  We had to believe in Santa.  Yes I had one of those moms who told me I had to believe in Santa and even to this day she makes me participate.  I laugh as I write this because she loves LOVES Christmas.  I love that about her.  My parents stayed up late and pulled all of the presents out and wrapped them nicely and uniformly and put them under the tree and labeled them each with our names and from Santa.  Some kids were traumatized when they found out the truth about Santa and some weren't.  I was not a child whose life was dramatically changed when I found out Santa wasn't real...

Honestly some of the reason we don't do Santa is pure laziness.  It seemed like too much to keep secret and watch what I say.  But then some of it is this...if we only have a short amount of time to raise our kids...we want to spend every single minute we can speaking truth into their lives.  Christmas is magical.  The mystery of Christ makes me fall to my knees and wonder, "who am I".  Christmas is a miracle and I want to shout at the top of my lungs and share that amazing miracle with our kids and everyone around us! 

  

"No ear may hear His coming...but in this world of sin.  Where meek souls will receive Him, our dear Christ enters in."

When I got married my husband and I had to discuss how we would "do" Christmas.  You see I came from a divorced family.  So I got two Christmas' and they were big.  We got everything we wanted and then some...boxes and boxes of stuff and stockings bursting with little goodies.  My husband on the other hand came from a home where Christmas was small and no stockings.  Two different backgrounds coming together to one conclusion...

There's only one way to do Christmas and that is focusing on the One and Only! 

It didn't take us long to make a decision.  And this is what we do....

Christ... JESUS...the name that sounds like breathe Yahweh.  

I am incredibly thankful for Ann Voskamp and her blog! Her ideas and thoughts on the Advent Season have really changed how we do Christmas.  We don't do Santa or the Elf on the Shelf.  We don't do massive amounts of presents and baking cookies for the man on the roof the night before Christmas.  We don't visit Santa or write him letters and guess what...my kids don't feel they are missing out on anything.  

We fill our homes with Christ and prepare room in our hearts for Him...His coming.  When we make room for him as a family...we are filled! 

I prepare for the advent season like I prepare for the home school year.  This is how we fill our hearts with more of Jesus as we prepare for Christmas.  We read a devotional every night.  Ann Voskamp now has two but for two years I only read The Greatest Gift devotional and we did it as a family. 

  

This advent devotional comes complete with a pass-code to download free Jesse Tree ornaments.  We made our Jesse Tree out of twigs.  With each devotional is an ornament along with a family activity.  I looked through the entire devotional and wrote down the family activities on little tags that we hung on a tree along with an act of kindness to do each day.  These acts range from baking cookies for neighbors, making your brothers bed or mailing Christmas goodies to military families.  

Just this year Ann wrote a children's Advent devotional called Unwrapping the Greatest Gift

I highly HIGHLY recommend getting this devotional because let's face it.  Would we do it on our own? This book has it all written out for you and planned.  You just need to open it. 

Two activities we did last year as a family as well was the advent wreath and preparing a manger for baby Jesus.

I ordered this wreath from Ann Voskamp.  Her son hand makes them so I had to wait quite a while for them but it was so worth it (there is an addition to the wreath and a figure of Christ carrying the cross for Lent).  The kids looked forward to moving Mary closer to the center of the wreath as we read about the journey to the birth of our Savior.  The taller candles are for each Advent Sunday and the little one represent the days in between.  Next to our Jesse Tree is our wooden manger with a tin of straw behind it.  Every time someone in the house displayed a loving behavior or an act of kindness without being told was able to put straw in the manger...our goal was to fill it and make it nice before Christmas.  Christmas morning we then pull out a small baby Jesus figure to put in the manger.

Prepare Him room...

I wouldn't change our Christmas traditions for anything.  It's hard yes.  We live in America where people rush out on Thanksgiving and push and shove and yell and grow selfish to get the best deals.  We grew up where Christmas is about the presents and not about the only important Gift given.  We have to be intentional and slow down.  We have to purposefully clear our schedules so that we can make room for Christ.  How do you do that though when you are a part of the Church Christmas program and the Childrens program, or apart of the drama team or Choir or the nativity scenes.  What about Christmas parties, one after another for extended family.  It's hard to be intentional but I always fall back on this question...who am I here to please...man or God? 

Prepare Him room...

My kids know now...that Christmas morning is not about the gifts under the tree but about the gift in our heart.  To help with this and limiting ourselves we do 4 gifts Christmas morning. 

1. something you want

2. something you need

3. something you wear

4. something you read

This helps us limit what we buy and it makes it equal for each kid and they know that they are only getting four gifts Christmas morning.  We also do one family gift (board games, movies, last year we took the plunge and joined the xbox families) and we still do stockings.  But they are filled in advance (like one day) so the kids know we put them there.  

Now as far as that creepy Elf on the Shelf.  I never liked the thought of it.  I didn't like the "incentive" behind it so this year I am doing "kindness kids".  I am going to buy 4 little elf or doll ornaments and every day they will move around the house with a suggestion of being kind to someone.  For example...putting one in a baking bowl with a note that says, "let's bake cookies for our neighbors today" and they will also be found around the house with notes saying, "I really enjoyed watching you make cookies for your neighbors yesterday".  Again, my kids will know it's me but I think it will be a fun addition.  This will be my first year doing this so I'll see how it goes but for those of you who do Elf on the Shelf I highly recommend looking into this tradition.  Make it Christ centered with verses!

Making your Christmas season about Christ means you have to be intentional and it's never too early to start! Get your devotional ordered and decor prepared! Find different "wreaths" of lighting candles than the one I posted...get creative! Make different Advent tags and start making your Christ centered family traditions happen.  I promise you...your kids would rather have you! 

I have had friends ask what we do for Christmas (hence this post) but there was one in particular worried about how her kids would react...if they would feel like they are missing out.  I once heard a quote about you cannot expect to have Godly children without the parents demonstrating Godliness to them.  You cannot expect your kids to seek the true wonder of Christmas unless you demonstrate that wonder.  I let my kids see me cry...every time we watch the Nativity Story (no I don't think they are too young for that), every time we read of Jesus' birth...every time the wise men bend low or the shepherd says his "gift is the hope of waiting for one!".  I let my kids see me cry when the first snow falls and keeps falling and I let them see me affected by the true mystery of a God who holds the heavens in his hands.  I let them see the awestruck wonder when I describe that this God who intricately designed me has chosen to come here, on earth, in flesh to save us!  I let them see me vulnerable and completely in awe.  Because when they see that...they realize it's real...and it's worth giving up the American Christmas for.