Another Perfectly Imperfect Christmas

On the piano is my cherished ceramic nativity set. It's the same style as the one my mom hand glazed many years ago, which was the same as the one her mother had. Colorful and shining, Joseph and Mary kneel in the stable next to a beautiful manger with a cherubic Christ-child, surrounded by quiet, clean, glazed animals.
Gazing at it, I slip into thinking the first Christmas was like that: perfect.
Perfect? To walk or ride 200 miles while nine months pregnant? To give birth in a stable?
Perfect? For the Son of God to sleep in an animal trough?
Yes, it was perfect. Perfectly imperfect. The King of Kings needed to descend below all things and take upon himself all our sufferings, so all of those seeming imperfections served higher, perfect purpose.
So you might say imperfection -- perfect imperfection -- is one of the most enduring Christmas traditions, predating even the gifts of the Wise Men.

What Made This Christmas Perfect?

Little Q using a sticky candy cane as a stylus on my phone

OR

His joy and delight at seeing his Christmas Eve pajamas 
covered in construction vehicles

*  *  *  * 

The broad smiles and "Merry Christmas!" greetings when we went to church Christmas morning

OR

That I had to spend most of the service wandering the halls 
because Little Q was too excited to sit quietly in the chapel

*  *  *  *

The joy of decorating gingerbread cookies together

OR

The pile of dirty dishes that was still there Christmas morning

*  *  *  *

That the stockings didn't seem quite as full as last year

OR

How beautiful the tree looked as we came down Christmas morning

*  *  *  *

That I missed the sale on what could have been the perfect gift

OR

The joyful, unexpected, spontaneous hugs of appreciation the 
children gave each other after opening gifts

?

I don't plan on imperfection each December. Somehow or other, it always comes. Movies, books, and my Pinterest feed give me such unrealistic expectations for this most sacred of holidays. Each year is supposed to be perfect; the best Christmas ever. I think it is good to remember that one or two or ten moments of catastrophic imperfection doesn't wipe away all the peace, goodwill, and joy of this season. There is room for a little, or even a lot, of imperfection in the perfect Christmas.
Merry Christmas.

Christmas Sunday Advent

This month I reread the merry little christmas project. One thing the author encourages is to write a Christmas "to don't" list. The first thing that came to mind was elves. There will be no elf on my shelf.
The second "to don't" took a little longer to form in my mind. Here it is: daily advent calendars
You see, I've tried and failed with so many different advent calendars over the years as a mom. Paper chains, magnets on muffin tins to name a couple. I guess I'm too tired at bedtime to do them consistently. And don't get me started on some of the daily advents I've seen on Pinterest: decorate sugar cookies today, take the kids sledding tomorrow, go caroling on Thursday.
Really? Who has that much time on a weeknight?

I wanted an achievable way to enjoy Christmastime, and I wanted it to involve happy times as a family and the true meaning of Christmas.
That's when I had my idea for a Christmas Sunday Advent.

There are four Sundays between Thanksgiving and Christmas (not including Christmas Day). If I could make an advent that only needed to be done four times during the month, my chances for success increase exponentially. For us, church gets over at noon, leaving us about eight hours of I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-myself family bonding time. Perfect.

Christmas Sunday Advent

I love the flashing Christmas lights.

The shows and parties are delights.

Better yet are days of rest,

For family time is always best.

Each Sunday until Christmas Day

Let’s meet beside this tree to pray—

For peace on Earth and in our hearts

Begins at home—that’s where it starts.

A gift like this, expect to see

Underneath the Christmas tree.

Look inside and you might see:

A puzzle we can put together

A family photo book to treasure

A small token of the reason

For the joy we have this season.

Some might be old, some might be new.

The real gift is time with you.

The above is a poem I wrote to attach to a gift bag or box the children can find under the tree the first Sunday after Thanksgiving.

If you prefer, you could wait until the first Sunday in December, or until there are only two Sundays left. Your kids don't have to know that I did it for four Sundays.

Since I'm only trying to create four more magical days in December, instead of the 12 or 24 required by most advents, I can afford to put more thought into what special thing(s) might happen. Remembering that the goal is family time and remembering Christ, here are a few ideas that fit well in a gift bag or small box:

• Advent Candles, 1 per week (search Pinterest for some great ideas)
• Candy cane tie (boys) or hairbow (girls) for church/parties
• Books to read together
• Board Book of the Christmas Story
• Puzzle (200-500 piece suggested for school age and up)
• Printed Coloring Pages
• Instructions or supplies for parlor games, such as Christmas Charades or Christmas Pictionary
• A toy nativity set
• DVDs, such as Mr. Kruger's Christmas
• Family photo book (new or old)
• Family photos, unbound
• Christmas craft kits
• "Tickets" to a church choir performance
• Cookie mix, sprinkles and frosting bags

One of the tricks to making this cheap and easy is to get into the garage boxes without the kids seeing. I've pulled out the toy nativity set, cookie cutters, a DVD, and a Hallmark Christmas book that has a recording of the Grandparents reading (since we took the batteries out before storing, it still works beautifully).
At the craft store I bought a couple 50% off craft kits. There were a couple Christmas ties at the thrift store. I printed Christmas charade cards to cut and put in an envelope. I'm almost done creating an 8x8 photo book of the last two Christmases.

Below find links to see what we specifically put into each Sunday Advent bag/box, and how the kids reacted to it:
[to be updated weekly, beginning on or shortly after Sunday, November 27th, 2016]