With half of my kids gone, I had a difficult time pretending to be excited about decorating the house and tree but for the sake of the younger ones I kicked my attitude out of the pity party and we got to work. The lights, stockings, nativity and the little tree with all of the elementary school picture ornaments turned my whiny frown upside down and Happy Holidays were officially upon us.
December didn't bring any snow - which we were completely fine with - so we spent an evening making snowflakes. This was the first year that Nathan and Hyrum were able to get a tight enough grip on the scissors to cut through all the paper layers. We were very proud of our delicate flutters hanging in the windows.
Tradition, Tradition!
At the end of November Erika asked me for the binder that we had used for several years when she was younger. Each night from December 1st through Christmas Day had a story to read from the binder. After a few years I realized that the kids were complaining that they knew the stories and it was boring and to be honest, I was a bit tired of trying to keep their attention and was a bit bored of the same stories as well. When Erika asked for the binder I stood in surprise at her retelling of what I thought was a forgotten family tradition.
"Remember the elephant story and the one when the boy does the milking early for his dad and what was the one about President Faust?"
I couldn't believe that out of all my children, Erika was the one with fond memories of this. She complained the loudest, tried to pretend to be asleep and rolled her eyes when we called her for family story time. This motivated me to revisit our tradition, adapting it to avoid the same boredom that settled in previously.
Days of searching, reading book summaries, and online ordering and I had a months worth of books ready to go. I loved seeing them all wrapped up under the tree and even though the boys could tell they were books, they were thrilled to open a "present" and take turns reading a new story each night.
Nathan's class learned all about Jewish traditions and the differences between Hanukkah and Christmas and parents were invited for a day of celebration. Nathan's part was to teach us about the menorah and how to play Dreidel; explaining what each symbol meant.
Holiday Happenings
I pulled out the paints, paper and Mod Podge to make some new ornaments for the small pine tree in the entry way.
While Justin, LeRoy and I were at a stake meeting, Erika and the little boys made a gingerbread house. Erika built the house and did the front and sides. Nathan and Hyrum each did one side of the roof and one gingerbread man.
For Family Home Evening we went to see A Christmas Carol. I was worried than Nathan and Hyrum would lose interest through the three hour production but they loved it!
Daymia called on a Saturday to let us know that Santa was visiting Super Cuts so we headed over for some much needed trimming and a chance to visit with St. Nick.
Nathan and Santa has a 15 minute chat while Hyrum had his hair cut and styled. They discussed favorite traditions, Magic Tree House books, teachers and yummy holiday foods. After his haircut, he was happy to have his picture taken with Daymia the Reindeer. Hyrum refused to look at Santa and even though he has a not-so-secret crush on Daymia, he declined a picture with her.
Another December Family Home Evening was spent at the visitor's center at the Idaho Falls Temple.
Through the wind and wet weather we caught a couple of pictures by the nativity and before the remodel starts on the Idaho Falls Temple.
Inside we viewed the Testaments movie on large screen, watched He Is The Gift, and viewed the paintings and video clips around the visitor's center.
Service With a Smile.....and doorbell ditching
Our time at the temple, and daily doses of encouraging stories of service, boosted us into our gift giving tradition. We chose a family (single mom with two daughters, age 7 and 5) to do the 12 Days of Christmas for. Shopping with my boys for two little girls of their approximate age was so much fun! They were thoughtful, thrifty, and completely selfless as we filled our cart with pinks and purples and everything Frozen, hair accessories, jewelry, socks, clothes and even a baby doll for each one of them.
With the nightly gift left on their front porch we included an envelope with a thought, scripture and nativity cut out.
Some nights get somewhat tricky trying to get in our sneaky service as we run between all of our other activities. We tried to go as a family each night but it didn't always work out that way. On a night when I was busy, Justin was great to plan ahead and take the gift to gym with him so he could do it on the way home and on two different nights it was just the little boys and I. Though I drove him there, Nathan did the doorbell ditching all by himself and felt so big for it. It was a great way for the boys to own the project rather than just going along with something that I had planned.
We also put together a Tithing Settlement Survival Kit for our bishop.
No comments:
Post a Comment