Growing up I remember there were a few Christmases that my mom used Reindeer names for gift tags in replacement of our real names. My sisters and I loved trying to figure out who was which reindeer by what we thought each gift was.
I have carried on this tradition by placing a couple of wrapped presents for each kid under the tree about a week before Christmas. It peaks their excitement and curiosity as they maul the presents almost to their undoing. I tell them ahead of time that if the present becomes unwrapped, then it goes back to the store so they are usually pretty careful. Every year when December rolls around one of the first requests from my kids is if I will do the reindeer names again. The kids always get a new reindeer name each Christmas so that they won't know who they are. I can't ever remember which kid was which reindeer name, but my kids sure do! Write down who is what reindeer name on a paper, because if you have more than two kids it can become pretty hard to remember on Christmas morning.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Monday, December 8, 2014
Keep Christ at the beginning of CHRISTmas
God gave us the greatest gift- his son, Jesus Christ, that we could be saved and return to him. Christ lived his life in service and love. He not only gave us an example of how we should live our lives, but he gave us the ultimate sacrifice- he gave his life for us.
Many of us start off the Christmas season with Black Friday Shopping or Cyber Monday to get a jump on the BEST Christmas buys. I'll be the first to admit I'm one of those- which isn't necessarily a bad thing. BUT I think it's easy to get so involved in buying the presents, sending out the Christmas cards, preparing the neighbor gifts, pinteresting the teacher gifts, decorating the Christmas tree, putting up the Christmas lights, wrapping the Christmas presents, planning the Christmas feast, attending the Christmas parties.... and da da da da that we put the real meaning- The CHRIST part of Christmas on the end of the to do list. I think the very FIRST thing that should be done is to find ways to bring Christ into the beginning of Christmas to celebrate his life all month long.
I am currently in the works of creating a centerpiece in our home that reminds us of Christ. I want my family to focus on giving gifts to Christ, by serving others.
Here is what I want to accomplish and share with anyone else that is interested in keeping Christ at the beginning of CHRISTmas.
Purchase or make a white Christmas stocking and have the word Christ monogrammed on it. Hang this stocking by a picture of Christ. Start off the beginning of Christmas each year by giving every person in your family (yourself included) a challenge to give gifts to Christ by serving others. Give them a hard copy of a list of ideas you've chosen and ask them to choose a certain # (according to their age and capabilities) of those things to do or even to make up a service opportunity on their own. Hang a copy of the list in a visible place in the house. Of course, for the little ones it's going to be a little more Mommy maintenance, but the older children should be able to accomplish several of them without help. If this becomes a tradition as the children age- it will be easier and easier for them to do it. When an act of service is completed write on a slip of paper what was done and put it in the stocking. Keep the papers in an easily accessible place near the stocking. On Chirstmas Eve, take a minute to sit as a family to read and talk about the acts of service performed- the gifts that they gave to Christ. Make it a point to have the children describe the activity, how they felt, and how they think those that received the service felt.
My parents have been great examples of service. The idea of giving service has come from them, there have been many Christmases that they have helped my siblings and I find ways to serve others as we grew up. Even though we are now grown and have families of our own, our parents still try to encourage this. Just a few years back they gave each couple a list of service ideas and asked us to accomplish a few of them. This year they want to give the challenge to the grand kids to serve. With their idea in mind and the idea of the white Christmas stocking that I have heard from others, I want to start my own family tradition of keeping Christ at the beginning of CHRISTmas. I hope to carry this tradition on (like my parents have) even after my kids are grown and have families of their own.
Here are several ideas for acts of service that can be done. Some can be done as a group with siblings, cousins, or friends and some can be done individually or anonymously. Have children earn their own money to donate for the service activities that will cost, if possible.
- Serve someone you do not know.
- Visit or send a card to a family member you haven't seen for awhile.
- Visit or send a card to someone you know that might be lonely or going through a hard time.
- Visit a Senior Citizen Center and bring homemade cards, pictures, perform a talent, or sing Christmas carols.
- Give service to a homeless person.
- Donate money to Sub-for-Santa.
- Buy an "Angel Tree" gift.
- Help a single mother or elderly couple decorate for Christmas
- Help a single mother or elderly couple with outdoor/indoor things they need done.
- Anonymously give money to a family in need.
- Write a Christmas card to a missionary.
- Make a treat and take it to a neighbor.
- Do an act of service for a neighbor.
- Do an act of service for someone in your family.
- Do an act of service for each person in your family.
- Make blankets or gifts to take to a homeless shelter, women's shelter, children's hospital.
- Serve food at a homeless shelter.
- Donate to the food bank.
- Sing Christmas Carols around the community to those that might be lonely or in need of a little Christmas cheer.
- Invite an elderly person or couple over for dinner.
- Plan an activity to do with someone that is disabled or has special needs.
- Leave secret notes of encouragement for someone else.
- Do the 12 days of Christmas for another family.
- Do a Nativity Gift-Away for another family. ( I will add a post about this one tonight.)
- Do service for someone that has recently lost a loved one.
Another idea that you could work towards as a family all year long is to save your coins in a designated Christmas coin jar. Each year at the beginning of December choose a family that is in need to give your savings to.
Please share any other service ideas in comments below that could be added to this list. Also, share any ideas or traditions of how your family keeps Christ in Christmas.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Big Families
I grew up in a family of 6 girls. I found this article was hilarious that so many of the descriptions fit. I've already seen many of them come to life in my home with our six kids too. I just wanted to share my favorites that I can relate to and I added a few more. I think many of these apply to families with even 3 or 4 kids.
25 Things People with 5+ Siblings Know To Be True
1. There will never be a meal where everyone is happy with the food.
2. Getting a table at a restaurant will take at least half an hour no matter where you go.
3. Car trips to far away places are more crammed than Target on Black Friday.
4. Someone is always around to watch a movie.
5. Someone will always being talking during that movie.
6. If they are close to your age and size, clothing is communal.
7. The youngest will be the favorite child that gets away with everything.
8. There will be alliances within the siblings and you better make sure you have a buddy.
9. Everyone has their spot on the couch and will not be afraid to throw a couple elbows your way to defend it.
10. Everyone will refer to so you as "so and so's older/ younger sibling" instead of your actual name.
11. Sneaking extra people into a hotel room will be a normal vacation activity.
12. Sharing a room is just something you will have to do forever.
13. When mom and dad get in a cleaning mood it is best to round up the troops and take a sibling trip to anywhere but home.
14. Someone will always do the least amount of work and somehow get away with it.
15. Your cheering section for your soccer games is always larger than everyone else's.
16. Getting a picture where everyone actually looks like a human is near too impossible.
17. You will be called every other person in your family's name before your mom actually calls you the right one.
18. Board games will never end well because someone is cheating and someone else is a sore loser.
19. If you complain about your siblings it's fine, but the second anyone else does all hell breaks loose.
20. Even the Super family size option of a good cereal will be gone in a single day.
The family SUV doubles in value when the gas tank is full.
Laundry never ends!
There are always a jillion of shoes by the front door and never a matching pair.
Going through a drive-thru requires 10 minutes to place the order (as the person taking the order keeps asking, "will that be all now?") and holds up the entire line! It also costs a small (actually large) fortune in the end- even if it's only the VALUE menu!
Never a dry towel or hot water.
Nothing is sacred- not even underwear.
Never leave the dinner table if its a favorite meal-it will be gone when u get back from the bathroom.
When writing your name on the Styrofoam take out container means absolutely NOTHING to your siblings. Tip- leave a bite taken out of it to ward them off.
Fast food is CEREAL
Vacations are insane, and not for the faint of heart.
It is not uncommon to show up somewhere and somebody doesn't have shoes on.
There is always a GIANT sock bag with socks that don't match.
You have to count your children to make sure you have them all.
You often have to stand in line to use your own bathroom at home-many times you can't make it in there alone.
Shared french fries were the worst... you would have to eat the french fries before you got to enjoy your burger or you wouldn't get any....
Going to Sam's Club/Costco is a normal, routine shopping trip.
There is never a quiet moment.
Hand-me downs from neighbors/friends are like Christmas.
You dish up large portions for yourself because there won't be seconds.
You need more than a dozen of eggs for breakfast and a gallon of milk per day.
It's not always easy having a lot of siblings. There will be days when you wonder why your parents thought your siblings were a good idea at all. There will be days when you literally cannot be in the same room as them. The thing is though, there will also be days were you and your siblings all belt the words to "Do You Know" by Enrique Iglesias together. There will be days that you all sit around talking and laughing about the horrible restaurant your dad made you go to in the Everglades. And when all else fails, they will indeed bail you out of anything, even jail.
25 Things People with 5+ Siblings Know To Be True
1. There will never be a meal where everyone is happy with the food.
2. Getting a table at a restaurant will take at least half an hour no matter where you go.
3. Car trips to far away places are more crammed than Target on Black Friday.
4. Someone is always around to watch a movie.
5. Someone will always being talking during that movie.
6. If they are close to your age and size, clothing is communal.
7. The youngest will be the favorite child that gets away with everything.
8. There will be alliances within the siblings and you better make sure you have a buddy.
9. Everyone has their spot on the couch and will not be afraid to throw a couple elbows your way to defend it.
10. Everyone will refer to so you as "so and so's older/ younger sibling" instead of your actual name.
11. Sneaking extra people into a hotel room will be a normal vacation activity.
12. Sharing a room is just something you will have to do forever.
13. When mom and dad get in a cleaning mood it is best to round up the troops and take a sibling trip to anywhere but home.
14. Someone will always do the least amount of work and somehow get away with it.
15. Your cheering section for your soccer games is always larger than everyone else's.
16. Getting a picture where everyone actually looks like a human is near too impossible.
17. You will be called every other person in your family's name before your mom actually calls you the right one.
18. Board games will never end well because someone is cheating and someone else is a sore loser.
19. If you complain about your siblings it's fine, but the second anyone else does all hell breaks loose.
20. Even the Super family size option of a good cereal will be gone in a single day.
The family SUV doubles in value when the gas tank is full.
Laundry never ends!
There are always a jillion of shoes by the front door and never a matching pair.
Going through a drive-thru requires 10 minutes to place the order (as the person taking the order keeps asking, "will that be all now?") and holds up the entire line! It also costs a small (actually large) fortune in the end- even if it's only the VALUE menu!
Never a dry towel or hot water.
Nothing is sacred- not even underwear.
Never leave the dinner table if its a favorite meal-it will be gone when u get back from the bathroom.
When writing your name on the Styrofoam take out container means absolutely NOTHING to your siblings. Tip- leave a bite taken out of it to ward them off.
Fast food is CEREAL
Vacations are insane, and not for the faint of heart.
It is not uncommon to show up somewhere and somebody doesn't have shoes on.
There is always a GIANT sock bag with socks that don't match.
You have to count your children to make sure you have them all.
You often have to stand in line to use your own bathroom at home-many times you can't make it in there alone.
Shared french fries were the worst... you would have to eat the french fries before you got to enjoy your burger or you wouldn't get any....
Going to Sam's Club/Costco is a normal, routine shopping trip.
There is never a quiet moment.
Hand-me downs from neighbors/friends are like Christmas.
You dish up large portions for yourself because there won't be seconds.
You need more than a dozen of eggs for breakfast and a gallon of milk per day.
It's not always easy having a lot of siblings. There will be days when you wonder why your parents thought your siblings were a good idea at all. There will be days when you literally cannot be in the same room as them. The thing is though, there will also be days were you and your siblings all belt the words to "Do You Know" by Enrique Iglesias together. There will be days that you all sit around talking and laughing about the horrible restaurant your dad made you go to in the Everglades. And when all else fails, they will indeed bail you out of anything, even jail.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
A Meaningful Moment- Molly
Josh loves to hunt birds and so we have two English Pointer hunting dogs. One of them is Molly, she is an awesome dog. We have had her for about 7 years. We got her from Josh's brother when she was 2 years old. He had trained her to be a champion bird hunting dog. So, she's somewhere in her 60's in dog years. She's had a hard running, bird pointing life. She's very good at hunting and is also a very sweet, loving dog. She truly is one of Josh's best friends, and my kids love her- especially Kale. He's a lot like Josh in every way and loves hunting too. Molly's had a limp for about a month and a half that we have been trying to fix, but just this last weekend Josh took her out hunting and she couldn't use either of her back legs. Her legs kept giving out and she'd collapse. Josh brought her home and we let her stay in the kitchen for the last few days until we could get her to the vet. Both of us felt the outcomes were not going to be good. She looked bad and acted like her hips were displaced. She'd hardly get up or move- which isn't like this breed of dog, they are very hyper and all over the place. The muscles in one of her legs had almost disappeared. My dad looked at her and agreed that she probably had a problem that most likely wasn't fixable. We prepped our kids a little that we might have to put her to sleep. We prayed for her when we blessed the food and at family prayer. I even prayed for her quite a bit on my own- not because I care a lot for her (I am not much of an animal person), but because I knew how sad Josh and Kale would be.
Today Josh was going to take Molly to the vet at lunch. I took the kids to drop them off for school and Kale wouldn't get out. It didn't take me long to realize he was crying. He said he didn't want to leave Molly. After several attempts to console him I took him home and told him he could watch Westerns and take care of Molly for the day while I taught preschool. It broke my heart to see his heart breaking. I tried to make him some breakfast and he refused to eat. He put Molly's blanket in front of the TV alongside a blanket and pillow he had for himself. At lunch time Josh and Kale came to the preschool to tell me the news. They both had smiles on their faces. Dr. Myers took x-rays and examined her. He said her hips looked great and it was both her knees that were bad. He gave her a Cortisone shot and said if that didn't fix it- he had a simple surgery he could do that would most likely work(only $900-ouch). How much is too much to spend on an animal- $ vs. broken hearts???
Anyways- tonight at dinner I asked our kids if any of them had prayed on their own for Molly. All of them did- I was touched that they prayed without me telling them too. Then Kale said, "Mom, I fasted for Molly today." He told me that was why he didn't eat breakfast and he didn't eat lunch either. I am so grateful for that glimpse of Kale- a glimpse of his heart, what he believes in, and that he has a testimony of fasting. A testimony of fasting that I didn't think he had, because only a month ago he chose not too fast, because he was "just too hungry." We talked for a quick minute about how Heavenly Father answered their prayers and how Kale's fasting had worked. I added at the end that we needed to keep praying that the shot would work- and Kale piped in that he knew I wanted the shot to work so we wouldn't have to pay for the surgery. Smart kid-- but really that is a valid reason to pray! Later, at family prayer we thanked Heavenly Father for answering our prayers for Molly.
I am so grateful that our family had a "Meaningful Moment." Even though it might cost a lot- the price tag is nothing in comparison to the testimony my kids have gained from it. I think Heavenly Father sends us these moments, because they are building blocks for my kids to place their house upon as they grow older. They need these moments, these experiences, to challenge and strengthen them while they are young. It is a time for them to test their knowledge of the gospel and faith, a time to prep them for the future when trials are much harder. Molly may not be completely healed and perhaps she may only live for a few more weeks or a few more years. But my kids will know that their prayers were answered at this moment in time- that Heavenly Father did hear them and was able to keep their dog alive for a bit longer. Their prayers may not always be answered in the future, but my kids will know that their Father in Heaven is there- that he is on the other side of that prayer listening.
Today Josh was going to take Molly to the vet at lunch. I took the kids to drop them off for school and Kale wouldn't get out. It didn't take me long to realize he was crying. He said he didn't want to leave Molly. After several attempts to console him I took him home and told him he could watch Westerns and take care of Molly for the day while I taught preschool. It broke my heart to see his heart breaking. I tried to make him some breakfast and he refused to eat. He put Molly's blanket in front of the TV alongside a blanket and pillow he had for himself. At lunch time Josh and Kale came to the preschool to tell me the news. They both had smiles on their faces. Dr. Myers took x-rays and examined her. He said her hips looked great and it was both her knees that were bad. He gave her a Cortisone shot and said if that didn't fix it- he had a simple surgery he could do that would most likely work(only $900-ouch). How much is too much to spend on an animal- $ vs. broken hearts???
Anyways- tonight at dinner I asked our kids if any of them had prayed on their own for Molly. All of them did- I was touched that they prayed without me telling them too. Then Kale said, "Mom, I fasted for Molly today." He told me that was why he didn't eat breakfast and he didn't eat lunch either. I am so grateful for that glimpse of Kale- a glimpse of his heart, what he believes in, and that he has a testimony of fasting. A testimony of fasting that I didn't think he had, because only a month ago he chose not too fast, because he was "just too hungry." We talked for a quick minute about how Heavenly Father answered their prayers and how Kale's fasting had worked. I added at the end that we needed to keep praying that the shot would work- and Kale piped in that he knew I wanted the shot to work so we wouldn't have to pay for the surgery. Smart kid-- but really that is a valid reason to pray! Later, at family prayer we thanked Heavenly Father for answering our prayers for Molly.
I am so grateful that our family had a "Meaningful Moment." Even though it might cost a lot- the price tag is nothing in comparison to the testimony my kids have gained from it. I think Heavenly Father sends us these moments, because they are building blocks for my kids to place their house upon as they grow older. They need these moments, these experiences, to challenge and strengthen them while they are young. It is a time for them to test their knowledge of the gospel and faith, a time to prep them for the future when trials are much harder. Molly may not be completely healed and perhaps she may only live for a few more weeks or a few more years. But my kids will know that their prayers were answered at this moment in time- that Heavenly Father did hear them and was able to keep their dog alive for a bit longer. Their prayers may not always be answered in the future, but my kids will know that their Father in Heaven is there- that he is on the other side of that prayer listening.
The Ghost
We were eating dinner a couple weeks ago and Kennadi left to use the bathroom. She came running back to the table with a really scared look on her face. With very exaggerated face and hand expressions she said, "Der is a ghost in the bafroom!" It made me laugh because she was so cute and serious. She wouldn't go back to the bathroom so I went in there with her and she pointed to the ghost. I was very surprised to see we DID have a ghost in the bathroom. Our hand soap dispenser was a ghost that I had used to decorate for Halloween and I had forgotten about it when I put the decorations away for the month. (This is one of the reasons why I don't like to decorate much for holidays, except Christmas- it seems there is something I always forget to put away and it roams around the house for weeks....) Kennadi took the ghost and said, "I jus can't have dis in here." LOL I don't know why this ghost hasn't bothered her before now.
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