Christmas Nerdiness

I suppose because I find little girls singing "Santa, Baby" wildly inappropriate that my last post could be construed as cranky about Christmas. I'm not. It's just that those girls are the ones who are going to grow up to join the cheer squad and do a wildly inappropriate lip sync number in pseudo-lingerie at the high school talent show with their fellow cheerleaders. And I thought I'd do a pubic service by pointing it out. 


Au contraire, my friends. I'm not cranky about Christmas at all. I'm a huge Christmas nerd. Tonight I took my kid to get peppermint frozen yogurt and drive around looking at Christmas lights because I LOVE IT. All-Christmas music radio station on? Check! Saw the live nativity? Check! Picked out our Christmas tree? Check! Decorated the whole house? You bet.


This is the least stressful Christmas I've had in a lonnnnnng time and I'm trying to figure out why. I think it comes down to one little change. Last year, I saw an idea on a few different blogs (I remember it most clearly from Becca Wilhite) where people do this "Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" thing.  I thought, No Way. I couldn't do that.  I LOVE buying presents.


But then we bought our new house and I knew I'd have to be smarter about money. So I decided to try it. And with that one little change, a little Christmas magic happened. I always think hard about the gifts I choose for people, but this year I've thought even harder. And buying a much more limited number of gifts has freed up not only money but time, and with that non-stressed time, I find myself more sensitive to the reason for the season.


So I blast my Bing Crosby and bake my Christmas goodies, and play with my kids and I'm enjoying Christmas because it's just . . . good this year.


Also, I love Jesus way more than Santa.

Scattershot

Well, that was interesting. In the never-do-it-again category, but interesting nonetheless. Goodbye, Friday. It was the first time in a long time that I was glad to see you over and done with. Note to self: if your gut tells you  not to do a review, don't. Your gut has a big brain.


I haven't been random in forever, so let's open up the old steel trap and give it a good shake, 'kay?


First, I really like handmade cards. I like giving them and I like getting them. I hate making them. My mother-in-law loves making them. She gives me a whole box of handmade cards at Christmas for me to use throughout the year for an assortment of occasions. I pilfer it at least once a month. Best Christmas present ever. For reals. 


We have very dry lips at our house right now. Several times in the last week, Kenny, James and I could all be found in a huddle around my precious tin of Rosebud Salve, rubbing it on our lips and jockeying with each other for position like we were trying to get warm around an oil drum fire. 


I've never really wanted a pony. Does that make me weird?


I'm worried about a friend. I figure the best thing I can do is bite my tongue on any advice so that later I can be her soft place to fall if she needs me, but it's hard.


I love sleep. So much. So, so much.


Someone was having an argument the other day about who wears the pants in their marriage. It occurs to me that marriage works very best when neither of you are wearing pants. Just sayin'.


I thought finding my first gray hair last month was my first sign I'm getting old. But no, I discovered my first true sign of old age this weekend when I skipped wearing a pair of really cute shoes in favor of wearing comfortable ones. It's Merry Birthaversary this month and the shoe thing made me really feel the big 3-6 looming just a couple of weeks away.


I have no idea what to get my brother for Christmas. If you know him, ask him and tell me what he says, okay? But play like I didn't tell you to because I want to get it for him and have him think I'm just an awesome gift-giver. His penchant for buying whatever he wants when he wants it (he doesn't have expensive tastes, to be fair) makes him hard to shop for. (This was a completely pointless paragraph since none of you know him.)


Kenny stole my copy of Matched by Ally Condie as soon as I brought it home Thursday night and he's ignoring me, kids, and dishes to read it.


I like it when he does that. It's fun to see him wrapped up in something.


I'm not a big fan of pudding. I'd rather have Jello. I can't decide if this surprises me about myself.


I like being good at stuff but on the flip side, I'm easily frustrated when things aren't intuitive for me. Like, tantrum-throwing frustrated.


Every time I sit down to be random, I think I have nothing to say. And every single time, the more I write, the more I think of to say.


So I'm going to stop talking before I put us both to sleep. 


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Free to a good home

I cleaned out and organized my holiday stuff yesterday. It was the first time since I've been married that I had it all out. Most of it has been in storage until this year. 


There were a lot of "Why did I keep that?" finds and a few, "I'm so glad I found this" finds. I threw out a lot of stuff, things that aren't our style or that none of us have an emotional connection to. I'm far more likely to keep a tacky craft project with my kid's picture in it than something gorgeous crystal spindly thing when I have no memory of where it came from.


Anyway, among my things, I found some of my mom's old decorations. I like them, but she loved the folk art style and around here we do glittery and shiny. I normally just donate stuff like this, but I have a lot of memories of these things hanging in our house. My brother and sister won't want or need them, but I'm reluctant just to stick them in the Goodwill box.


Would you or someone you know enjoy something like this in your home? I'll send it to you, no charge, just so I know they're going somewhere they'll be enjoyed and not just to a cast-off bin. (Possibly I've watched too much Toy Story.)

Anyway, there's a a pilgrim and his lady wife for Thanksgiving (or maybe his trashy mistress, I don't know. She's showing a lot of leg):

There's also some Christmas stuff. If you like it, it's a package deal. As in I send it all to you in one package, my expense. I just want them adopted.

Merry Christmas. I'm off to listen to some Bing Crosby and Ho (ho ho) up the joint!


P.S. Don't forget, you can win a copy of Jana's book, What Think Ye of Christmas, by commenting on the previous post.

Un-Grinching and Embracing Christmas

I'm one of those people that likes to start Christmas the minute the turkey is eaten on Thanksgiving. I like my tree up, my nativity set out, the decorations glittering and all of that. But this year was a little tough to do that because we've all gone down for the count with a nasty virus. When one of us feels a tiny bit better, we drag ourselves out of wherever we're burrowing and scavenge food for the others. Then we burrow again. Our only decoration up so far is the Christmas wreath on the front door because that only took five seconds. So it's been that kind of week.


But last night, I finally got to experience my first taste of Christmas when I pulled this out to read again:

It took me a few minutes to read, even going slowly, but I love the message so much. It's a hopeful, gentle but firm reminder of how every part of the Christmas season, even the crazy baking/shopping/party parts of the season, can serve as symbols of Christ if we let them. This will be our Family Home Evening lesson tonight before we work as a family to put up our Christmas swag and sparkle, so that we can discuss what each symbol means as we wrangle it into place to enjoy for the next month.


After you read it the first time, you must go back through and simply absorb Jana's paintings. They are rich and simple and beautiful. My two favorites are here

and here:

Neither of them are straightforward Christmas pictures, but they make my spirit happy. So does this one:

It's a simple, powerful book and a new part of my permanent Christmas tradition. If you would like to make it part of yours, simply leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered to win this for yourself. I'll pick a winner on Friday. It makes a wonderful stocking stuffer for family members or a gift for someone you visit teach. You can purchase additional copies here.


As a side note, the story of how Jana made these paintings is wonderful. I love Christmas miracles, even when they happen in July. Charrette (a/k/a Jana Winters Parkin) tells the story here of what it took to get this book into our grubby little hands, and I love it. I love the message of hope and faith and perserverance, and how God steps in after everything we can do.


Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone. I hope you find signs of Christ every day this season.

Blog Tour: The Santa Letters

(I'm temporarily suspending the seven comment rule for today so I can participate in this blog tour. But it's coming back tomorrow!)

The Santa Letters by Stacy G. Anderson is a sweet holiday story coming out from Cedar Fort books. It was fun to read the ARC a couple of months ago and feel like I got a little Christmas in July, especially since I'm a Christmas Eve baby and the tiniest bit nuts about all things Christmas.

The story focuses on a family grieving the loss of their husband/father nearly one year after his death in a car accident and the mysterious packages that begin arriving on their doorstep, each with a gift and a letter of instructions from "Santa."

The gifts are items that help the family refocus on their love for each other and more importantly, the love of their Savior as they are asked to complete tasks that range from sharing family memories with each other to completing acts of service for others. The challenges are designed to remind them of the true meaning of Christmas. A big part of the story comes from trying to figure out who's really behind the Santa letters as the mysterious benefactor watches over the family. The reader gets periodic narration from his point of view and it's fun to guess who it might be.

Since it doesn't take much to get me talking about Christmas (last night I was making my list and checking it twice which made my husband laugh because hey--it's September!), I seized the opportunity to ask Stacy about some of her favorite Christmas memories and feelings.

Q: What made you decide to set your book during the Christmas season?
A: I'm a self proclaimed Christmas junkie. I love everything about Christmas - the sights, smells and symbols. But I do miss the world understanding the importance of the season and the reason we celebrate it which is why besides bringing Christ back into Christmas for my own family to find peace and joy again, I decided to have a Christmas setting for this story.

Q: What is one of your favorite Christmas memories?
A: The memory of my son the year we did our own Santa Letters Christmas, sitting in front of the fire snuggled under his blanket sharing his testimony of the Savior and talking about how grateful he was to have a family around him that loved him and supported him. It was the first time he'd ever really felt that way. For me, that was the best Christmas present a mother could ever receive and made all of my efforts worthwhile.

Q: What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
A: Bringing out the ornaments and reliving the memories associated with each of them - some good and some a trial that we've found a way to laugh over but each nonetheless, a cherished part of our lives.

Q: What is your favorite Christmas treat?
A: On Christmas morning we always do crepes with different fillings (blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, apple, cream cheese, lemon, peach) for breakfast and invite anyone and everyone over to enjoy them with us. It's become a special tradition that tastes good as well and my sons think it's the perfect cap to the morning. *She'll give you the recipe!*

Q: What is the best Christmas gift you ever got or gave?
A: The best Christmas present I ever gave was to my mother and father and my in-laws the year I wrote to each of their siblings and parents and sent tapes and scrapbook pages asking that they compile their memories of our parents. I then had them send them back and gave them to our parents for Christmas. Those items became extremely cherished to them as their parents passed away and later on to us children when my dad and then my mom passed away at rather young ages. I had captured stories about them in childhood that we would never otherwise have had.

Q: How do you define "the spirit of Christmas"?
A: It encompasses all the Savior was and is - all of his attributes like charity, good will, peace, love - and what we can take from those and put into our own lives and countenances. It just seems that at Christmastime, people are more open to doing this and a little more in tune to what this means.

Q: What's your favorite Christmas song or hymn?
A: I absolutely love O Holy Night, What Child is This and Winter Wonderland.

Q: What's your #1 Christmas wish this year?
A: That people across the earth could be blessed enough to have learned what I have and understand the true 'Spirit of Christmas' and put it into their everyday lives so that they too can experience all the peace and joy it brings.


The Santa Letters is a great little gift for someone who appreciates the spiritual side of Christmas. And it has a gorgeous cover!