Priority

I have never been one to pick a word for the year.  I have always thought it was a neat idea, but I haven't been compelled to do it - until now.  Partially I think that is because of how we celebrate Christmas and New Year's Day around our house.  I think my picking a word for the year is also partially about how we celebrated this year, or rather what we didn't do.  This year, Christmas was different.  Miracle was in pain - so much pain that we ended the day at the emergency room.  Angelica and I cleaned the house while Miracle languished on the couch in pain.  We didn't concentrate on having family time.  How could we?  We didn't bake a cake or have a special meal.  And... we didn't sit down and give gifts to Jesus.  It bothered me all day, but as I was going to sleep, I resolved to set the next Sunday aside as a day for Jesus.  And yet, we didn't celebrate Christmas then either.  OUCH!!  So, as today is nearing a close, I realize what I need to give to Jesus as a gift this coming year.  And in so doing, I realize that word needs to define my life in so many areas.  The gift I am giving to Jesus this year is to make Him a priority, something I regretfully haven't done for several years now.  OUCH again!!  

The girls and I, especially Miracle, wanted this Christmas season - and really every event celebrated between September and August of next year - to be perfect.  Miracle will be entering college in the fall but she's not just going to another state - she will be on the other side of planet earth!  AND she won't be able to come home for 11 months!!  This Christmas and New Year were less than perfect and yet I think we have all realized just how perfectly imperfect our lives and celebrations were.  In the midst of the pain and sickness, we all love each other and strive to love Jesus.  In the end, that's what it's all about.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR, my friends.  May your year be filled with the love of Christ and family.  May you always seek Jesus throughout the year.  May you find that one thing that He wants you to spend focusing on this year and pursue it wholeheartedly.

#1-Love of family

Abundantly Blessed

On Christmas Eve, the girls worked hard all day to clean the house and organize their personal space.  At the start of the day, I wrote down all of the jobs that needed to be completed and put them in a jar.  As each girl finished a task, she would pick another slip of paper.  I had put a few fun things in the jar like play a game with me or take 15 minutes time for yourself.  The girls were much less resistant to the unpopular jobs and excited to choose something from the jar, especially after they knew there were prizes included.  The reward for having accumulated the most strips of paper was to choose the first evening activity.  FigNewTon chose opening gifts from other people.  That's what we all wanted to do. 

Both girls volunteer at the library throughout the year.  They received scarves and gloves from their favorite librarian.  I didn't realize until just now that I didn't get a good picture of Butterfly. 

Then they each got to open a box from Autumn.  Check out the boxes.   

Inside were quilts that Autumn had made.  Butterfly has described hers as "perfect" and "it fits me."  You can get a better look at the quilt here.   

FigNewTon's quilt is also a perfect fit.  She is a bit less expressive, but goes into her room just to look at it throughout the day and is the first one to grab her quilt whenever we sit down to read or watch TV.   Autumn shows much better pictures of the quilt here.

Pictures of me and my gifts are harder to come by since I am always on the wrong side of the camera. 

Autumn sent my gift to me early, so that I would have it while I was recovering.  You cannot imagine how hard it was to not reveal the secret about the girls' quilts after receiving mine.  I cannot count how many times I stopped myself from comparing pieces of my quilt to theirs.  I am so glad the cat is finally out of the bag! 

Days before Christmas, we were surprised with boxes at our door from Debbie.  I opened them to find gifts inside and peeked at the invoice just enough to know who they were from.  Now that they are open, I can tell you that Fluxx is our new favorite game!  The package also included Mexican Train Dominoes which we haven't had the chance to play yet.  FigNewTon is especially excited about that one. 

Then Natalie stopped by and brought us all gifts.  I am quite excited about the devotional book she gave me.  I don't usually like devotionals and yet I can hardly wait till Saturday so that I can begin reading this one!  She also gave me a wall plaque that looks beautiful hanging in my room.  On it is the verse that is the cry of my heart right now and yet I hadn't told anyone. 

Yesterday, my friend Julie took me shopping for a bed.  I have never had a new bed before.  My twin bed was in horrid condition.  The box spring was busted so I was sleeping on my mattress on the floor.  I could feel the springs inside and knew it wouldn't be long until one of them pushed through the fabric.  Now I have a full size box spring and mattress!  I had a gift card to Wal-Mart so I was able to go out today and pick up sheets and a mattress cover for the bed.  I need to get a bed skirt, too; but they didn't have any that I liked in stock so that will have to wait.  

There have also been monetary gifts this past month.  Each one came with instructions from the giver.  The first was to buy gifts.  For that I am thankful.  It relieves so much pressure when I know I can give the girls some gifts from me.  They are always so blessed, but it blesses me to be able to purchase things for them.  Then there was the Wal-Mart card to buy things for the house and that allowed me to pick up things we have been needing for a while like a new shower curtain and a mixer as well as the freedom to choose a larger bed because I knew I could buy sheets.  Then a little more money arrived Christmas Eve designated for whatever we need after the holidays. 

God always provides for our needs, often more extravagantly than I could imagine.  This year we were truly and abundantly blessed. 

Merry Christmas!

May your celebrations be filled with love and peace!  Blessings to you, my friends!

Fire Engine

FigNewTon went through a stage that lasted from the time she was four until she was six and a half that she wanted to be a fire fighter.  Being a fire fighter consumed her every conversation and thought.  The year she was six, she entered a competition to disguise a turkey to keep it safe on Thanksgiving  and she dressed it up as a fire fighter.  She had a fire fighter doll, a fire fighter coat and many other things.  Her obsession started when she went along on a Daisy field trip with her sister.  She told the fire fighters that day that she wanted to be a fire fighter and they laughed at her and told her girls couldn't be fire fighters.  She set her mind on doing exactly what they had told her she could not do.  If you look closely, the ladder on this side of the picture is broken.  She played with it and had it set on her dresser for the longest time; sometimes even carrying it around with her.  This ornament reminds me of all that and more. 

Handcrafted Favorites

One of my favorite parts of decorating for any holiday is the excuse it gives me to display things the girls have made throughout their childhoods. 

FigNewTon painted this when she was three. 

Both girls made one of these in 2006.  Butterfly was 11, FigNewTon 10. 

This is one of my most cherished possessions.  Butterfly gave it to me the year she was four.  In case you cannot read what is written, it says the box "is filled with love and hugs and kisses and tickles.  But it doesn't really have anything in it."   She was so unsure of herself, giving me an "empty" box for a gift.  I told her it was the best present in the world. 

Butterfly made this the year she was four.

Again, Butterfly made this when she was four. 

Nothing else looks quite right on top of my tree. 

FigNewTon made this when she was seven. 

She has always loved the way it reflects the light from the tree.

Butterfly made this when she was five. 

She said it was a light for the tree.

Both girls made these last year.

  

In case you can't tell, this is Santa Claus. 
Butterfly made this when she was seven. 

FigNewTon made this for school last year.  She was reading The Family Under the Bridge and one of the assignments in her literature book was to make a Christmas display for a store window. 

FigNewTon made this when she was six. 

It is a Rapunzel snowman. 

Angels

Angels are not my thing. Angel figures have always bothered me because the way angels are represented in modern culture is not at all scripturally correct. In the Bible, angels are almost always very powerful creatures that elicit a response of fear. Their first admonition to the humans they come into contact with is often, "Do not be afraid." They are also typically given male names in scripture. So, for this reason, angel figurines are not my thing. They are, however, FigNewTon's. She loves them. So we have a lot of them. There are only three in her collection that I really like. This first one she made from pasta and paint when she was seven. It always makes me smile.

This second one, she made when she was five. She was so proud. She cut out three angel shapes by herself and glued them together and then painted on them a bit. I actually had to photograph the least deocrative side because the other two sides have her name on them.

This third one, FigNewTon made from a kit when she was eleven. 

Here are the rest. Some are nice simply because they are so very old. We picked them up at thrift shops, so they have no significant meaning in that way, but they are special just because they are handmade and old.

    

  

Nativity Scenes

This one is tiny enough that I can hold it in my hand.  I think that is part of what has always fascinated me about it, because each piece shows intricate workmanship.  The figures glow in the dark.  I can remember begging Grandma to let me sleep in the living room so that I could look at this after the lights went out.  Unless we had company that was sleeping in my room, she would only let me sleep in the living room three times each Christmas; the day the decorations went up, Christmas night, and the day the decorations went down.  The last time we visited Grandma, she sent this home with me.  So for the last several Christmas seasons, it has sat on the dresser in my room. 

The girls went shopping with a friend early one January and insisted that I wanted this nativity set.  The friend indulged them and bought it.  Just because of the love my girls showed for me, how they wanted to spend money on a gift for me, this nativity is priceless. 

This was one of my first Christmas decorations.  The second year we lived in NE, a friend gave this to me as a Christmas gift.  It is a snow globe and a music box. 

This one usually hangs on my front door.  It was also a gift from a friend. 

It's not the greatest picture, I know.  The lighting is bad.  Oh well.  FigNewTon made this the year she was five.  It is Baby Jesus laying in a manger.  They took a baby food jar lid, glued straw in it and a ribbon around it, wrapped a piece of muslin around a small wooden clothespin and glued that on.  Such a simple craft, really; but what a powerful lesson to teach those little ones about the birth of a Savior.  What a powerful reminder, years later, still hanging on my tree. 

Again, not the greatest picture.  Have you ever tried to get a picture of an ornament?  Butterfly wrote a letter to Santa when she was six; "An ordament about Jesus birth" was top of her list.   

Last Year's Ornament

One for each girl.  Can you guess whose is whose?

Figure Skating

Most of you know that FigNewTon loves to figure skate.  These are all her ornaments, but still ones that make me smile.  :)

I bought this one early January 2008 at a gas station between my Grandma's house and home.  I got it for pennies because although you cannot tell, it is broken.  She was missing the bow on her head and I made one from beads that I glued on and she was supposed to have a mirror glued under her foot.  Try as I might, I couldn't get anything that I glued there to stick.  This ornament is one of my favorites anyway simply because it was perfect for FigNewTon. 

I bought this one for FigNewTon as a gift last year. 

This is one of my favorites.  It is a music box.  We picked it up at Goodwill and it was a gift to FigNewTon last year, but I don't even remember if it was from me or Butterfly. 

Part of why it makes me smile has nothing to do with FigNewTon or figure skating.  One Christmas when I was 11, a teacher bought me a stationery set that had mice on it.  This makes me think of that and remember that no matter how bad things were, God was looking out for me and always placed someone in my life to care. 

The Reason We Celebrate

Butterfly made this ornament when she was eight.  Looking at it helps to center me and bring my focus back to the reason that we celebrate the season.  On each side is a different name for God: Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father and Mighty God.  In the midst of the business and chaos that often consumes the Christmas season, this ornament helps me to see Christ more clearly. 

Christmas Crafts

 This afternoon, we dug into our Christmas craft box and created these...

Deck The Walls

The Christmas the girls were 2 & 1, we had just moved to a new city in a new state and we knew no one.  We also had very little money and no Christmas decorations.  I was at Target picking up some things we needed and decided to buy some pretty paper and ribbon.  I took it home and wrapped the ugly pictures on the wall in my furnished apartment.  It was a simple and cheap way to decorate that first year.  Since then, most years at least some of my pictures get wrapped.  This year we just wrapped the maps that take up one wall in the school/living room. 

Over the next several weeks, I am going to make a few posts about some of my favorite ornaments and what makes them special.  I hope you enjoy reading about the memories as I much as I enjoy recording them here.  :)

Deck The Halls

The Christmas tree and decorations went up in stages this year. The responsibility fell completely on the girls and they did a wonderful job. It took them one day to put up the tree,

another to string the lights

and one more to decorate it,

but at least they had fun in the process!

They put out a few of my favorite Nativity scenes.

The stockings are hung.

My usual piggy bank collection has been replaced with Christmas themed ones.

The girls hung lights in the living room window

as well as in their bedroom.

Butterfly set out a few of her favorite pieces.

So did FigNewTon.

They even put out most of my snowman collection. This makes me smile every time I look at it.

All my Christmas cards have been sent out and a few have begun trickling in.

We are ready to enjoy the Christmas season.  I hope you are too!