On Christmas Eve day in the afternoon

I kind of got sidetracked from my Christmas Eve recap.  That whole gift of a visit from a great friend just got me all befuddled.

Anyway, gifts ended and it was time for the traditional family brunch where everyone helps.  Cinnamon rolls are a given.  Everyone helps to make and everyone helps to clean up.

Game time is next.  This year we started with a family funny book contest.  I went through all those books where I've written the cute and curious things the kids have said and I made them into a contest.  Andrew won.  See, Andrew, it appears as if there are times when being the oldest is a help not a hindrance.

How would you do with this sampling from our quiz (answers at the end of the post)?

1.  Who thought the angels in the Christmas story said, “Behold, I bring you good movies.” 

2.  Who enjoyed watching the toasts at a wedding so much that he/she said, “I want to be a toaster when I grow up?”  

3.  Who was watching football on TV with Daddy and said, “Look, Philistines!” 

4.  Who said, “I’m a poet and didn’t even figure it out yet,” erroneously assuming this rhymed like the real saying.  

5.  Who saw an inflatable mummy at Halloween and said, “Look, Mommy, it’s the man Jesus brought out.”  

6.  Who watched The Sound of Music and described it this way:  Mom, they have seven children…There was a lady who was a Mun, or something like that.  She was always late and she never got to pray so her punishment was that she had to help this family that has 7 children.”  

7.  Who called shorts, “Legs-sticking-out”?  

We also played Left-Center-Right but instead of playing with chips to be passed around, each child started with 10 pieces of their favorite candy.  We played in rounds of 3 minutes and at the end of each round you could place a piece of your remaining candy into a bag to be kept.

And we couldn't forget the yearly race to finish a task.  Last year it was a small Lego building set.  This year it was a puzzle.  It was funny to watch how each personality approached puzzle making.  All those puzzles get donated to other children in the weeks to come.

This year we added Christmas caroling to the neighbors to our day's activities.  Since we moved here 10 years ago, 5 neighbors have lost a spouse.  Two of these deaths occurred this year, one of them just before Christmas.  It was good to spend a portion of our day spreading the blessing of Christmas.  I hope this is a tradition that continues.

What are your Christmas traditions?

*Answers to the quiz questions:  The questions go in order from oldest to youngest, Andrew, Jesse, Mariana, Shoun, Isaac, Eden and HopeAnne

Christmas Traditions

Traditions are great and our kids need them.  Some come from our home of origin while others morph over time.  I'm definitely a traditions kind of mom.

Ours start Christmas Eve Eve.  Since one of our traditions is to sleep over at MomMom and PopPop's house Christmas Eve, we have our celebration on the day before Christmas.  Thus, the early start.

Christmas Eve Eve includes family movie night except that often, family movie night becomes two family movie nights because it's difficult to find something for everyone.  And Christmas Eve practice at church kind of cut into the Christmas Eve Eve family movie night as well so next year I'm putting my foot down, no one leaves the house after 6PM.  Family and traditions trump everything else, after all.

Anyway, 6PM is the whole family movie.  Then, after the younger kids go to bed, 8PM is the big kids' movie.  So far we've done popular 80s movies but I suppose we will run out at some point and either have to start over or move into the next decade.  It's been fun to introduce the kids to some of our favorite movies and to have mature conversations afterward.  Of course special snacks, not normally found in our house, are included.

Christmas morning starts with a little something to hold you over until brunch.  This year the children found instructions and a daily schedule (with approximate times but enough information so I didn't have to answer the same questions X7 all day long).  Their first assignment, while everyone was gathering, was to write encouraging notes to their grandparents.  When all were awake, or at least upright, we sat down together.  This year we finished the Jesse Advent Tree, then spent some time debriefing from the events of 2013, and had a time of prayer.  Then, one of my favorite parts, reading the encouraging notes we wrote to each other and placed in our stockings.  A few years ago we did this in lieu of stocking gifts and we've enjoyed it so much that it's been a treasured tradition.  I may or may not have cried a bit during this part.

Of course there are gifts.  The children exchange names and that's always a fun time so they went first.  There's always someone who has given it away ahead of time but HopeAnne was the hero of the gift exchange this year.  She had Shoun's name but every time Jesse tried to torment her and ask her again to tell him whose name she had, she'd always respond, "Jesse."  She stuck with it so well that she even had him almost fooled into thinking that she did have his name.  It was all her idea to make Shoun a blanket.

There were a lot of special gifts this year including a handmade picture from Mariana...

...car decals for John (just to make people look twice as he drives around town in a small car presumably filled with 10)...

...a Cookie Monster from Andrew to his Secret Santa, Victor, who promptly chewed on his new toy (Victor did the chewing, that is).  Victor also had Andrew and chose this shirt all by himself ...

...noise makers for Victor made by Eden and HopeAnne (yes, they did use empty pill bottles and yes, we did cover up the labels so he wouldn't look like such a druggie, and yes, we did use childproof caps and yes, we did hot glue gun the lids just to be safe)...

...footie PJs from the boys, who insisted I open their gifts at the same time, just to be fair...

...handmade scarves from Jesse...

...and tune in tomorrow for the best gift of all (but here's a hint)...

Go and serve

Isaiah 58

"Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
Yet on the day of your fasting,
you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter -
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise int he darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Luke 14:12-14

Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Our three oldest children are leaving this weekend for missions trips.  One is a co-leader for a middle school team going to Juniata County, PA to do house projects and to build relationships with the people they serve.  The other two are headed to work with the Navajo in New Mexico.

Short term missions has a bad reputation for teams of wealthy, entitled people swooping in with all of their comforts and preconceived notions, serving for a week, then leaving, often doing more damage than good in the location they have served.  My prayer for our teens this week is that they would go with the attitude of Isaiah 58 and Luke 14:12 - 14 uppermost in their hearts and minds.  Go with the mind of Christ.  Be open with your love, share what you've been given.  Be uncomfortable so others may be comfortable.

Speaking of uncomfortable...

Victor and I have watched many babies come and go in the three months he's been here.  Another one of his neighbors is leaving today.  Our turn is coming.  The countdown is on.  Day 5 of no bradies.  Weight gain is no problem - 5 lb. 10 oz. today.  Loving his milk.  On very little oxygen.  We're so excited!

UPDATE 2PM - PRAYER WARRIORS NEEDED

We just found out from the doctor that unless we get a miracle we will NOT be going home next week.  In fact, according to him, it could be more than 2 weeks.  Bottom line:
1.  The eye doctor needs to show up to do the eye exam.  He is one week overdue for this exam and is the only one in town who can do it.
2. The results of that eye exam need to be miraculous!  Victor's eyes need to have matured and the ROP has to have resolved.  Today's doctor will not allow Victor to leave with oxygen if these two things have not happened.

We need a miracle!

Oh, and another room air trial is underway as I type.  Passing this would be another miracle!