Christmas Jar 2013

Today was a fun day because our son Lee got to fly to Texas and visit with Brad, Krystal and Kai. How grateful I am that my kids love their brother and sisters soooo much! That's what I always dreamed of for my family when I grew up. No matter what, they are always there for each other and that is exactly the way it should be.
Also John, Amy and girls came to church with us today and so that is always a neat experience to have some family there. Tonight we went to Bellevue to a Festival of the Nativity, it was amazing.... it told all about it here  www.bellevuenativity.com, some friends went with us, and I just kept saying I had no idea how much there was there for everyone of every age. It was neat to see Nativities that were from countries all over the world, to hear the Christmas choirs, and to once again be reminded of the life of the Savior and the true purpose for the season.
Speaking of trying to be more Christlike this holiday season, reminds me to share with you what the girls and I did yesterday when they were on their Sleep Over.
A few years ago I read the book CHRISTMAS JARS by Jason F. Wright, what a wonderful Christmas story and now it has become our family tradition each year. We get a mason jar and collect our change all year long. Then at Christmas time, we count out the money and decide who we think could use our Christmas Jar of money or what gifts we could buy with it. Angie and I have been doing this tradition for a couple of years and she remembers a couple of them, I think this is the first year that Jenny really understood enough and was excited for it.
So we got the jar down.






Then Poppa ( Jeff  ) helped the girls divide up the money and make money charts and helped each one count their pile of money. It was cute to see how excited they got!

 Then came the fun part of buying and wrapping the gifts. They asked that they not be completely wrapped, so they would know which kids they would need to give them too. So we added cute ribbons and tags with the size and age of the child it would fit. The girls decided that they would get things that they themselves would love. So since there are 3 girls in their family, they got gifts for 3 little girls their ages. We found warm blankets, matching Christmas pajamas, a toy and of course their favorite...a stuffed animal. I was so proud of them not asking to keep anything for themselves, but being excited for kids that wouldn't have much... if anything for Christmas.
After everything was wrapped and ready to go, we took them to a local store that was doing a Toy Drive and they got to put all the packages under a tree that they had there. The girls kept talking about all the other presents were under the tree, and how good those kids were going to feel on Christmas morning.
I know it is a little thing, but I hope to continue this tradition and soon add Kai and Audrey in on the fun. I love the sweet hearts that little kids have, and I pray that they will remember this tradition their whole life, and especially how it made them feel! Doing what Christ would do if He were here, that is truly what the Christmas spirit is all about!
Good night dear friends!

 

Happy Birthday to you

   Today we went to a sweet birthday party for two little kids, a brother and sister who turned 1 and 3. They are too cute and we have grown so close to  them that I felt like I was the Aunt Lynn going to a Family Birthday dinner and party. I love the look on their sweet faces when we sing Happy Birthday to them, or when they taste the first bite of their cake.
   Now I found this article about making some Birthday Traditions for your kids and I think that is important. We didn't do all of these traditions but most of them sound like fun, except for the Sleep Over one. We had a rule in our family (before the kids were even born) that we wouldn't do Sleep Overs. Having had the experience I did with abuse and hearing other survivor's stories... Jeff and I both knew that was one thing are kids wouldn't do. But we did go the extra mile to do other special things. Like we would have a dinner and a movie night and they could stay up late... but then their friends would go home to sleep.
   The point is that the Birthday child knows how loved and needed they are,especially on their Birthday!
I laugh as some of the funny Birthdays parties we had and my kids are more than willing to tell you all the traditions that our family had for their Birthdays...wish I had some photos to show you.
Hope you have had a great day! Good night dear friends!

 8 Birthday Traditions You’ll Want to Try

Written by Kerrie McLoughlin, Photo: Jupiterimages/Comstock/Thinkstock

Every year when I was a kid, my parents would let me choose where I wanted to eat dinner out for my birthday. Another birthday tradition they kept going was to have a small party for me with family and friends, including a cookout since I have a June birthday. Kids love to feel special, and it can be a challenge to find the time to come up with ways to make a birthday a knockout. Never fear! Below are eight ideas for birthday traditions to start with your own kids. Pick and choose a few of them each year… and stick with the ones you and your birthday kid love! 1. Rise and shine. I like to wake my kids up on their birthday not with, “Get up! It’s time for school!” but with an extra long snuggle and the condensed version of the day they were born. Who doesn’t like to hear their birth story?! Adopted and foster children can be told how they were meant to be brought into the family and how special they are. 2. Birthday letter. Every year, I type up a birthday letter for each of my children telling them what great things they did and said and learned during the past year. I give the birthday child a copy, then save a copy in a binder and on my computer for myself because we all know kids can’t keep track of stuff. The plan is to give each of my children a copy of all their letters when they move out, which means they’ll have somewhere between 18 and 30 letters to enjoy! 3. Birthday slideshow. With just a few clicks of your mouse, you can create a special slideshow using PowerPoint or a similar computer program. Just pop in photos, size them and add cute captions. You can even add some music if you like. After your child watches it about a zillion times, save it to a CD and pop it in a special place (safe deposit box, fireproof box, etc.) so your child will always have it. 4. Photos. I try to take as many pictures as I can on birthdays and even make sure I’m included in some of them, since I’m the mom and all! Later, we like to get out old photo albums and the birthday kid’s baby album. 5. Special meal. One of my kids loves the neighborhood restaurant where they sing Happy Birthday and are given a balloon to take home. Another is content heading to the local fast-food indoor play area and grabbing bites of food in between trips down the slide. Make at least one meal of the birthday child’s day something out of the ordinary! 6. Special treat. We like to hit the cupcake restaurant or grab huge, frosted cookies from a local baker and share with our friends and neighbors to spread the celebration around. A cheap - and just as special - route would be to make your child’s favorite dessert at home: cookies, cake, banana splits, shakes or ice cream sundaes are always a good bet. Depending on which fruit is in season (or go frozen!), a decadent fruit smoothie made with frozen yogurt could be nice. 7. Party (doesn’t have to be on the actual birthday). If you get a few gray hairs every time you think of planning a birthday party, don’t fret. Options include: a simple party at your place with just a few people, a bash at a park shelter or a celebration where a local children’s party place does all the work. 8. Birthday weekend sleepover with a few special friends (for kids over age seven). Warning: this one is not for the faint of heart! I suggest a maximum of three friends to stay the night at your house on a Friday night around the time of your child’s birthday. Order pizza to make life easy on yourself, grab some movies from the library and have them set up their sleeping bags as far away from your bedroom as possible.

http://www.calgaryschild.com/parent-connection/951-8-birthday-traditions-youll-want-to-try

" The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate." ~Oprah Winfrey

“Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of 'you' to the world.”- Author Unknown

Traditions!

Jeff and I were discussing the other day how great traditions are for the holidays, and yet how hard it is to watch the kids get older and start their own families and their own traditions. Sometimes we wonder why things have to change, and yet that is just life. I remember Jeff and I having quite a few discussions about who’s house we were going to for Christmas, and some times we didn’t always agree. I really wanted to spend it with my family, and Jeff felt the same about his. So you try to juggle the time between both families and keep everyone happy. Then finally the kids get old enough to tell you that they don’t want to go any where for Christmas, but want to stay at their own house. Yes life, traditions and everything else changes throughout the years, and so we need to some how learn to Go With The Flow!

We have tried to start some new traditions so that it would make up for the ones that we seem to have to change, some times that works and some times it doesn’t.  One of the traditions that we had when I was a  kid , and is still a great memory for me… was our Rotating Christmas Tree! Yes, I said ROTATING, it went all the way around, with the lights and music. I remember just laying under the Christmas tree and just watching the ornaments go by with the icicles too. I remember Mom insisting to put each icicle on separately, we weren’t to just take a bunch and throw them on. It seemed like a pain at the time, but when the tree was all decorated, it did look magical.

 

Our rotating tree was the hit of the neighborhood when we lived in the city, and the talk of all our friends when we moved to the country. Dad looked as we got older for the rotating Christmas Tree Stand, but they went out of business. People couldn’t believe we had a tree stand that you could put a live tree in with water, and it had a place for the lights to plug in ( and no the cords didn’t get wrapped around the tree ) plus, it played 5-6 Christmas songs, it was magical that was for sure.

Then when our kids were all little, my Mom and Dad called one night and told us that he found the Rotating Christmas Tree Stand at Sears, and he ordered 5 of them and was having them sent to our homes. I remember the first time we put our tree in that stand, I felt like the years had melted away and I was a little girl again. This stand you had to use with an artificial tree and it didn’t play music but still… it was magical and a wonderful tradition from my family, it was one of our best presents ever!

Our rotating tree stand made us happy for quite a few years and then it broke and since then we haven’t found another on, it makes me sad each year when we put out our Christmas decorations and I realize we don’t have that any more, what a fun tradition. Oh another funny thing that happened when we received our rotating stand from my Dad was, as the kids helped me decorate the tree, I sorta stuck some of the (not so pretty ) ornaments to the back of the tree. Then when we were all finished and turned on the tree, I laughed to myself when I realized I had put all those ornaments together, and so when that side of the tree came around well….let’s just say we had to intermix them in with all the rest of the ornaments to make it look pleasing to the eye!

So as I sit here tonight, trying to figure out just what traditions we are going to keep or change this Christmas Eve, I look at the tree and remember how many wonderful traditions we have had throughout the years, things may change, but the love of our family doesn’t , nor the meaning of Christmas … that is what we need to remember.

Good night dear friends!

" The perfect Christmas tree? All Christmas trees are perfect!" -- Charles N. Barnard

"Remember, if Christmas isn't found in your heart, you won't find it under a tree." -- Charlotte Carpenter

"Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing: Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears, Let us hold close one day, remembering Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men. Let us get back our childlike faith again." -- Grace Noll Crowell

There's just one more sleep till Christmas!

When my kids were little, they loved to watch the Muppets Christmas Carol. One of the their favorite sayings from the movie was "there's only one more sleep till Christmas!" So here we are now Jeff and I seeing the next generation coming up. We are beginning to now share the same movies, stories and traditions with our granddaughter Angie. It is really neat.

Today is Christmas Eve and we have a few things to get ready for tonight, so I am going to write my post now. I wanted to share one of our most memorable Christmas Eve's. It was 15 years ago and kid's loving call it The Year Mom Lit Herself Up For Christmas!

I had been to a  Christmas dinner the week before and I was so impressed with the idea they used to help teach the true meaning of Christmas, that I thought it would be a neat tradition to pass on to my family. Our kids were young, Lee was just a year old, Lauren was 3, Brad 8 and Amy 11. We had already done all our regular Christmas traditions and everyone had their jammies on, teeth brushed and prayers were said. We all gathered in the kids room and I had everyone sit in a circle and I gave each one, a candle and a plate, we turned off all the lights and I had just my candle lit. I then asked each child "what is one thing that you could do for someone this Christmas" when they shared their idea then I lit their candle with my candle. Then we would go to the next person. After we were all finished I told them to look around the room, it was no longer dark but well lit with all of our candles. The point ...if every person did one good deed for someone for Christmas ( which is sharing the Light of Christ) , then the world would be a much better and brighter place!

As we are trying to have a spiritual moment, I noticed that Brad and Lauren were fighting. I looked over and Lauren kept pulling her candle on the plate closer to her. Brad would then scold her and then push the candle further away from her. Then she would fuss at him and then pull it closer. I was frustrated because I really wanted my kids to understand how important service is at Christmas. I leaned over Brad and pulled Lauren's candle away from her, while I was doing that I told Brad, "She just doesn't know how dangerous fire is". I had no more said that, then Brad yelled  " Mom, your sweaters on fire", sure enough when I leaned over Brad's candle to push Lauren's away, I caught myself on fire.

I always wondered how I would react if something dangerous or tragic happened? I just sat there and in seconds my whole sweater was on fire, all I can remember was... Amy yelling " Stop, Drop and Roll" over and over. Brad ran out of the room screaming, Lauren just bawled and I just sat there stunned. Finally Jeff ran over and started beating on me saying "I've got you Lynn". He continued to beat me until the fire was all out. We then said a silent prayer that things didn't get any worse and tried to put the kids to bed. The sad part was instead of having visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads....all they could think about was the fire department! They kept saying " Mommy, do we have to do that tradition again next year?" "We don't want to lit candles any more!"  "Why didn't we call 911?" "Will you catch yourself on fire again" 

They were so upset and crying that we like to never got them to sleep. When I finally got them settled and came downstairs with Jeff... he was laughing so hard. I don't think I have ever seen him laugh like that.  When he finally could compose himself, all he said was... "Only you Lynn, could take such a spiritual idea and turn it into a child's nightmare!"  

So needless to say it was a great idea, but maybe not the best one for a family of little children! It actually was quite a few years before the kids would even let me buy a candle. :) Now it is one of their favorite funny Christmas memories.

But in my defense... it was a great idea and not a bad suggestion for all of us to realize just by touching one person's life in a positive way, we would make the world a better and brighter place. So hopefully each one of us will try this Christmas and this new year... to share the light of Christ with someone else by our service and kindness to them. Have a wonderful Christmas Eve! Good night dear friends!