Christmas

I now find myself in full Christmas spirit. Working on the holiday issues of Women on the Move and Deeper helped me to transition from the busyness of marking and report cards!

The Christmas lights are up on the house, we put up our Christmas tree last night, and Christmas music has been playing on the radio and on the piano as my girls learn them in their piano lessons, and we've been having fun playing duets! There's even snow on the ground (as I write, we'll see how long that lasts...). It doesn't feel like Christmas without snow for this Northern girl so I'm loving the "light dusting" we just got!

Christmas is a beautiful time of year when people come together, regardless of their backgrounds and interestingly regardless of their beliefs too. Love, giving and compassion abound as we exchange gifts and seem to go out of our way to do kind things for others, "in the spirit of Christmas."

At least for this season, many of us stop to look beyond our own busy lives and consider those around us, our family, friends, coworkers and the less fortunate in our communities and around the world. If only it was a more common practice to be more giving and selfless throughout the year... that is how Jesus lived His life everyday isn't it? A friend to all - the rich, the poor, those hated by society - the prostitutes, the lepers and tax-collectors... and caring for them in real tangible ways: feeding crowds, healing the sick, raising the dead, forgiving the burdened, taking the time to really listen to their stories and answering their questions, in essence: serving others. I love that the world still stops to celebrate Jesus, over 2000 after his birth... amazing.

For this season, all of us, in the church and amazingly beyond the church walls, are challenged to love, serve and help others. That's a beautiful thing!

I'm not stressing about the list of things to do that often comes with Christmas... I'm just excited for time off from work so that I can spend more quality time with my family near and far. I'm also enjoying taking time out with the girls to stop to consider the true reason for season. So many wonderful opportunities to deepen faith in our kids in the weeks leading up to Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! May this be a season rich in quality time with loved ones, and one where we all reach beyond our little bubbles to show love to others and to help those in need.

Here are a few songs that are sure to get you in the Christmas spirit if you too have been struggling to make the transition.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus

Deck the Halls - my absolute favourite jazzy version of this song from "Count Your Blessings" with Holly Cole

A Holy Thing (Who is this Child) from "Count Your Blessings" with Victoria Williams

Globe-trotting at Christmas

I just realized that my family is spread literally in the 4 corners of the globe this Christmas! I have a brother living and working in Australia with his wife, celebrating their 2nd summery Christmas down under. I have another brother coming off an oil rig on the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan, then meeting up with his girlfriend in Frankfurt, Germany to head down to Zambia where they'll spend Christmas with my cousin just before her African wedding next month (last year they were in Australia for Christmas!). Then there's my mother-in-law in South America for the month of December working with Corina at El Jordan in Santa Cruz, Bolivia as they do regularly, helping young people and their families to get off the streets and working with the boys orphanage up the road. In the intense heat, they are helping to prepare and deliver the Christmas hampers for the El Jordan students and other needy families as well as the meals that will get delivered to over 1000 people all over the city for the annual "Christmas on the Streets".

One day, I would love to join my mother-in-law on one of their trips to Bolivia to help in the work down there and to meet some of the people I've heard so much about over the years... I have dreamed of visiting my brother in Australia before they move back home (we miss them dearly!) ... and it would be amazing to visit my cousin in Lusaka, Zambia where she has created a life and home for herself working in sports & rec... But for now, I am thankful for my cozy home in our snowy corner of Canada. I love my white Christmas and all my globe-trotting family members are in my prayers as they travel over the holidays! I'll miss them all this Christmas! Merry Christmas and safe travels! Here's a taste of what you're missing!




(okay, that picture is from last December, but its looking just like that today... we've got quite the storm blowing in! Just couldn't be bothered to get out to take a picture just now!!)

School Christmas Fun!

We just had a different kind of Christmas party at my daughter's school yesterday afternoon. The grade 1 class invited their parents (and younger sibblings) to the school for an afternoon of tobogganing, hot chocolate and cookies, a brief performance by the students and a craft. We had a blast! What a change from the regular Christmas recital that the entire school has put on in the past where parents are fighting for parking (which is nonexistant), fighting for seats (which are limited in the hot and overcrowded gym) and as a result fighting to see our dear wee ones at the front when it's their class' turn to perform their two songs...

Instead, this year we got to enjoy a relaxing and fun afternoon, had fun in the snow, got to see Julia sing up close in the classroom as the class performed their two songs - her shy and proud looks all wrapped into one as she did the actions to the songs... (you can't see that from the back of the packed gym!) Then we had fun doing the craft as family team work, with Emma cutting the pieces to be glued, Julia enjoying painting the glue on and me holding the snowman and dealing with the glue gun (a first for this non artsy girl!) - Daddy at home allowing the baby to have her afternoon nap! (See our craft below... ours is the colourful one on the right!)



All and all, a great afternoon and a welcome change from the school's past Christmas celebrations, this being more focussed on quality time with our kids instead of the distracting stresses of there being a lack of parking, seats and patience (evident everywhere)! Wonderfully refreshing and something that I hope to do more of in the new year... focussing more on not letting those special moments with my family slip by instead of letting the stresses and "to-do lists" of my days keeping me too busy that they so easily get crowded out... I must constantly be intentional about how I spend my minutes and hours in my days! I'm excited about a relaxing Christmas break at home and a New Year with a few more changes to our busy family schedule to further simplify life!

Many blessings to you and your family this Christmas and in the New Year!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I love this time of year! I have to admit, that I wasn't quite ready to start decorating as early as my daughters were with so many other loose ends I was hoping to wrap up first... which led to a not as "magical" gingerbread house experience... I was in the middle of something else, but this COULDN'T wait!!!! The walls weren't staying up with all the little hands in there... the icing wasn't cooperating too well... my frustration levels were up and I could hear a little voice telling me that this isn't quite how this moment is supposed to be!! It's supposed to be a wonderfully fun loving bonding experience with the kids! Well, I blew it with my impatience on that one last weekend... but now that I've knocked many things off my list that had my head spinning, I've regrouped and am back in the swing of things!



We came back to the gingerbread house to decorate it - much more pleasant experience! We got the lights up on the house and the tree up... This has always been one of my favourite parts of Christmas! As a Northern Ontario girl, I grew up going out in the ski-doo (snowmobile) or on snow shoes with my sibblings to find the "perfect" Charlie Brown tree in the bush to bring home... (you see, not too many trees out in the actual forest look perfect... there were always big bald spots in the trees leaving extra room for dangling decorations... or we'd have to hide that side in the corner to hide it... but we (the kids and my dad anyway) loved our trees! We were mad the first year my mom bought one, well at least I was!) Regardless, the smell, the sticky sap, trimming it down to fit in the house, then trying to get it to stand straight, first stringing the lights, then the mish mash of ornaments we'd collected over the years - home made and bought ... I've always loved every bit of putting up the Christmas tree! My parents used to wait until the last few days before Christmas for us to come home from school to take part in the tradition each year! It brings back fond memories with my sibblings (and many ski-doos stuck in the snow!)




Unsure of whether we were staying put or heading off to visit family this year... up went the artificial pre-lit tree ... (tough for this northern girl to admit... but to my surprise it looks pretty good!) It's decorated with our own mish mash of ornaments collected over the years - some gifts, some bought, some made by the kids - or by us as kids!... Julia would get annoyed at her younger sister for putting 3 ornaments on the same branch, but for some reason, no fighting could get to me that day... (unlike the gingerbread house experience... which is foreign to me growing up!)... this is different... I just soaked it in and enjoyed doing that with the girls - bringing back lots of memories... I do look forward to having a real tree in the house again! (I miss the smell! I guess I'll have to light candles this year - not the same... I know...), regardless, the tradition lives on in our family (minus the heading off into the bush... I don't think it'll ever be quite like that again! Tree farms with their perfectly manicured trees just aren't the same - even if you do get to cut it down yourself! - and no, I've never felt guilty about cutting down a tree for Christmas... I've planted thousands upon thousands of trees during my university years as a summer job!)


I always find such a void in January when all the decorations are gone... the house looks so EMPTY! For now, it's warm and awesome! Still a work in progress, but it's coming and I love it ;)