I have fully recovered from thanksgiving week. Monday I cleaned out our refrigerator and went grocery shopping for the week. Yesterday I cleaned the house and everything is back in order again. I love the feeling of a freshly cleaned house! If only it would stay that way for more than twenty-four hours. Oh well, there are more important things in life; like art, playing in water and mud puddles, snacking, pulling books off of shelves, and getting all the toys out of the toy boxes! 🙂 I really don’t mind the mess during the day. We generally pick it up right before bed.

I bought David what I thought was a new set of sheets for his bed. It turned out to be a duvet…whatever that is! I researched and found out it is basically a giant cover for a blanket or comforter. There is no way I’m going to tackle that. I just decided to put it over his sheets as a blanket. It looks really cute! When David saw it he became very dramatic, and told me to put it back. I told him it was okay and that he would get used to it. (He doesn’t handle change too well. It takes him time to adjust to the small things like this.) By the time he went to bed last night he told me he liked it. He even wanted me to cover him up with his sheet and new blanket. This is a big deal actually. David is attached to a certain green fleece blanket that he has been sleeping with for a long time now. He usually wants me to cover him up with just that blanket, and nothing else. It makes for an easy bed to make the next morning! I was happy he actually let me cover him up with his sheet and new blanket last night. Here is what it looks like. So cute. (David also loves to sleep with his dinosaurs.) 🙂

Last night David and I made a little advent wreath to put in his room. He was so excited and proud to put it in his room. I love the concept of the advent wreath. To me it symbolizes all the things Christmas should be about; Hope, Love, Peace, Joy and Christ’s birth. This is what I want our kids to learn, and hopefully they will keep the real meaning of Christmas in their hearts both now and when they are older.

I have people all the time making comments to me or my kids about Santa Clause…what will Santa be bringing you this year, or have the kids had their picture with Santa yet, etc. (Please don’t be offended by what I say here. Seriously.  I am not judgmental of any one who does Santa with their children. In fact, I totally understand how fun it could be.)  Growing up my parents didn’t do Santa. Andrew’s parents did. Andrew and I have had some discussions on this topic. We don’t want to persuade our kids that Santa is real. However, we also don’t tell them that Santa is bad or anything like that. Pretending about Santa, watching movies like Rudolph or Frosty the snowman, hanging stockings, etc. is just for fun and make believe. We treat it no differently than when David dresses up for Halloween, pretends to be superman, godzilla, or anything else. I have had people ask me, “What about the tooth fairy? It is no different than that.” The difference is that our society is materialistic and teaches Santa (the same goes for the Easter bunny) as being the reason for Christmas. We don’t want our children to believe in anything that can take the place of Jesus. For this reason we try to keep the focus on Jesus’ birthday, and the things that bring real peace and contentment to our hearts. It is not easy and we do not always succeed, but it is what we strive for.

(We are missing the Christ candle, I know, I have to buy some white candles.)

We always have a wonderful Christmas with lots of fun, friends, family and gifts. I am starting to get excited about the Christmas season this year. Making the advent wreath and reviewing what each of the candles represent with David last night helped! I hope every one has a wonderful Christmas season, and that your hearts are filled with hope, peace, love, and joy!

Love,

PK

Here is a David funny!

Me asking Andrew, “What is the pink candle? (I couldn’t remember if it was hope, love peace or joy.)

David: “It is the one by the purple candles.”

He’s just like his dad! 🙂 (It is joy by the way)