Visions of a Different Christmas Dancing in My Head

I'd love to show you our Advent calendar for this year or a stack of Christmas books or a list of Christmas crafts to do, to tell you I have all of my Christmas shopping done and every decoration put up.

I'd love to tell you about the new recipes I'm going to try and the amazing feast I have planned for Christmas Day, or how I've organized our Advent readings and purchased new Christmas music.

But what I'd love to do just isn't happening.

It's December 1st, and we're recovering from sickness while trying to keep our school schedule going. I'm looking at piles that need to be purged, clutter that needs to be bagged up and carted away, an inflexible budget, and a sadness that's become my second skin.

This is a hard place to be when you love to celebrate as much as I do, when you're a lover of traditions and making this glorious time of year special in the most memorable of ways. Of course, the pressure doesn't just come from within. Every where I turn are wonderful suggestions for celebrating Christmas. And my heart is skillful at making these suggestions idols, of believing that if I'm not creating an endless string of special moments, my children won't grasp the beauty and awe of this season, won't grasp the wonder of His coming to save His people.

So, I'm fighting. Fighting to find contentment in what I can do, but even more so, in who He is and who I am in Him. Fighting to rejoice in what others CAN do. Fighting to love my Savior more than I love my plans and my traditions. Fighting to remember that small things done are better than big things planned.

These are notes to myself and any other Mom who finds herself too sick or too broke or too sad or simply overwhelmed to be able to do all she had hoped to this Christmas.

1) What they'll remember: Our joy in doing what we can and resting in His providence instead of murmuring or nursing guilt will leave a more powerful impression on our children than the fanciest Advent activities or the most expensive gifts.

2) Real Simple: Though keeping it simple is a mantra all over the internet, we often make keeping it simple quite complicated and expensive and glamorous. You don't have to bake a gourmet cookie recipe with 35 different ingredients. Make your favorite sugar cookie and decorate away. You don't have to create a snow village from paper cutouts that take 12 hours of preparation. Print out some coloring pages and color with your children.

3) Assault yourself with Truth. Post Scripture everywhere and words of encouragement to keep you focused.

4) Priorities. Make the reading and studying of His Word and time in prayer your priority and a priority for your family. What a great gift it is to live out the truth that these are eternal investments of our time, means of grace that keep us grounded and growing.

5) We're not Scrooges. Rejoice with others in their season of fatness. Don't let the hedges that surround you sour your view of the abundance in others' lives. Be happy for your friend who has all of her gifts purchased and who made the gingerbread house from scratch. Our limitations don't make that cute Pinterest project evil or gift-giving sinful, and we shouldn't malign traditions and celebrations to make ourselves feel better about what we can't do.

6) A Season Within the Season. Remember that what we can do comes in seasons. If next year finds you healthy, super-organized, able to lavish most abundantly gifts on your children, bake fancy desserts, and go special places, then thanks be to God! Delight in it! It is a wonderful gift! And remember to ask Him to keep you as much in your season of prosperity as you've begged Him to do in your season of leanness.

With love,
Trisha


**Better small things done than big things planned.
~Peter Marshall

Savior

"The word Jesus means simply 'Savior.' It is the same word as 'Joshua' in the Old Testament. Very striking and instructive is the selection of this name. The Son of God came down from heaven to be not only the Savior, but the King, the Lawgiver, the Prophet, the Priest, the Judge of fallen man. Had He chosen any one of these titles, He would only have chosen that which was His own. But He passed by them all. He selects a name which speaks of mercy, grace, help, and deliverance for a lost world. It is as a deliverer and Redeemer that He desires principally to be known"
~J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Luke


(My friend, Becky, is hosting a series focusing on the Excellencies of His Name. You can read the posts here.)

Advent Readings 2010

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherd 

and enlarge my mind;

Let me hear good tidings of great joy, and hearing, 

believe, rejoice, praise,adore,

my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose, my eyes uplifted

to a reconciled Father;

place me with ox, ass, camel, goat, 

to look with them upon my Redeemer's face, 

and in Him account myself delivered from sin;

let me with Simeon clasp the newborn child to my heart,

embrace Him with undying faith,

exulting that He is mine and I am His.

In Him thou has given me so much that heaven can give no more.

~Valley of Vision

Here's our family's Advent read.  Edited by Nancy Guthrie, this book is a collection of  twenty-two writings from various authors, including Whitefield, Piper, Edwards, and Spurgeon.

From the author's preface:

"What a profound blessing it has been to read through written works and listen to sermons of some of the best theologians and Bible teachers of all time, searching for treasures of insight on the familiar Christmas story.  I've edited excerpts from writings and sermons into meditations that I pray will illumine your mind, awaken your longing, and prepare your heart for a fresh experience of the coming of Jesus this season."

You can read more about it here.

And here is a free pdf of Advent Scripture readings made available by Monergism.

Advent begins next Sunday, November 28th!

With love,

Advent 2009

Today is the first day of Advent.  As I've shared before,

"Advent is a season of preparation. For centuries Christians have used the month prior to the celebration of Christ's incarnation to ready their hearts and their homes for the great festival. While we moderns tend to do a good bit of bustling about in the crowded hours between Thanksgiving and Christmas--shopping for presents, compiling guests lists, mailing holiday greeting cards, perusing catalogs, decorationg hearth and home, baking favorite confections,a nd getting ready for one party after another--that hardly constitutes the kind of preparation Advent calls for. Indeed, Advent has been a time of quiet introspection, personal examination, and repentance. A time to slow down, to take stock of the things that matter the most, and to do a thorough inner housecleaning. Advent is, as ancient dogma of the Church asserts, a Little Pascha--a time of fasting, prayer, confession, and reconciliation. All the great Advent stories, hymns, customs, and rituals--from the medieval liturgical antiphons and Scrooge's A Christmas Carol to the lighting of the Advent candles and the eating of the Martinmas beef are attuned to this notion: the best way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to make straight His pathway to our hearts."

~from Christmas Spirit by George Grant and Gregory Wilbur

Because of some more pressing priorities, we won't be using my wonderful Upsized Advent Calendar this year, but you can look at it and possibly get ideas for your calendar if you're wanting to make one.

For our daily Advent readings, we'll be reading from Jotham's Journey.  It's an Advent devotional we use every few years, and we never tire of it.  The publisher summarizes the story...."In one of the most exciting Advent stories you will ever read, follow ten-year-old Jotham across Israel as he searches for his family.  Hold your breath when he faces thieves, robbers, and kidnappers.  Rejoice in his encounters with wise men, shepherds, and innkeepers until at last he finds his way to the Savior born in Bethlehem."

You could start using this advent devotional from Christ the King Presbyterian Church.  It's a free PDF.

Here are some Advent poems written by Pastor John Piper.

May this be a wonderful time of "thorough inner housecleaning" as you prepare to celebrate the gift of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


Love,
Queen Mom

The Upsized Advent Calendar

One of the projects I wanted to accomplish this year is our having an Advent Calendar. We use the ones you can find at the stores that hide sweet pieces of chocolate, which the children love and think are so much fun, but I wanted another one that would help us be more intentional about what we were doing each day during Advent.

So, I came up with an activity for each day from November 30th thru December 24th. After making my list, I simply put together this large-sized calendar using poster board and sticky notes. Under each sticky note, I wrote the specific activity for that day. Our list is a mix of quite a few different things. Just because we're being intentional doesn't mean we're not having fun and enjoying God's gifts to us. However, I did also want to include activities to help us reflect on our relationship with the Lord and with each other. I know Advent is a season of preparation and that works out differently for each family, so hopefully, as we continue this tradition, it will reflect more and more the work God is doing in our family.

Here's the list of our Advent activities:

1) Discuss Daddy's sermon about Advent during lunch

2) List five activities you enjoy doing this time of year. (I use this to help plan our 12 Days of Chirstmas)

3) Begin memorizing (again) Luke 2:1-21 (have ready by Christmas Day)

4) Enjoy milkshakes for breakfast

5) Pick out a new Christmas CD or make your own Christmas mix on I-Tunes (you must all agree)

6) Write a love note to Daddy.

7) Decorate our Christmas tree, and watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" together.

8) Consider one sin you're struggling with and commit to pray about it every day during Yuletide. Share with Mommy or Daddy so they can pray for you and help you be accountable.

9) Do a chore for one of your siblings....CHEERFULLY!

10) Make snowflakes and decorate the windows.

11) Write a note to a friend letting him/her know what you appreciate about your friendship.

12) See the River of Lights at the Botanical Gardens.

13) List 3 things you love about each family member and leave the list in his/her mailbox.

14) Help Mommy address Christmas cards.

15) Pick a sibling you have a difficult time getting along with and play a game together.

16) Send a note of gratitude to your grandparents.

17) Have a tea party with tea and scones.

18) Pair up with a younger sibling, and list 5 attributes of God, supported by Scripture. Close your time together by thanking God for who He is.

19) Secretly do something nice for one of your siblings. At the end of the day, each person will guess what was done and who did it.

20) Watch Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

21) Bake gifts for friends and neighbors.

22) Which sibling do you have the most difficult time being kind to? Be intentional about telling this sibling you love him/her and then commit to pray every day during Yuletide that God would make your heart tender towards this sibling.

23) Have breakfast for dinner...pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

24) Listen to the audio of "A Christmas Carol" while driving through town looking at Christmas lights.

25) Play Phase 10 and open one gift.

P.S. Remember the children haven't seen these, yet, so try not to mention them!:)

Advent~A Time of Preparation

Our family is new at this. Yes, we've celebrated Advent for the past several years with various books such as Jotham's Journey, or by creating a Jesse Tree and following those readings, but I don't think we've emphasized the "preparation" part. For this we must be even more intentional, and as my Mountain Man reminded me last night, "anything intentional is hard." We eagerly accomplish most of the tasks you'll see mentioned below, but have been slack in taking time for the "inner housecleaning" that George Grant refers to. So, while we won't be "there" at once, I am thankful for the opportunity to grow in this area and impart to our children even more meaning and understanding of this Yuletide Season. Here are some thoughts about Advent to encourage and inspire you.

"Advent is that period of great anticipatory joy--it is a time of preparation for the celebration of Jesus' arrival in Bethlehem as a helpless infant. In the Western liturgy, Advent begins four Sundays prior to December 25th--the Sunday closest to November 30. (Today is the first day of Advent for 2008!) The annual commemoration of Jesus' birth begins the Christmas cycle of the liturgical year-- a cycle that runs from Christmas Eve to the Sunday after the feast of the Epiphany."

"The four weeks of Advent are often thought of as symbolizing the four different ways that Jesus comes into the world: 1) at His birth as a helpless infant at Bethlehem, 2) at His arrival in the hearts of believers, 3) at His death, and 4) at His arrival on Judgment Day. Because Christmas falls on a different day of the week each year, the fourth week of Advent is never really finished; it is abruptly, joyously, and solemnly abrogated by the annual coming again of Jesus at Christmas."
~from a booklet given to us containing readings for Advent, Twelve Days of Christmas, and Epiphany...complied by various pastors

"Advent is a season of preparation. For centuries Christians have used the month prior to the celebration of Christ's incarnation to ready their hearts and their homes for the great festival. While we moderns tend to do a good bit of bustling about in the crowded hours between Thanksgiving and Christmas--shopping for presents, compiling guests lists, mailing holiday greeting cards, perusing catalogs, decorationg hearth and home, baking favorite confections,a nd getting ready for one party after another--that hardly constitutes the kind of preparation Advent calls for. Indeed, Advent has been a time of quiet introspection, personal examination, and repentance. A time to slow down, to take stock of the things that matter the most, and to do a thorough inner housecleaning. Advent is, as ancient dogma of the Church asserts, a Little Pascha--a time of fasting, prayer, confession, and reconciliation. All the great Advent stories, hymns, customs, and rituals--from the medieval liturgical antiphons and Scrooge's A Christmas Carol to the lighting of the Advent candles and the eating of the Martinmas beef are attuned to this notion: the best way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to make straight His pathway to our hearts."
~from Christmas Spirit by George Grant and Gregory Wilbur