O Holy Night

There is a Christmas song that brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear it all year long. I can just picture that first Christmas - when God appeared... an overwhelming sense of new hope swept among those who saw... those who were weary rejoiced... when the Glory of God was so great, that you had no choice but to fall to your knees in worship.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

This Christmas I have some dear friends hurting. One is celebrating Christmas for the first time without her mom. Another is celebrating Christmas while her dad, also, is in heaven. Another just found out her husband has cancer this week. Another has a mom battling cancer, still. So when I hear the line a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, I'm reminded that Christ did come to give hope and rest. This past year I've been blessed to have felt both, thanks to my Saviour. I pray those that are weary would feel the same hope and rest in Christ this season.

My to-do list is done...

This is the first year that Jake and I will be celebrating Christmas Day in our own home. We have always been with family and as much as we love being with family, we're also really excited to start our own Christmas traditions and to celebrate as a family of three. But with that comes the pressure of hosting your own celebration: what traditions to do, preparing the perfect meal, setting the mood, having the perfect Christmas outfits, buying the perfect gifts, getting great pictures, making Christmas cookies and goodies, playing Christmas music all with a big smile on your face. :)

But the truth is, in the midst of trying to "do it all" we often times forget what we're celebrating.

I've been reading through the old testament, and I have realized that over and over God's people would build an altar to help them remember in years to come what God did at that time/place. Or God would instruct His people to hold a Festival to remember in the years to come what God did. All for His glory - not theirs. It was to remember HIM. To praise HIM. To worship HIM.

And that's exactly what we hope to do as we celebrate and remember the day Christ came to earth. The long-awaited, prophesied, yearned for, Son of God.

When December first began, Jake and I asked ourselves if Christmas would be just as special to us if there weren't lights, music, movies, foods and gifts - is the fact that Jesus was born enough to make us excited about this time of year?

There are no biblical instructions on how to celebrate, how many gifts to give (or to give any at all), what meal to eat or how to decorate. So stressing over any of these things is pointless, and maybe even putting the focus more on ourselves than God.

So this year, the year I normally would stress over starting the "perfect" traditions for years to come, I'm not (at least that is my goal.) Christmas day will be special with or without a ham with all of the fixings. Our friends/family should know how much we love and appreciate them year round, with or without a Christmas card mailed on time and/or the perfect gift. Our home will celebrate and remember the day Christ came to earth with or without lights, candles, decorations and Christmas goodies. I want it to be a day filled with celebration and excitement, not stress because we want everything to be perfect.

So the to-do list is out the window, and we are anxiously, yet also reverently waiting ... the day we remember Jesus' birthday is almost here!!

Emelyn's New Bookcase

A few weeks ago Jake said he wanted to make something. Anything. So I casually mentioned a bookcase for Emelyn would be nice. Jake mentioned it to our friend, Tanner, and the two of them went to work planning. Little did we know that Tanner is brilliant with wood and has a woodshop full of the tools needed for this project. So the two of them went to work Saturday afternoon cutting out the pieces, then Jake came home to do the rest.

I forgot to take a before picture, so here's one board stained, and the rest unstained

 I took this picture through the window - it was 19 degrees outside!

 Someone wanted to help every step of the way.

 Yes, Jake even sewed the canvas!

We love it and I'm so impressed! Emelyn is so proud of her new bookcase and loves that they're at her level and facing her. Now I'm thinking of all kinds of projects for him to do next time he wants to make something!.

Orange Eater

I recently bought some oranges fully expecting that I'd be the only one eating them. Even when Emelyn insisted that she wanted a bite, I just knew she'd spit it out because of the odd texture (that white tough skin.) Much to my surprise, she not only ate the bite, but she also ate the entire orange and asked for another. She asks for one every morning now. The funniest part though (a little random) is that the first time she saw one she asked, "what is that?" After I told her it was an orange, she goes, "How funny! The orange is orange!"

Engineer in the making?

Emelyn has been in a stacking/tower phase lately - almost everything has to be stacked - even random things - she just walks around the house to find things to make a tower out of. Especially pennies for some reason.

December

Emelyn "holding" the ladder while daddy was in the attic getting Christmas lights down

 Helping decorate the tree. After each ornament, she would stand back and say "Oh, it's so wonderful!" or "How pretty!"

 going through the box of ornaments to decide which was next

 At the square last night looking at lights - and the camels. Emelyn's first question after finding out it was a camel was "What do camels say?" She's big into needing to know what things say.... like the snowmen on our tree (to which we decided they say "Brr! I'm cold!")

 My scarf turned into extra ear protection for Ems... we chose a cold windy night to go!

 Family picture

We are loving and cherishing this time of year. It seems busy, yes, but we try to keep it simple and flexible. We found a really good Jesse Tree Advent devotional book that we have enjoyed. There is a childrens and adult devotion for each day as it follows the lineage of (and need for) Christ. We've been trying to reiterate to Emelyn that Christmas was the day Jesus was born and that it's His birthday we are celebrating. Last night we had some girls over for supper and one of them asked her what Christmas is about and she goes "God came to earth!" As much as we'd love to take credit for that, I'm pretty sure I haven't said that to her - we always say Christ was born. Regardless of where she learned that statement, we cherished it. How I look forward to the day that she truly grasps and cherishes what that statement truly means!!

Picture Update