It may be Thanksgiving Day, but all this blowing and snowing has us in the mood for Christmas! (Nothing like below zero wind chills and white outs to kill any feelings of thankfulness.) So, having one party postponed due to weather conditions, we declared the start of "Christmastime" in the Hemmeke household. At 6:00 pm when Steve's watch alarm went off ("new day!") the kids got to FINALLY play with their nativity sets that have been stashed away for a year. Christmas tunes danced out of the CD player, and our book on the Pilgrims was cast aside by the kids. So much for Squanto!
The thought behind "Christmastime" is to deflate all the excitement and expectations that can build up into a big pressure cooker for December 25. One snow storm or sickness and that pot can burst! We still recognize the 25th as "the day", but extending the Christmas celebration to include Advent and Epiphany spreads out the pressure to create a "perfect" day.
So what's in store for this month+ long celebration? We'll be celebrating Advent with devotions based around Jesse Tree felt magnets (engineered by yours truly to withstand a 1 year old and not pose a choking hazard!). Each of the 25 magnets represents part of Christ's geneology, starting with God and the creation of Adam to Mary/Joseph and Jesus. The only drawback to this is that I only have made 13 magnets during the past 2 years. Time to get cracking and complete the set!
Grace and I will attend her cousin's dance performance retelling the Christmas story through song and movement. Grace loves anything ballet/Angelina Ballerina/music, so we're pumped to attend.
Owen is excited to saw down his first Christmas tree (previous two of his life were delivered to our home). He plans on bringing his plastic hacksaw to help Dad. And of course we'll have a special tree decorating night where I put "my" ornaments on the top half of the tree and the kids put theirs *anywhere* on the bottom half. Each year I give them an ornament to represent the past year of their lives. I'm kind of a stickler about my Christmas trees.... I don't let them hang all the ornaments on one branch. And I can't get enough lights. Am I crazy, or does anyone else out there think 700 lights is the bare minimum for a 6' tree? Steve and I have a wonderful system worked out when it comes to the tree: he sets it up in the base, I decorate it, and we "ooh" and "ahh" at it together. :)
Plans are still in the works for Christmas day (we have NO GET TOGETHERS PLANNED!) and I'm still dreaming up something for Epiphany to do with the 12 Days of Christmas. But not the cheesy song version. Oh no, I must be creative. If you have any ideas, let me know!
And of course, Steve's 30th birthday is in December, so I can't miss that!
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