Santa at our House

I think I've had the "Do you do Santa?" conversation 5 or 6 times with friends in the past few weeks. As parents who are primarily concerned with raising children for the Lord, the Santa experience can be a dilemma. Does it take away from the real celebration of Jesus? Does it make our children materialistic? Is it right to teach them a myth about some invisible man who gives them gifts only if they're good, and then they later find out he's not real? Is this how they'll also think of God?

While I understand all of these reasons, I personally don't think that it's "wrong" to do Santa. We try to always keep the focus on Jesus, so we discuss Santa in light of this too. We have conversations about how God loved us so much that He gave us the best gift ever--His son Jesus--so we celebrate with gifts at Christmas too. Today Catherine actually said that really the best gift we have is the Bible, because without it, how we would even know about Jesus? I thought that was a pretty wise observation.

We don't ask the kids to make lists of what they want for Christmas (this may change as they get older). We try to think about the giving and sharing more than the receiving. And I think there's something fun and magical about the Santa myth for a child. As kids they play pretend about something every day in their life, so I'm okay with us playing pretend about Santa. So yes, we do Santa at our house.

We have some Santa decorations on the mantel that the kids really like.

We went for a quick visit to see Santa at Chick-fil-A the other night. Catherine and Anna were much more interested in this than Will. Santa did ask the kids what they wanted for Christmas. Catherine's answer: "a mini-van to put her babies in" and Will's response: "a red motorcycle with doors." Yeah, I don't think they understand the whole asking-for-a-list-of-toys concept.
Will is a little shy with Santa, so he wanted Jay to hold him while he talked to Santa. He did shake his hand and was very interested in his gloves. He also wanted Santa to tell him "Ho, ho, ho". Unfortunately, I think he still associates Santa with our visit last year, when he then went home and busted his head open on the hearth and we spent the evening in the ER, with Catherine vomiting while we were there. I might not like Santa either if that's what I remembered about seeing him last year.
I think the Santa thing is one of those tricky lines between being in the world, but not of the world. And I think that as long as our children don't believe that the reason we have Christmas is so that Santa brings them gifts, then we're headed in the right direction. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong...but that's what we're doing at our house right now.

The Light of the World

One of our favorite Christmas things is this magnetic Advent Nativity set. The kids take turns each day opening the little door and putting part of the nativity scene on the board. They love it, especially when they get what they think is a really important part like the Wise Men or Mary. It has also given us a chance to discuss the "not-so-important" ones, like the donkey who had the very important job of taking Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and the sheep, who are like us and tend to wander around and get lost on their own.

The one part that Catherine and I have spent the most time talking about this year though is the star. I can't remember why she was initially so interested in it; I'm thinking maybe because it was the first magnet we put up. But it has given me a chance to reflect on the star too. I guess I'd always thought "God sent them a star....what a nice GPS system." And then all of the sudden one day, I realized why God used the star. Jesus is the Light of the World! So he had to be born in the dark at night so that His light could shine brightly, to show the world how different He is. The whole world is full of sin and darkness, and this sweet little baby came to bring light and to be light. This sounds like a pretty simple thing that may have been obvious to everyone else but me for a long time, but I guess I had just never applied the "light of the world" idea to the Christmas story. I'm thankful that God can use something simple like a magnetic Advent calendar and conversations with my children to reveal His truth to me. And I'll never think about the star in quite the same way.

Yep, he's still dressing himself.

But I think he's cute enough to pull it off--even the socks with the sandals!

Happy 5th Birthday!

Catherine turned 5 years old on Monday! I feel like she's at a stage where sometimes she still seems little but most of the time, she is growing up and maturing before my eyes every day. She is such a precious part of our family---a great big sister to Will and Anna, such a good helper and encouragement to Mommy and Daddy. She is loving and compassionate, responsible, thoughtful, sometimes silly, sometimes serious. She is fantastic!!

Catherine loves art and art projects, so this year we decided to have a "big" birthday party (ie-not at home) at the CAT studio (CAT=creating artists for tomorrow). She and her friends each painted their own canvas, and then each person helped paint on a large 4 piece canvas with a huge C for Catherine to take home. Catherine was in heaven! She has literally been talking about this birthday party for 4+ months. We had a great time seeing everyone's artistic expressions and celebrating with our sweet girl.

Happy Birthday, Catherine! We love you and are so proud of the little lady you already are and the young woman you are becoming.

Roommate Christmas Celebration

Every Christmas, my Furman roommates and I get together. We've done a variety of things over the years to enjoy spending time and catching up with each other. This year we headed to the Grove Park Inn for the day. We enjoyed the beautiful setting, seeing all the Christmas trees and gingerbread houses, and ate a fabulous lunch. It was perfect and leisurely. These are some of my favorite people in the whole world and I'm so glad we still make the time to get together.

(And yes, Jay survived at home all day with the kids by himself!! He won some extra "daddy points" that day.)

Oh to be Three....

Will is very much in full swing of the Three Year Old "Testing of the Limits" and "I Want to Be Independent but I can't Do It Myself" stage. He can do many more things than I sometimes give him credit for and he gets frustrated that I try to help him. But then when I don't try to help him with something, he gets frustrated that he can't do it himself. Either way, he usually ends up angry, screaming, crying, and/or having a tantrum. Add to the mix that we still have a hard time understanding some of his speech and that only multiplies his frustration. Poor kid...I reassure him daily that we really are doing the best job that we can. I'm not sure if he believes me!

He can be one of the most tender and loving little boys I've ever known. He can be so gentle to Catherine and Anna, will hold the door open for all of us and anyone within a 1/4 mile radius, will share licks of his lollipop if you ask. And he's a great Dad to his baby that he totes around so that he and Catherine can pretend they're married and have kids together. (People keep reassuring me this is normal and good.)
He loves fire trucks, sports, and tractors. He loves to be outside, even in the cold or rain. He frequently falls down outside (hence the huge scab above his lip) because he wants to run and jump and climb on everything. He only wants to wear polo shirts and those crazy camo pants. He loves orange juice and blueberry oatmeal.
He is a little man and a big boy all at the same time. He's learning. We're trying to be patient.

Today when I picked him from preschool, his teacher told me he had a hard time following some of the rules today. (Last week he had a hard time keeping his hands to himself and hit a few kids.) I asked him tonight if he got put in time-out today. He said, "yeah, actually two times" (well, at least he's being honest here.) I asked him why he got put in time out. He said, "I threw the hammer. And I not remember why else the other time." "Will, did you disobey the rules?" "Oh yeah, I stand on the Lego table and jump off." They're seemingly "little" things, but he knows when he does these things that he's testing his limits. He turns to see if you're watching and what you're going to do about it. So we're trying to be consistent and enforce the limits--lovingly yet firmly. Perseverance and Patience are my friends.

8 Months Old

Anna turned 8 months old this past weekend. Where is the time going? She is growing so fast and it is so much fun, but (as I've mentioned before) part of me feels sad that the baby stage goes by so quickly. I LOVE the stage she is now--still my snuggly baby, but starting to show some signs of independence too. I love watching her interact with other people, especially Catherine and Will. I love seeing her expressions when she sees or hears something for the first time. I love her baby babbles. And oh my, her smiles still melt my heart every day. I am so thankful for this sweet baby girl.

In the past month, Anna has learned to crawl, now has 3 bottom teeth, sometimes sleeps all night but usually gets up once around 4 or 5 am to eat, sucks her fingers almost all day and night, has eaten some of Eli's dog food and loves to eat baby food, sits in the big bathtub all by herself (with very little water in it), and loves to pull hair (especially Will's when he tries to love on her while she's nursing).

She is a pretty easy going baby for the most part, although her separation anxiety can make her less easy-going for people other than mommy. As long as she's with me, she's happy (most of the time). For example, today I had a dentist appointment. Catherine and Will were at preschool, and I took Anna with me. She sat on my lap the entire time I had my teeth cleaned and saw the dentist while she ate cheerios, one by one. She never fussed and or even tried to squirm away--which I think is unusual for a baby who has recently learned to crawl and wants to explore everything. I'm not saying she's always peachy perfect--she did literally scream and cry and refuse to be put down for 2 or 3 straight days last week (teething pains and a fever were the culprit), but on the whole she is such a lovable baby.
We're excited to celebrate your first Christmas with you, Anna! (Although according to Catherine, it's her 2nd Christmas. She just couldn't see what was going on last year because she was still inside.)