Advent

Our church is taking part this year in the Advent Conspiracy . It has really been opening my eyes to what we make Christmas into. I have always enjoyed finding gifts for friends and family throughout the year. I have never TRIED to make it about money but inevitably I end up "blowing" money on my kids to just fill a "hole" in their gifts. This year we had already decided that Christmas would be slim for our children. I know that many families are in our position. After completing a second adoption so close to our first and four older children who all had big needs for school curriculum this year, we just HAD to make Christmas not so expensive. 

All in one day I learned about the Advent Conspiracy and the three gifts Christ received. A friend mentioned to me on the phone that if three gifts were good enough for Christ they are good enough for us. This was most definitely profound if only to me. When we mentioned to our children that we would not be having gifts for Christmas they protested but maybe not in the way you imagine. They all asked the same questions, "what about our Christmas Eve pjs & book? What about our stockings?" I quickly related the three gifts for Christ to these three gifts for my children. 

The pajamas are a gift from me. I LOVE putting all my kiddos in brand new matching jammies Christmas eve! My initial reasoning was that they would then all match Christmas morning for pictures :) Now that they do not let me dress them alike, it is just fun to see them comfy on Christmas evening.  It is a gift from me and it reminds them of me. I want my babies to think of me as warm and comfortable. That to me is the feeling of home. 

The Christmas books are a gift from James. They each have a little message inside from him to each child. James does not normally take the time to write to our kids so I believe that they will treasure that pen in years to come even if they don't right now. We take the time to read at least one of the kids books on Christmas eve before they head off to bed.

The stocking may seem like a pretty selfish thing to some people but there is something a bit special about stockings at our house. The difference between ours and some other stockings is that they are pretty slim! They just don;t have much in them. I do the same thing every year, an lunchbox apple, a satsuma orange, chocolate orange, a large candy cane and a small gift. Since there is normally a bit of time between breakfast and lunch on Christmas the fruit serves as a snack and the little gift is never much ... headphones ... chapstick ... it changes every year. 

Gifts from family and friends are different I suppose. They serve a different purpose, they remind my children of those people throughout the year. Tori has a little corner of her room that she calls her "Aunt Susan corner" (of course all those gifts are from Uncle Curt as well :). Each of these gifts reminds her of how her Aunt and Uncle feel about her. They range from a cool metal sign to a grown up clay angel. These items are special to my children just are gifts from other friends and family. To be honest the only gifts I noticed are not all that valuable to them are those slipped under the tree in the wee hours of Christmas morning.

I love the tradition of Santa Clause as much as the next person but I am noticing a difference. My older children do not appreciate Santa the same way they did. That does not mean that Santa will not visit our house but I can tell you for certain that it will be in the form I have already mentioned ... a stocking. This year we will choose for our family to not spend over an hour divvying up gifts and watching each child open gifts that I actually had to get rid of other household items just to find room for it! 

I am not saying that this is what everyone should do. I just know that this is how our family will choose to celebrate our Christmas morning. I am looking forward to spending that time saved mixing up stuffing with Cade, dressing Claire and fixing her hair for the day, making pie with Tacia and listening to Tori tell me about her Christmas book that she stayed up late reading the night before. I can't wait to have Jordon help me put the prime rib in the oven and speaking to Jace and Ashley for the umpteenth time about how they could be more helpful if they actually got up off the chair and half and used more words than, "you're so cute." I will help James pull my grandma's Dunken Fife table out so that we can all sit down together for dinner that evening. I will enjoy spending time in each of these situations giving praise and glory to God for the gift that He gave us in His Son so that I may enjoy the MANY blessings He has provided to me here on Earth.