Christmas

On Christmas Eve Grandma Joan and Aunt Tiffany joined us for our traditional dinner: Chicken Curry with dried fruit and cashews. We finished our Advent reading and lit all the candles of our Advent wreath and listened to a John Piper poem - The Innkeeper.
We let the kids open one gift before they go to bed - it's typically new pajamas.

Ron and I stayed up late stuffing the stockings and listening to Christmas carols by the fire in our room.

On Christmas Day, the kids woke up early and opened their stockings while we drank hot coco or coffee in our jammies. Dad made our traditional Christmas breakfast: egg, ham and cheese croissants. After our breakfast we opened presents.

This year, we had the kids draw names with each other and we bought each kid one special thing.

Ashley got her guitar, Taylor an American Girl Doll (Samantha), Paige received art lessons and supplies, Courtney got camera accessories and Zach cologne and clothes.

After we cleaned up, we all pitched in to get ready for Christmas Dinner. The girls and I spent the entire afternoon making bread, pie, chocolate triffle, stuffing, potatoes, ham, salad, veggies... Grandma Joan and Tiffany came around one o'clock with Rib Roast, carrots, pecan tassies, shortbread and homemade fudge.

We invited a new friend from church who grew up Jewish and is recently converted to Christianity. We spent the afternoon talking, playing games, eating dinner, enjoying great desserts and playing more games. We even had a fun, web-cam conversation with our family in Brazil.

In the evening, we all gathered around the computer to listen to John Piper read the Advent Poem of Hosea and Gomer - and were deeply affected as we were reminded of the reality of God's unrelenting love toward us.

All in all, it was a good day - celebrating God's goodness with people we loved, connecting with family that live far away, welcoming a new "brother-in-the-faith" to our family... with lots of good food, fun and laughter. It was a great Christmas!

Advent Poems

We've been searching for new ways to celebrate the Christmas season and I found these on John Piper's website: Desiring God. He writes advent poems each year as a gift to his congregation. We are enjoying them as a family.

Click on the blue link below, and it will take you to the website where you can read them or listen to John Piper read them aloud (candles two, three and four- are recorded). Poetry is better listened to than read - so I highly recommend listening to these (or read them aloud). Also, you might want to listen to John Piper read one first, so you can figure out the meter and the rhythm of the poem.

Some of these are long --but it's worth taking the time to listen and savor them. Ron just preached a great sermon on Hosea and Gomer --that's why I included this poem - it encapsulates all that Ron said last Sunday.

Enjoy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!



Candle One Foreknown and Predestined in the Son
Candle Two Called
Candle Three The Innkeeper
Candle Four Hosea and Gomer
Christ Candle

Wii (we) had a great day!!

We've been looking for several weeks to buy a Wii (a computer game that hooks up to the TV) for the kids for Christmas,but it's sold out everywhere. When we asked the clerks at all the stores when they expected a shipment, no one could tell us. Last week, as the girls and I were shopping, a clerk told us a shipment would come in on Sunday and we should come early to stand in line. We gave that job to Zach - and the three girls begged to go with him. We thought that it would be a great memory for them to make together - even if they weren't able to get the game.

So, at 6:00 this morning Zach set off with Paige, Taylor and Ashley on a quest to purchase a Wii. After visiting three different stores and standing in line--outside in the cold...(they were the 20th spot in a line of over 100 people)they emerged victorious with the prize - after only 2 hours of time invested.

We decided that the whole experience of making a memory with their big brother, going out to Starbucks, hanging out together and having an adventure was all a part of the Christmas present - rather than waiting until Christmas morning.

Later today, we had our Pastor's Family Christmas Dinner with the Bairds. We all went out to Macaroni Grill and had a lovely lunch. We then went over to the Bairds' house and took our Wii with us and we all played - golf, tennis, bowling, and boxing!! This game is a great way for kids, parents, and grandparents to interact with each other. We had a blast!

Making Tamales

Today, the girls and I spent the day making tamales with our friends, Jennifer and TJ Vigil. They have a Christmas tradition in their family, where they make dozens (and dozens!) of tamales to give away as gifts or to freeze for future use. Courtney, Paige, Taylor, Ashley and I made it our "Girl's Day Out" together. We had a great time learning new recipes, cultivating new cooking skills and practicing "building" the perfect tamale.

Although it was a lot of work, we had fun sharing a new experience together- chatting and laughing the entire day. Not only did we make some awesome tamales, we made friends and some memories that will last a long time.

Thank you, Jen and TJ!!

Care Group Leader's Christmas Party

Tonight we hosted a Christmas Party for our Care Group Leaders from our church.

Big Bear Lake

Since we had rain over the weekend, there was snow in the mountains. So, today, we took our annual Christmas Snow Day and headed up to Big Bear where the kids went sledding.
Here are a few pictures...

Jesse Tree

This year, we are adding a new family tradition: a Jesse Tree. For several years now, in December, we have read a book: One Wintry Night to the kids that puts Christmas in context of God's over-arching design in history. Now, we are adding another step: daily Advent readings that correspond with ornaments that we will make and hang on a smaller tree. The readings trace major themes in the Bible: of creation, the fall, the promise of redemption and the fulfillment of that promise through the birth of Christ.

Christmas Trees

We started our annual tradition: "Hunt for the Perfect Christmas Tree" this week. We visited a few lots but couldn't agree on which tree was the BEST. We'll continue the search later this week.Here are a few pictures...

Spa Night and Dream Dinners

I've had a busy week so far... on Tuesday, I hosted a "Spa Night" for the moms in our homeschooling academy. Instead of our regular, monthly Teacher Support Meeting, I transformed our meeting room into a Spa and treated the ladies to a night of pampering. We had fun decorating and creating a soothing ambiance with candles, flowers and soft lighting. We sectioned off the large room into stations - buffet and drinks, massages, manicures, pedicures and foot massages.

I hired two certified massage therapists, a cosmetic/skin care consultant (to do facials) and asked some friends to come and help with manicures and pedicures. I also asked a friend who is a gourmet caterer to do up the appetizers and desserts. She outdid herself and brought fantastic food! We had a great time! It was alot of fun.

Today I spent the afternoon with four friends at Dream Dinners where we made 13 meals (each) for our families. So, for the next month, I have in my freezer, 13 dinners all ready to put in the oven. It's been so nice to have these already planned and waiting for me in the freezer. So now, when we are crazy busy and I don't have time to cook, instead of eating fast food junk, we can come home and eat a gourmet dinner that's healthy!