Happy St. Nicholas Day

Today is the Feast Day of St. Nicholas of Myra, and these are some of the ways we celebrated today! The kids layed out their shoes by the fire place and left St. Nicholas an apple, carrots for his horse :)


We have been reading books for a couple weeks that I have gotten from the library (many books:) but here are a few that we liked! I heart inter-library loans!
The kids love the different history and legends that are written. I have used so many great blogs as resources for lists!
Here were their shoes to discover in the morning!! They were all so excited (of course) and shared their stories of St. Nicholas before we headed to church. (Niky was at a neighbor's birthday sleep over:)We decided to have a brunch after church with Steve's parents to celebrate. We made strawberry blintzes and read some of the books cuddled on the couch. Allie set the table for me and Steve put a picture of St. Nicholas on everyone's plate. Shaye made our dessert...
Kerry helped me with an idea and the kids responded SO wonderfully! I told them that they were to secretly help out someone in our family and then they had to place the St. Nicholas card where they gave sacrificially. I think EVERY bed was made by dinner time and even the trash taken out by my four year old! Seth even took half the rice krispy treats to a neighbor with a note. They LOVE giving! We may be inerrantly sinful, but we love responding to our Lord! I really needed to see this!

We got to help a family we love this weekend that just naturally gives to others. Then, they were all given monetary gifts today for Christmas by their grandparents...Steve and I were challenged that we need to adopt a family or a need to take care of howEVER we could. We had a family meeting and decided to help a family that has been dealing with cancer attacking this family's father and ALL that that entails. A local group in our town is collecting money for their Christmas and we decided to give to them. This really has nothing to do with US! I see it as, it really has to do with helping this family. We GET to give!!! Two days ago, we could NOT have! The whole spirit of St. Nicholas got to play out in many ways today. SO thankful!

What started as maybe a lesson in church history or Anglican tradition ended in seeing how God was truly meeting our need so that we could look OUTSIDE ourselves!

Emmanuel, God WITH us!

First Week of Advent Comes to a Close

It has been a great first week of Advent.

We unpacked some Christmas decorations last Sunday...the girls were SO anxious to get started. I walked into the living room at one point and saw my cute hubby putting together an artificial tree that we have borrowed from my inlaws the past couple years...he had super glue and my hair dryer, trying to piece it back together... Once he got the top on and saw that the lights were not working he threw it all back into the box. Poor guy! He tries so hard for us!! On Monday I took the kids to BSF and Steve and Shaye went and got us all a tree! Shaye was so proud to pick it out and kept saying...This is the best Christmas tree ever! Its finally decorated!

I explained to the kids how I wanted Advent to be focused and asked what past Advent traditions they wanted to use to walk that out. The Jesse Tree was a must to them...we are hit or miss on a daily basis, but overall this week, we have had some great conversations of Jesus being chosen from the beginning of time! Many of the ornaments are ones that Nik made when he was 8, so he is a tad emotionally connected to them. It is neat to be going over it again and see how each of them has grown in scripture over the past couple years and how they get certain aspects of theology on a slightly deeper level than before. I just don't think you can overdo the Jesse Tree. I have found different sites (bought that one a couple years back) and books that are great also, but for some reason I keep going back to this one and use it every year!

Also, they wanted to start Jotham's Journey again. This is a series of books we had started about 4 or 5 years ago. The kids are all at different stages now, so the girls (7 & almost 5) will start to appreciate them like the boys do! They always beg for more to be read! I love ending a storytime like that!! During this reading we light our advent candles, their other favorite part :)

I mentioned also to the kids that I wanted to focus on Advent music/hymns this month, instead of just the typical Christmas music. Nik took it upon himself to pick a hymn each day with a book he got last year for St. Nicholas Day. Because of those little lessons, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear was ruined for me because the author believes all roads lead to Jesus...sigh...we did get introduced to the "O Antiphons" though and cannot wait to discover those more, very interesting!! I also was sent these two devotionals. One is from Our Grace Journey, a blog that I have used for different studies before. The other one is from an AMiA church in Chapel Hill, NC.

Mentally I feel like I am IN Advent...which is NO small feat for me and my brain! I feel focused and able to think outside my homeschool mental box (something God is trying to grow in me, patiently). I am loving the revelations that I am getting regarding Advent and the traditions, I just love the depth of our Creator!!

Advent

Stir us up, O Lord, to make ready for your only-begotten Son. May we be able to serve you with purity of soul through the coming of him who lives and reigns.

The first Sunday in Advent is November 29th this year. I think every year I wonder how quickly it got here. Some years I don't feel like I was paying attention, others, I felt so crazed that it was over before I caught up. This year I feel somewhat cognizant of what is actually going on around me. This does not mean I am planned all the way through Advent or any other sort of foolishness. But, I am ready to prepare my heart for Advent. And I guess that is what it is about! Because, if I am ready, then, I am somewhat prepared to walk my children through it also!

I went back and looked at different things we have done over the years. So much we have learned as a family since then. But this week I discovered this blog. It brought to my heart a few things...one, it is not Christmas until December 25th, no matter what sale's ads tell you! I SO understand the anticipation and longing to make this season seem longer than it is and to LAST longer than it does. But when you follow the calendar of Advent, Christmastide and Epiphany, it really does last longer than we think! So much depth to this season that I have missed before, even growing up in the church. I just love how the author of this post expresses that, even just through the music alone! Its about the anticipation, we are SUPPOSED to feel that way! But anticipation of WHAT?!? I have understood the answer to that question for years, but I feel I finally *get it* this year on a deeper level. But, thats how God's word works, ever growing inside of us.
Another thing it brought to my heart was: to give understanding of the anticipation that the kids feel.
I am typically not anti-consumerism (in general), but the more I start to get this on a spiritual level, the more I see how it totally steals. It steals from our joy, our anticipation, our true happiness, all of it (if we are really honest with ourselves). Of course we will give gifts this year, but I want my children to understand *why* they feel those butterflies in their bellies. Its, dare I say, God ordained, to point back to Him! They're all signs to point back to the One who it is all about! Emmanual...God with us!

I do not get music the way Jennifer Miller gets music, but I understand what she is trying to express and communicate. Advent. Adventus. Ecce advenit Dominator Dominus. Behold, the Lord, the Ruler, is come. Advent is VERY different than Christmas, and I feel like that is what I am finally understanding. I feel with the traditions we have set up the past couple years, we have built the form of the spiritual truths that God wants to communicate to us this season.
It will help (hopefully) make sense because of these traditions we have used in the past! I have such a deeper anticipation even in my own heart! I am so excited to be able to communicate this with the kids and help them put meaning to that anticipation that they feel. Some of this revelation I wonder why I had not seen, not only have you come Lord, you are so patient as well! Help us look to you, Emmanual, God WITH us!