December Catch-Up

Advent is more than half-way gone. Christmas is less than two weeks away!

Life has been so busy these past few months, I just have not been able to write. I have tried to chalk it up to God wanting me to focus elsewhere for the moment. I miss writing, and hope to be called to it again soon.

     We decorated our tree last night. Actually, we put the tree up the 1st Sunday of Advent (in a brief moment that no one in the family was barfing. Yeah, Thanksgiving was not fun this year), and decorated it with our purple Advent decorations. It has been so lovely, and a wonderful reminder that Christmas is coming, but not quite here yet.
      Now we have passed the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, so now we decorate! The boys are all getting so big now. The Monkey was very excited to help put ornaments on the tree. Mostly on the bottom right part of the tree. It is kind of tipping to one side. The cat loves having those "oh-ma-nents" in reach.

   Most of the past two months have been filled, outside of normal life and schooling, with my First Lego League team. My team, Storm System, is a 2nd year team this year. They have worked pretty hard all season, but got a little complacent at one point. When they slowed down and did not seem to want to work anymore, my fellow coaches and I sighed and said to one another, "Well, at least our season will end soon." But darn it all! Those boys kicked into gear, and went into Qualifiers this last weekend ready for Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition! They came in 6th out of 29 teams over all in the robot game, and scored well in the project presentation and teamwork. They won a Judges Award and advanced to the Championships!

Storm System is in the tie-dye black. Getting ready to battle!

Getting our trophy!

In the above picture, it looks like Romeo is shooting the finger, and has been blurred out for censorship. But no. Pretty sure he was just waving a hand around. It just looks bad.
So, our season will not end until January 21, when we go to the regional Championships. Now we are taking a little break, but will start work back up soon.

In our homeschooling life, we finish up for Christmas break tomorrow. More or less. There may have to be a test or two next week, but otherwise.....freedom!

We are big Cars fans in our house. I still have never seen Cars 2 all the way through (wiggly preschooler), but we love the toys. We were SO waiting for this set! I just picked it up at Walmart today! Love it!

 

Catch you all soon!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Four more days.

Wow!

Here in North Central Texas the weather is predicted to be a balmy 80 degrees today - close to a record! We have already been outside riding bikes and playing. It will turn cool again for Christmas, which will be nice. Christmas always feels weird when it is 70 degrees. But for the moment, we are enjoying shorts and sun!

We decorated our tree this past Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent.

Every year, ArtGuy and I try to find an answer to the question, "How do we keep from getting too caught up in the commercialism of Christmas?". Personally, Advent is my absolute, hand-down favorite church season. I love the music, the liturgy, the rites, the beauty, the quiet hopefulness, everything. But how to translate it into the home? Well, we have done something a little different every year.

This year was our favorite way of keeping Advent alive, and one we agree is now a family tradition. Way back in Lent, I believe, a fellow homeschooler, Kathi Boor, shared one Advent idea - put the Christmas tree out at the beginning of Advent, but decorate it all in purple (the liturgical Advent color), as long as you can basically stand it.

Advent tree all dressed up in purple!

So, we did! The first Sunday of Advent, right after Thanksgiving, we brought out our pre-lit tree (nothing live and breathing this year!), and plugged it in. Over the next week, the boys made purple decorations and hung them up. We have been able to enjoy the beautiful lit tree every day of Advent, but the absolutely beautiful purple decorations reminded us that we were still preparing for Christmas - not there yet!

Let me tell you - there is little hardship in a gorgeous tree decorated in purple! Not that Advent is about hardship, anyway. All the purple has been a good way to remember.

But this past Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent, ALL the decorations came out. There is something moving about pulling off the purple and replacing it with colors and shapes and memories. Very symbolic!

Cookie Boy untangles beads

Romeo assembles the Charlie Brown tree - one of ArtGuy's favs

The Mad Toddler mugs

I love my stinker!

The Young Adult deigned to take part in a family celebration

The Young Adult more enjoys the role of "supervisor"

"Let's take a family photo. How hard can it be?" Snicker....snicker...guffaw!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!

The baking has begun, the house is in the process of being cleaned, the gifts are being wrapped, and our hearts are lightened as we look forward to the end of the week.

chocolate  and pretzel bark

It does hit me, as I watch tv commercials, that the world has it all backwards! Advent is NOT Christmas, but everyone has been celebrating it for weeks now. So, as soon as Christmas day is over, everyone is kind of sick of the music, the food, the red-and-green. But the Church? Hah! The Church is just getting started! Having waited over four weeks, the Church pulls out all the stops until January 9, when the Baptism of the Lord ends the liturgical season of Christmas and begins Ordinary Time.

Awesome!

There are 4 main food groups - candy, candy cane, candy corn, and maple syrup!

Time for our annual "Elf" viewing party!

Almost That Time of the Year

As my kids keep pointing out to me, it is already November.

I still don't have the year straight, and it is almost over?

Less than three weeks to go until Advent. Unbelievable.

Advent is one of my favorite times of the year. Hands-down my favorite time of the church year. Yes,  I love Advent even more than Christmas. There is a holy stillness to the season. It builds in anticipation in such a delightful way. I have not managed to get the same sense of purpose out of Lent. I know Lent is good for the soul and all, but I love the joy of Advent. And the decorations. And the food. And the music. Oh, the music.....

If you need some tips for some neat Advent traditions, you can read my article about Advent Traditions in a Christmas-Oriented World.

One of my yearly Advent traditions is buying Advent calendars for my godchildren. It is one of my favorite things to do, ever! The only problem now is, I am starting to forget which ones I have bought for them before and which ones I haven't! I find myself looking at one and thinking, 'that one is cute, but it looks really familiar', or, 'I know I bought that one for Anna but did I also buy it for Dana?'.

Ah, clearly the brain is not what it used to be!

I have three god-daughters and one godson (with one more on the way - I will get to see him towards the beginning of Advent, but he will be too little for a calendar...this year!). They range in age from 15 to 4 (or -3 weeks until showtime). Each one gets a calendar picked expressly for them by me! So much fun! This year someone is getting a sticker calendar and someone is getting a cool house calendar. Okay, so that is all I have bought so far. It's a process, people!

Before you know it we will be dusting off the Advent wreaths and hunting for candles (every year I can never seem to find purple ones. We end up with "Mulberry" or "Cranberry" or other assorted berries!)

Do you have cool Advent traditions?