I love this Season.
The festive colors and glittering decor; the annual traditions (like looking at Christmas lights in the expensive neighborhoods) stir childhood memories.
[I also love the break from school (we slept until 8:20 Sunday morning and even later on Monday), lazy mornings, watching Christmas movies in our pajamas and my kids shaking their presents under the tree. (Um, if they guess correctly, it's okay to lie, right??)]
The world celebrates a day.
We celebrate a birth.
I love Nativity scenes. The silent animals worshiping. The flowing gowns of humble servants on bended knee. The perfection of the scene: clean, crisp, every piece perfectly groomed.
(the Nativity I got for my birthday -it took us much longer than I want to admit, putting it (puzzle) together!)
I used to merely decorate with my collection of Nativity sets. I would arrange the Wise Men, adjust the Angel, ask little hands to stay away from the fragile Holy family.
Last year, Baby Jesus lost a thumb and half a finger. I'm pretty sure I yelled at the careless hands. What an oxymoron: I want them to know Him. I want them to honor Him with their attention during this season that forgets His birth, but I make Him untouchable.
When I am old, I want to pick up this piece from my Nativity and remember why Jesus only has four fingers and a broken thumb.
Santa delivered a child's version the year of my baby's first Christmas. I don't tuck it away in boxes destined for storage eleven months of the year. Small fingers carry pieces to the bath, tuck an angel away in a purse and at The Advent, we hunt down and gather them all together again.
I want my children to exchange the word Christmas, not with gifts, but with Jesus. His Name. I want them to know that Christmas is a birthday party for Jesus. And that's why we celebrate.
Just this week, my toddler decided, "Jesus, needs her a blanket."
[I didn't argue gender. I have a three year old. I lose those arguments].
She carefully crafted one from pink Play Do.
And I'm pretty sure Jesus loved it.
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What is your favorite thing about this week as we countdown to Christmas?
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30 comments:
This is my favorite time of year. My favorite activity is baking and decorating cookies with my kids on Christmas Eve! And then we go look at lights.
I had to laugh when I saw the pink blankie covering baby Jesus's face. One of our traditions is to choose a needy family and help them out. Too bad we got "caught this year." Dangit!
Well, I'm sure he'd like any color blanket she made him!
LOL! My two year old pulled Jesus out of the manger, so the camels could eat the hay. When I asked him where baby Jesus should sleep, he looked at me like I had a screw loose and said, "His mommy should hold him".
The first decoration - and only one for a while - was our nativity scene. I have loved listening to my children talk about the people and animals, and ask me questions, too. My favorite moment was when my daughter - as soon as she spied the box - said, "It's Baby Jesus!" and later described some of the people as Mary, John, Jesus, and the fairy. She's also 3 - so we are working on it!
My favorite tradition as a kid was driving around Atlanta on Christmas Eve. We looked at the lights on all the houses, and then ate breakfast for dinner at waffle house.
Also, we had a big nativity scene that my sister and I got to arrange on the barrel of hay. It sometimes became a bit competitive, pieces would mysteriously move in the middle of the night, but we had fun.
cute!
My donkey lost an ear this year at the hands of my 3yr old. I want him to learn "hands on" so I ordered a nativity made by Schleich off of ebay. They are made of vinyl - can't wait until it gets here!
My toddler loves his Little People Nativity too! Last week he announced "baby Jesus has to nurse" and thrust the Holy Child down my shirt! I felt quite honored.
I have a precious moments nativity that my mom handed down to me when I got married. Last year my then 4 year old son love the baby Jesus and would take him and hide him. To make a long story short, baby Jesus never made it back into the Christmas boxes, and we still have yet to find him. It's okay though, we have a baby Jesus in a manger that doesn't match the set standing in, heehee.
I love nativity sets - especially ones the kids can get "hands on" with.
I am having a Nativity Blog Carnival on my blog and would love you to link this up.
Thanks and Happy Christmas from N Ireland.
Just being with my family and sharing traditions. Since our oldest was married this year we have to work to get together. It's a new dimension but we love it.
My two toddlers love to switch the different baby Jesus' from different sets just to make me laugh. It's pretty hysterical finding my huge "nice" baby in the cheap, little children's set.
I love the Christmas Eve service at our church. It really brings the focus on where it needs to be for me. I'm done shopping and I need the calm before the next day's storm!
That was adorable, I love Jesus' pink blanket - looks good on him! My favorite part of this Holiday is Family - getting together with Family from all over the country to sit down, eat, catch up & going to the Christmas Services at Church. There is something magical about this time of year! I simply love it!!
My son graduated from the Little People nativity to the Playmobil nativity this year...and loves it! I've never seen such a detailed set that isn't breakable.
:)
Our favorite about the week before Christmas is finally getting to light all the candles on the advent wreath on our kitchen table.
The pink blanket is adorable. My kids love looking at the nativities too. We were able to visit a live nativity this year and they wanted to walk through three times so they could see the baby Jesus again. So sweet.
One of my children guessed correctly, then went ON and ON about it. I finally told him that he was on thin ice...either he was wrong, and would be disappointed, or he was right, which meant that I would be returning the gift to the store to purchase something else, because it's supposed to be a surprise. I thought that shut him up, but apparently he told one of my friends the whole tale, so I had to repackage and rewrap. The little pooper! My kids are a little older than yours, and I feel 100% okay messing with their emotional stability at this point! haha
So sweet, and touching. And I am such a sucker for developmental grammatical mistakes. Make me smile everytime I hear them. Right now my little guy is saying I me girl. Everyone is a girl right now, including baby Jesus. I don't don't think He minds.
We got that same nativity this year. I'd been looking for one for YEARS! Of course, with our LP collection there are always more animals at the stable than it came with. :-) I think we may have an added elephant and polar bear today.
Merry Christmas.
Ive been outta the blog loop for a bit, but really glad you are here to entertain me! I love your blog..thanks so much for you r dedication...Merry Christmas....
That is adorable! We adore sitting around in our PJ's as it gets close to Christmas and watching all of the wonderful Christmas movies on TV. We also bake a lot and spend a lot of time together as family.
Great memory making moments! I am missing the little kid years today. My sons are adults & on their own. With no grandkids in sight yet, it's kinda weird at christmas. Enjoy the season you are in!
What a great post. I too am trying to make Christmas about Jesus, not Santa. I need one of those Fisher Price nativities.
I absolutely LOVE the pink Christmas blanket. I can imagine my girls doing the same thing!
Love the pink blanket!!!
Our camel is missing an ear. I actually found it and saved it for 2 years, being too lazy to glue it on or even ask my husband to do it. I set it (the ear) out in a "safe place" when we unpacked our Christmas decor this year. It got thrown out. So, we have a kitten with one eye and a camel with one ear. Still want your son to come over and play? ;)
When my oldest was 4, we visited my in-laws. Every night before going to bed, my son would place all the nativity animals on their sides to put them to sleep. First thing in the morning, he would race downstairs to wake up the animals. It was so adorable!
I have one really nice nativity that I keep out of the reach of little hands. I have two that are just for little hands to play with. They so carefully arrange the pieces - and change the layout every day.
Actually, this year, a frog joined the nativity grouping. Don't ask. It's a long story. :)
I have found myself correcting my kids for touching my bible or my husbands bible. Talk about an oxymoron. HELLO, this is one book I want their sticky little fingers on anytime they desire! Now when they are grabbing for our bibles I try to sit down with them and read instead of shoo them away from touching.
The week leading up to Christmas is when we celebrate my daughter's birthday/adoption day (yes, they were on the same day-- adoption day was on K-'s very 1st birthday) and our Happy Home Day (the day that K- came to be with us.) For us, it just adds to the season where we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior.
What a precious story! I also enjoyed your reflections on the meaning of Christmas. I just found this nativity carnival and am enjoying reading each post.
I have an entire blog just on my nativity collection. You are welcome to visit any time: http://carolanativitygallery.blogspot.com
Happy New Year!
Carrie
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