Happy Birthday Jesus!

On the 25th Day of December my daughter gave to me...... ( my gifts to Jesus)

ME!  .........silly girl, wife, mommy, mother-in-love, daughter, sister, friend, sinner, lover of Jesus, child of God!

As we get ready to welcome family into our home and sit and open presents, I look at the wrapped gifts. Some are so pretty with perfect bows and glistening paper and some are fancy gift bags with tons of tissue paper billowing out the top and others are more simple and plain with a name written on the tag or the ones in a trash bag with a bow (because they're too big for a gift bag or paper or a man wrapped it...lol) In the end it doesn't really matter what the wrapping looks like, because the gift inside is what matters. Sometimes I feel like the fancy wrapped gift and other times I feel like the trash bag. But inside, my heart is what Jesus wants and loves.

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus....thank you for being so awesome and not being picky about my wrapping paper!

(manger in the barn next to the Inn of Pinterest)

Childish things....

On the 20th day of December my daughter gave to me...... (my gifts to Jesus)

the Magic of Christmas......... Santa, Elves, Christmas Trees, wrapping paper,jingle bells, Christmas Carols, mistletoe and of course the best one, Baby Jesus!

I am a child at heart. I am pretty easy to please with silly things. I love all the fun little things, the magical things that Christmas brings. I know..... some of you pass up the ideas of Santa and Christmas tress and such and that's ok for you .... but I love all of it. I'm not going to get all scientific or historical on you about the various traditions and how they came about. I just want to tell you how much I love them ...all!
For me, Santa embodies the jolly part of the season..His whole "get-up" just makes you smile doesn't it? Like a fun old Grandpa who takes the time to listen to your wants of toys and presents then quietly, while you are sleeping, delivers them.  The Elves? well they are Santa's helpers and bring the world of fantasy (ok Santa does too) and mischief to the season. What's not to love?  They also make sure we behave so Santa gets a good report so we make the nice list.  Some genius parent thought that one up and by golly it has worked, hasn't it mom's and dad's out there with little ones? Wrapping paper, Carols and jingle bells just add prettiness and music to our lives that bring happiness. Christmas Carols are enjoyed by all ages and music genres... it's unifying throughout the generations of a family. Mistletoe....well, who doesn't want to be kissed.  Does this take away from the "Reason for the Season", a cliche at best? In my ever so humble opinion I say nope.. not for me anyway.  By embracing the "secular" side of Christmas in no way diminishes my celebration for Jesus birth..in fact it makes it even more intense. Of course Baby Jesus is the reason for the season but he is the Reason for Everyday, every moment, every breath I breathe and I celebrate it daily. Don't you? So today I give Jesus my love and affection for the season of Christmas with all that it brings.... people loving on others, donating to those less fortunate, feeding the hungry, looking at Christmas lights with friends and family, buying for friends and family and opening presents selected just for you, watching for the impish elves to show up on shelves and listening on Christmas Eve for the sounds of Reindeer hooves on the roof, sitting in the quiet of the night with only the Christmas tree lights on and contemplating life and what Jesus has done for me. Knowing all the while that without Him coming to earth as a teeny tiny baby to save us none of this would matter because there wouldn't be any Christmas season to celebrate! So there you have it.... a silly girl who loves Jesus and delights in the sights and sounds of Christmas..... Take it or leave it...Fa la la la la la laaaaaaa!!!

(Santa walking his reindeer one Christmas in California on Pinterest beach)

Ghost of Christmas Past

On the 14th day of December my daughter gave to me....(my gifts to Jesus)

My Christmas Spirit....... the anticipation of everything Christmas, my love for decorating, the sweetness of traditions, the festive atmosphere, the movies & songs, Jesus laying in a manger ....... the Grinch and Ebeneezer Scrooge.

I love Christmas. I always have. From "Pucki", the elf who visited every year in Japan, where I grew up when I was teeny tiny (the original elf on a shelf), to even hanging the dreaded tinsel on the tree. Oh, how I hate tinsel. (probably because when we had tinsel growing up it was real metal and had to be saved and ironed... yes you heard that right...no wonder I hate it, right?) But everything else about Christmas, I love!  Then when I became a mommy we got to start our own traditions with two precious little boys. Oh what fun we had! This year though, something happened. The Grinch and Ebeneezer Scrooge came in the dark of night and stole my Christmas Spirit. They replaced it with apathy and "ehhh". The whole Christmas experience is changing for me. No more little ones to dazzle, tiny house constraints, working on Sundays, schedules to work around... basically an empty nest... it's been empty for awhile but I am feeling it this year like none other before. So here's where it got special for me last night.... Jesus came and sat with me in the light of the half decorated little chubby Christmas tree while I fussed and complained and cried.. (ok, some of that was due to Hormones). I've always known it but it really hit me last night that Christmas isn't about all the fluff of festivities or traditions or decorating. It's about me and Jesus and discovering once again the crazy, amazing love that Jesus has for me. That God, loved ME so much that he sent Jesus to not only die for me but to sit on my sofa with this hot mess of a woman dealing with a Holiday temper tantrum.

(vintage little girl with scrawny Christmas tree found on the streets of Pinterest)

Bonus photo of my little chubby Christmas tree hunted and gathered by 

my hunka hunka burnin love and littlest sonshine in a rain/sleet storm

Oh a hunting we will go....or not

On the 12th day of December my daughter gave to me.... (my gifts to Jesus)

My Best laid plans.... the perfect day, all the little details, arranging schedules, excitement for the day.

I'm a planner... in more ways than one. I like to plan our family's schedules (I am not a control freak....am I?) and I am a wedding planner. So I guess planning flows thru my veins. I am also pretty good at "winging it". However, I am not necessarily fond of winging it. But I find when I wing it, my creative side comes out much more fiercely and it usually ends up better than the original plan. (why is that?) So here I sit looking out my window seeing the slushy, wet, cold rain/snow fall from the sky and know that my plans for today to go hunting...for a Christmas tree... have been dashed. Probably. It's kinda that way with life too... my best laid plans might not be what Jesus wants for me. It's my plan not His that gets dashed. I know that if I listen to his voice I will find that the alternate plan, his original plan, is the best winging it plan ever! So I am going to put a big ol pot of Chili on the stove and see what transpires and if it is nothing other than sitting with my family over warm chili and crocheting up a storm to finish Christmas gifts it will be a good plan! What's your plan for this wintery stay inside day?

(beautiful snowy red house captured on pinterest by www.KenScottPhotography.com)