I am close to finishing my third semester in seminary, working to earn my Masters in Christian Education. I also started working part-time this month at my church, serving as the Interim Director of Children's Christian Education. And I have two young kids. So as you can imagine, I spend a lot of time thinking about kids and church.
I think about it so much that it even spills over into the infinitesimal amount of time I have for pleasure reading. I'm currently in the middle of a small but powerful book called Parenting in the Pew. The idea is that children should be in a church's sanctuary participating in worship from a very young age. If we hope or expect our kids to attend church and be people of faith as adults, then it makes sense for them to participate in one of the main parts of church and to learn by experiencing what worship is about. The book has many suggestions for how parents can facilitate this with their kids (which I won't go into here) but with that in mind...
I was sitting with my two wiggly boys in the family Christmas Eve service tonight. Little B is used to sitting in worship with us but he was still in a mood and pretty squirmy. So when we started singing a hymn he knows, I excitedly caught his attention and invited him to sing along. AND HE DID! My friends, I think this was the first time he ever sang in church, fully participating in the fellowship of believers that had gathered to worship God. It brought tears to my eyes. It was the best Christmas gift I didn't even know to ask for. And my heart overflows.
"But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart..." (Luke 2: 19)
I hope each of you has wonderful things to treasure and ponder in your heart this Christmas. Alleluia, Emmanuel has come, God with us.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Advent Week 3
Sunday: Today we turned our angel tree gift in to church. I tried to enlist Little B's help on shopping for the gift and wrapping, neither of which was all that effective but I think he's old enough to begin to understand that this is an important part of the Christmas season. We went grocery shopping a couple days later for some food to donate to a food pantry. He was able to get a little more involved with that, but I think the concept is still a bit lost on him. Oh well, I'll keep trying. I also had Little B "paint" Christmas cards to give to his preschool and Sunday School teachers. I envisioned finger painting, Little B turned it into full-hand painting. Oh well, he had fun:)
Monday: Did you know the concept of repetition overload is lost on three year olds? I have listened to the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas CD and read the Berenstain Bear Christmas books more times in the last month than is believable. But Little B is completely addicted and I know that for better or worse they'll all be packed away by the end of the month so I indulge him. Anyone else want to take a turn driving him around and/or reading to give Hubby T and I a break?!
Tuesday: We received a surprise in the mail today from our Gigi - a Christmas carousel! There is a little calliope which is connected to six carousel horses that move up and down and light up and play Christmas carols when it's turned on. Little B calls them Santa's horses and Baby P calls them "ho" in his adorable attempt to say "horse." I think the pieces are supposed to hang from the bottom branches of the tree, which of course we can't do with Baby P so it lives on the mantle, at least for this year. All in all, great fun for my little ones:)
Wednesday: We've been told all year that Little B's music class would have a special Christmas activity. We've been singing a song about the gingerbread boy for a couple weeks now, so it wasn't a huge surprise to me when the teacher presented each child with their very own gingerbread boy to decorate! Due to a couple kids' dietary restrictions, we didn't decorate real cookies in class but had felt gingerbread cut-outs instead. The teacher did send us home with real cookies though, which Little B promptly decorated and then handed over to us to eat. I am so grateful that this kid is so easy going about his no-gluten diet!
Thursday: Today was Little B's preschool Christmas party. His teacher has been telling us all month that the kids have been working on surprises for us and it was true. We came home with several hand-made ornaments, a book from Santa (who showed up at the party), and some video of a very lackluster Little B standing with his classmates, not singing, but then again most of them weren't either. I'm so glad this preschool didn't have a big program or make a big deal of them performing because Little B is so not a performer. But he does know the words to Rudolph by heart and called "Away in a Manger" his favorite song, so I know he's been learning something this month at school:)
Friday: Today we had our grinder pump replaced. There is nothing Christmasy about this but that's what our day was about - not being able to put anything down any pipe in our house until it was fixed. Alleluia it was fixed, but the spirit of the season was a bit lost in the midst of this mini-house-crisis. We still played Christmas music while we ate dinner, hopefully that counts for something in this little Advent diary of mine...
Saturday: Today we celebrated an early Christmas with Gramma, Grampa and Auntie A. We had my family's traditional Christmas morning sticky buns, shared presents with one another, and realized that Little B is at the age where all he's interested in are his presents. I also learned when we got home that he's very interested in decorating Christmas cookies, to the extent that once all the cookies were decorated I had to promise that he could "decorate" his ice cream for dessert, which he did.
Hmm, there was a lot about Little B in this week's post. As I said at the beginning, he is experiencing Christmas on a whole different level this year, so that's how I'm experiencing it a lot too. Baby P's time will come. In the meantime, he's keeping us all jumping and laughing (and occasionally pulling hair out). Not much longer now....
Monday: Did you know the concept of repetition overload is lost on three year olds? I have listened to the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas CD and read the Berenstain Bear Christmas books more times in the last month than is believable. But Little B is completely addicted and I know that for better or worse they'll all be packed away by the end of the month so I indulge him. Anyone else want to take a turn driving him around and/or reading to give Hubby T and I a break?!
Tuesday: We received a surprise in the mail today from our Gigi - a Christmas carousel! There is a little calliope which is connected to six carousel horses that move up and down and light up and play Christmas carols when it's turned on. Little B calls them Santa's horses and Baby P calls them "ho" in his adorable attempt to say "horse." I think the pieces are supposed to hang from the bottom branches of the tree, which of course we can't do with Baby P so it lives on the mantle, at least for this year. All in all, great fun for my little ones:)
Wednesday: We've been told all year that Little B's music class would have a special Christmas activity. We've been singing a song about the gingerbread boy for a couple weeks now, so it wasn't a huge surprise to me when the teacher presented each child with their very own gingerbread boy to decorate! Due to a couple kids' dietary restrictions, we didn't decorate real cookies in class but had felt gingerbread cut-outs instead. The teacher did send us home with real cookies though, which Little B promptly decorated and then handed over to us to eat. I am so grateful that this kid is so easy going about his no-gluten diet!
Thursday: Today was Little B's preschool Christmas party. His teacher has been telling us all month that the kids have been working on surprises for us and it was true. We came home with several hand-made ornaments, a book from Santa (who showed up at the party), and some video of a very lackluster Little B standing with his classmates, not singing, but then again most of them weren't either. I'm so glad this preschool didn't have a big program or make a big deal of them performing because Little B is so not a performer. But he does know the words to Rudolph by heart and called "Away in a Manger" his favorite song, so I know he's been learning something this month at school:)
Friday: Today we had our grinder pump replaced. There is nothing Christmasy about this but that's what our day was about - not being able to put anything down any pipe in our house until it was fixed. Alleluia it was fixed, but the spirit of the season was a bit lost in the midst of this mini-house-crisis. We still played Christmas music while we ate dinner, hopefully that counts for something in this little Advent diary of mine...
 |
| This kid loves to "cheese" for the camera! |
Saturday: Today we celebrated an early Christmas with Gramma, Grampa and Auntie A. We had my family's traditional Christmas morning sticky buns, shared presents with one another, and realized that Little B is at the age where all he's interested in are his presents. I also learned when we got home that he's very interested in decorating Christmas cookies, to the extent that once all the cookies were decorated I had to promise that he could "decorate" his ice cream for dessert, which he did.
Hmm, there was a lot about Little B in this week's post. As I said at the beginning, he is experiencing Christmas on a whole different level this year, so that's how I'm experiencing it a lot too. Baby P's time will come. In the meantime, he's keeping us all jumping and laughing (and occasionally pulling hair out). Not much longer now....
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Advent Week 2
December 7: On this night we attended our town's annual Christmas celebration, which includes fireworks! Every time there was a pause Baby P would say, "All done?" Little B had seen fireworks before, and was pretty cold, so he wasn't overly impressed with this little Christmas tradition. It did wear him out though (or maybe that was just all the fun he had with all the family who came with us...)
December 8: Hubby T's Yiayia brought us some gifts from the closing sale of her local Hallmark store, including this super fun Christmas story. It's an interactive book that responds to certain lines of the book being read. To little children it sounds like Santa is talking with us as we read. I don't think Little B actually thinks it's Santa talking to him, but we're enjoying it just the same:)
December 9: I love dressing my kids in holiday clothes. It's shocking how quickly Baby P is fitting into Little B's hand me downs!
December 10: It's a fairly common occurrence for Hubby T to take the kids outside to play in the late afternoon when I'm finishing school work or starting dinner. One of the highlights of this season is how they take advantage of that time to walk around the neighborhood and look at Christmas lights. The super crazy house within their walking radius is lovingly referred to by Little B as "the blinking Christmas lights house,". He seriously loves this house and asks that we drive by it anytime we drive home after dark. I didn't take a picture because it's hard to take pictures in the dark, plus it would be creepy if the owner saw us, so you'll just have to imagine the glee of an almost four year old in front of a completely decked out for Christmas house.
December 11: One of Little B's daily joys this season is putting an ornament on our magnetic Advent tree. This perfect for little hands, and fits perfectly on our mantle out of their reach!
December 12: Tonight Little B and I went on a mommy-oldest son date to see our church's Christmas play. We invited Little D and his mommy to come with us, which was super fun. We decided the boys are still a little too young to really get into the play, but we took them out for frozen yogurt afterwards, so all in all the night was a hit:)
December 13: I know I already devoted a "day" to Christmas clothes but Christmas pajamas are just too cute to ignore. The boy's Mom-Mom bought them matching footie pajamas just for Christmas Eve/day - I'm pretty sure they're going to be too adorable for words!
One more full week until Christmas - getting excited!!
December 8: Hubby T's Yiayia brought us some gifts from the closing sale of her local Hallmark store, including this super fun Christmas story. It's an interactive book that responds to certain lines of the book being read. To little children it sounds like Santa is talking with us as we read. I don't think Little B actually thinks it's Santa talking to him, but we're enjoying it just the same:)
December 9: I love dressing my kids in holiday clothes. It's shocking how quickly Baby P is fitting into Little B's hand me downs!
December 10: It's a fairly common occurrence for Hubby T to take the kids outside to play in the late afternoon when I'm finishing school work or starting dinner. One of the highlights of this season is how they take advantage of that time to walk around the neighborhood and look at Christmas lights. The super crazy house within their walking radius is lovingly referred to by Little B as "the blinking Christmas lights house,". He seriously loves this house and asks that we drive by it anytime we drive home after dark. I didn't take a picture because it's hard to take pictures in the dark, plus it would be creepy if the owner saw us, so you'll just have to imagine the glee of an almost four year old in front of a completely decked out for Christmas house.
December 11: One of Little B's daily joys this season is putting an ornament on our magnetic Advent tree. This perfect for little hands, and fits perfectly on our mantle out of their reach!
December 12: Tonight Little B and I went on a mommy-oldest son date to see our church's Christmas play. We invited Little D and his mommy to come with us, which was super fun. We decided the boys are still a little too young to really get into the play, but we took them out for frozen yogurt afterwards, so all in all the night was a hit:)
December 13: I know I already devoted a "day" to Christmas clothes but Christmas pajamas are just too cute to ignore. The boy's Mom-Mom bought them matching footie pajamas just for Christmas Eve/day - I'm pretty sure they're going to be too adorable for words!
One more full week until Christmas - getting excited!!
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Advent Week 1
The season of Advent is upon us and I am shame-facedly confessing that I prepared nothing to guide my children or myself or my family through this season. No preschool devotion books. No countdown to Christmas chain. No elf on a shelf. It's taking all my energy and focus (and then some) to keep all the balls I'm juggling up in the air, then we add in Christmas. But I'm not complaining because we are still enjoying and commemorating the season in little ways. Little B is understanding everything in a whole new way this year and his joy is amazing to behold. So I'm going to do my best to share something about each day this season because these boys are growing and there will never be another Christmas quite like this one...
November 30: We bought our Christmas tree today. Hubby T thought this needed to be a family decision so we took turns chasing Baby P away from the major road that is right next to the church where we buy our tree while trying to pick out a tree. Yup, 17 months is fun!
December 1: Tonight we lit the first candle in our Advent wreath and tried to explain to Little B that it is the candle of hope...
Me: What's something you hope for Little B?
Little B: That I get everyone on my list from Santa!
Me (thinking): Hmm, maybe I should have spent more time finding a preschool-level Advent devotional...
December 2: Little B asked to make Christmas cookies today and I, much to my dismay, had to say no because I didn't have time. Instead, I came up with the oh-so-brilliant idea of taking his gluten-free Joe-Joe cookies (Trader Joe oreos), slicing them in half and giving him sprinkles to "decorate" his cookie. He was thrilled and I was no longer a disappointing mommy, win-win:)
December 3: So apparently I bought Elf on a Shelf last year and completely forgot I had it until we unpacked Christmas things this year. We're not making a big deal out of it at all, we just call him Elf, and Baby P is in love, which he expresses alternately by hugging Elf and forcefully throwing him across the room!
December 4: Little B's preschool sent home a song book with lyrics to the Christmas songs the kids are learning for their Christmas party in a couple weeks. I am taking every opportunity I can to sing those songs so that Little B will learn the words and get comfortable with the songs. His favorite song coming into this season was Jingle Bells, but Rudolph is quickly rising in his estimation;)
December 5: Last weekend I told Little B that he could stay up and have a movie night with us. I turned on the Frosty movie that is on Netflix, which is different from the original but I kept expecting the story to turn out fundamentally the same. It doesn't. The version on Netflix stinks. Even Little B thought so, without having any knowledge of the original. I think we'll watch Polar Express next. We've been listening to the soundtrack, which Little B tolerates, so I have much higher hopes for that movie night:)
December 6: Christmas came early today with the visit of Hubby T's parents, grandparents and aunt and uncle, who brought some early presents. The Hess truck for this year was a humongous hit! If you are still looking for a gift idea for your three or four year old, go buy the Hess truck and your child will love you forever.
We're already down to two full weeks before Christmas, stay tuned for more Family P celebrations!
November 30: We bought our Christmas tree today. Hubby T thought this needed to be a family decision so we took turns chasing Baby P away from the major road that is right next to the church where we buy our tree while trying to pick out a tree. Yup, 17 months is fun!
December 1: Tonight we lit the first candle in our Advent wreath and tried to explain to Little B that it is the candle of hope...
Me: What's something you hope for Little B?
Little B: That I get everyone on my list from Santa!
Me (thinking): Hmm, maybe I should have spent more time finding a preschool-level Advent devotional...
December 2: Little B asked to make Christmas cookies today and I, much to my dismay, had to say no because I didn't have time. Instead, I came up with the oh-so-brilliant idea of taking his gluten-free Joe-Joe cookies (Trader Joe oreos), slicing them in half and giving him sprinkles to "decorate" his cookie. He was thrilled and I was no longer a disappointing mommy, win-win:)
December 3: So apparently I bought Elf on a Shelf last year and completely forgot I had it until we unpacked Christmas things this year. We're not making a big deal out of it at all, we just call him Elf, and Baby P is in love, which he expresses alternately by hugging Elf and forcefully throwing him across the room!
December 4: Little B's preschool sent home a song book with lyrics to the Christmas songs the kids are learning for their Christmas party in a couple weeks. I am taking every opportunity I can to sing those songs so that Little B will learn the words and get comfortable with the songs. His favorite song coming into this season was Jingle Bells, but Rudolph is quickly rising in his estimation;)
December 5: Last weekend I told Little B that he could stay up and have a movie night with us. I turned on the Frosty movie that is on Netflix, which is different from the original but I kept expecting the story to turn out fundamentally the same. It doesn't. The version on Netflix stinks. Even Little B thought so, without having any knowledge of the original. I think we'll watch Polar Express next. We've been listening to the soundtrack, which Little B tolerates, so I have much higher hopes for that movie night:)
December 6: Christmas came early today with the visit of Hubby T's parents, grandparents and aunt and uncle, who brought some early presents. The Hess truck for this year was a humongous hit! If you are still looking for a gift idea for your three or four year old, go buy the Hess truck and your child will love you forever.
We're already down to two full weeks before Christmas, stay tuned for more Family P celebrations!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)