Make Me Smile Monday

Spoiler alert!!! Mom and Nancy: If you're reading - please don't read this post until after Christmas!!! I don't want to ruin certain surprises we may have in store for you. :)


I wasn't crazy about Christmas when I was younger. Well, I might have been when I was very young, but (for reasons I won't get into) it lost it's sparkle somewhere along the way and unfortunately my disdain for the holiday only grew into my teen years. (As a side note, I could have chosen a better attitude regardless of my "reasons", but I didn't.) So as cheesy as it may sound to some of you, I'm so grateful that God used Jason coming into my life to help change that. Its been 12 years since I've chosen to look for and embrace the joy of the season, and there's no going back! ;)   

So now that we're married, creating family traditions for us to share with our children carries a lot of meaning and brings a lot of joy to my heart. One of the things I love about family traditions is that they hold the promise of forever. While it's true that we don't know how long we have in this life, we can commit ourselves to a lifetime of using the time we have to celebrating together as a family. And family traditions are a fun reminder to our children of the commitment we've made. Another thing I love about family traditions is that they have the potential be be happy memory makers.

So this year when I discovered a new tradition to introduce to our family...I was so excited!!! I saw this on (where else?) Pinterest and completely fell in love with the idea:

While (in recent years) I have loved counting down to the big day, I never really loved the little boxes you buy at the grocery store, especially since the ones they make now count down to New Years Day. (In our house the kids don't care so much about New Years but they get very excited about Christmas, so counting down to New Years isn't quite as much fun.)

So, after looking around online I found some bags on Etsy. They arrived (much to my delight!) on friday and J and I set it up this morning (no peeking was allowed) after I filled them on the weekend.

I also discovered another idea that I absolutely loved for filling our advent! And that is not only filling our advent with treats but activities! After looking around at a few different websites, I compiled my personal favourites and typed them out in Word. In case you're curious, here's what we're doing this year:

Have a family game night. 

Go ice-skating.

Put nativity set on display.

Bake some Christmas cookies.

Decorate a gingerbread house.

Choose something from Samaritans Purse or World Vision to buy together as a family.

Go visit Santa downtown.

Drive around and look at neighbourhood Christmas lights.

Fill the dining room with candles and turn on some Christmas music for dinner.

Go Christmas carolling.

Pop some popcorn, make some hot chocolate and watch a favourite Christmas movie!

Read a favourite Christmas story. (twice)

Put up a Christmas wreath on the front door.

Play a game of road hockey.

Make some fancy hot chocolate and snuggle up by the fireplace sharing favourite Christmas memories.

Go to the grocery store and buy food to be given to the food drive.

Fill the dining room with candles and turn on some Christmas music for dinner.

Make paper snowflakes.

Call grandma and sing Jingle Bells. Call grandpa and do the same!

Make paper snowflakes.

Mystery activity.

Make Apple Cider, grab a plate of cookies and have a Christmas family movie night.

Make some homemade pizza and have a Christmas family movie night.

It’s Christmas morning…it’s time to open your stockings!!!

I made a calendar in Word and planned activities based on how much time was available each day. That's why some activites are so quick, like put up a Christmas wreath on the front door. Most days have five treats I picked up at the Bulk Barn with Rebecca (it was her idea to go there, which was brilliant I might add, since I could count out the exact number for each day I needed). I left out treats on the days that involve something sweet in the activity. 

I also found the story of the birth of Christ (divided into 25 day segments) and put them into Word as well. Once I had the activities and verses in Word, I printed out one page of the verses as a test to make sure they would fit in my little 3x5 bags (Jason's idea, which is no big surprise...he's a planner). After I had the right fit, I cut them out and glued them onto red and green cardstock (red for the verses, green for the activities), cut those out and then laminated them (the laminator was a birthday present from my mom) and then cut them out one more time. Here's what it looked like:

And here's what it looks like now that it's all hung up:

I can't wait for the first of December!!! :)

What are your family traditions? Are you (like us) beginning any new ones this year?

Make Me Smile Monday

On Saturday R had her birthday party. We went with a Candyland theme. Some of you have maybe seen some pictures on Facebook, but I'm posting a few pictures here too, just in case you haven`t seen any. :) (I won't be posting pictures with any of our guests though, since this blog is public.) I was so happy to see the kids having fun and was even happier when at the end of the day R was still talking about how much fun her party had been.

Have you picked up on the fact that I enjoy throwing birthday parties? Even though there's a lot of planning involved, I really enjoy the entire process. From helping my children decide on a theme to seeing my "vision" through to completion. Theme's are certainly not necessary and of course my children would have just as much fun at their birthday party without one, but they're also rather quick to pick up on the excitement since this really is just a part of who I am. 

The reason I'm bringing this up is quite simple. There have been times in the past when during the excitement of planning (of other birthday parties) I have been confronted with unusual reactions from people. Reactions that made me feel embarassed by the enjoyment I have in being true to the way God made me (even in something as seemingly insignificant as the planning of my children's birthday parties). For a while I allowed it to impact me negatively. I pulled back a bit and downplayed this aspect of who I am.

Until I began to remember all of the incredible interests and passions of so many people surrounding me. Some love to take pictures, some love to cook, some decorate, some sew or crochet and I look at them and their creations and I'm in awe. Can I be completely candid? I could allow for just a hint of jealousy to mingle in there with my amazement and admiration but I've discovered there's so much more joy to be found in being truly and competely happy and excited for them.

I'm learning to embrace the person God has made me and to truly relish the things that bring me joy. I could compare myself to others and lament them being more creative or more talented than I am. Because honestly, I would not have a hard time finding people to compare myself to negatively to. But why bother?

I guess I want to encourage you not to hold back in fear of what other people think. And not to allow any jealousy to creep in and taint the enjoyment you get out of other people's creative interests and passions. Remember that you have your own unique interests and passions and the world will be a better place as we learn to embrace not only our own but each others!



P.S. A few "proud mom moments": seeing S sincerely share in her younger sisters excitement even though it wasn't her day (this time) and R giving some of her presents to S simply because she wanted to. Seriously! I wasn't sure what to think at first, but I certainly don't want to discourage a giving heart.... :)

A Discussion (cont'd)

Today's guest post is in response to something I wrote back in June. A couple of weeks ago Janice e-mailed me a link to an incredible article which I found to be both personally convicting and encouraging. It's written by a homeschooling dad (who has children that are now fully grown) for a homeschooling magazine. I hope that all of you who take the time to read it will find it to be equally as encouraging. A big thank-you to Janice for taking the time to share this artice with me and her willingness to write up the intro! :)


For a bit of context, I was schooled at home from the time I was 2 ½ (at the point when my eldest brother was old enough for school) and I stayed at it through grade 13. When my Mom began schooling us this way she got the idea from a book and eventually found that there were two other families in the Ottawa area (where we were at the time) starting this same mode of education. The movement has grown much since then and has, as pointed out in this article, begun to reach the stage of calculable 'results' where the first waves of children have graduated and begun their lives.

This article is titled Homeschool Blindspots and I believe that the problems listed here are pitfalls commonly encountered in families who choose to homeschool. But more than this, I believe that they can be found in any family that struggles to be conscientious in how to live out its Christian faith as a family. As I begin my own family I read this article not only with schooling choices in mind but also with the question of how can I most effectively pass along a love of Christ to the next generation. I hope you find as much to ponder and inspire from this article as I did.

http://www.joshharris.com/2011/09/homeschool_blindspots.php