Another Attempt at Advent

The last few years, I have felt led to celebrate Advent with our family. I started just with reading advent scriptures the first couple of weeks only to have it fall by the wayside with the busyness of the season. Last year we actually did some Advent activities for several days and stayed with the scriptures longer.

It is obvious that finishing what I started is something with which I struggle. The pile of unfinished scarves and socks is further evidence of this shortcoming.

So, I have been pondering Advent and how to create a situation I must see through. I decided the key is in the planning. So, as is my way, I started planning waaaay ahead. On Sunday. Ahem.

Okay, so I'll have to let you know later if it works. The idea, however, is that I bought some of those miniature stockings at our local discount store for $1 each. In each will be be tucked a scripture and a location. There are 24, with little white tags (straight from the office products dept of same store) labeling the days. I also picked up some treats. With four kids and a roommate (I'm sending a box to The Big Boy at college and including his roomie), it can be costly, so we are talking very low cost treats. It isn't about the wonderful gift, it is about the anticipation of our Savior. The treats just make it an exciting activity. I bought candy, chap stick, cheap toys, playing cards, beef jerky, and other whimsical items. I'm thinking the beef jerky was the most costly of the lot. Many little gifts like this can be purchased in the seasonal department. Another place to check out is the travel item section. Those little sodas in six packs are another idea. Boxes of snacks are always good.

I'll string the stockings across the front of the mantel and each day they will read the scripture and ponder it in their hearts. Of course they will. Then they will look at the location where their treat for that day is hidden.

The big boy has a box and the treats are in little bags and labeled by day, with scriptures attached. Well, almost. I'm doing that next. His covers him through finals, then he will join the rest of the family in our Advent adventure at home.

I'm hearing voices from "Christmas Vacation" in my head, "Sparky, you create expectations no family gathering can meet..." (or something like that) Voices, be gone!!!

Two great places for Advent ideas are:

Cathy's Christmas Cottage Advent Calendar

Teaching Mom's Advent Calendar

Even if you just do a couple of activities and a few scripture readings, it still is a step toward making Christmas about Jesus in your family.

The Stockings Were Hung

When I was small, one of my favorite parts of Christmas was getting out my one very own ornament & my stocking. They were the two decorations that had my name on them. In the mix of things, they were mine. Allllllll mine.

Then, my mom started making stockings for everyone. Some were knitted, some crocheted, and some were stitched using counted cross-stitch. All were beautiful, and more importantly, all were different. Each pattern was chosen with the recipient in mind. Holly, whose nickname was Holly-Bear, had a red stocking, knitted, with a bear design. The bear was holding a sprig of holly. Mom made a stocking for each of her four kids, each of her four kids-in-law, and every single one of her grand kids. All 13. That would be 21. She also made a few as gifts, I believe.

Then, the tragedy of cancer entered in. Mom never met her last two grandchildren, numbers 14 & 15. That would be my Things 1 & 2. So we have dug around all these years, using old pet stockings and extras that were gifts for the older two. I kept thinking I would make them one, so theirs would be homemade, too. Last year was attempt #1. It was ok, but not just what I wanted. I only had one stocking, too. And by the time I finished it, I wasn't up for another one. Each year about this time I think about it, and either I get new ideas, or I have no hope of accomplishing the task in time for this year. Regardless, at ages 11 & 13, my Things remain stockingless. Until now.

Today, I ordered The Things stockings from Pottery Barn. No, they are not homemade. But they will have their names on them.

For Thing 1:



For Thing 2:



As much as I would love to, I'll never be able to make them a stocking from my mom. It's just one of those things that happens in life. Some day, maybe I'll make them all stockings. Maybe not. But at least now, they have their very own stockings, that are not hand-me-downs from siblings, (or worse yet, pets), and I don't have to cringe when we hang them up on Christmas Eve.

No, Christmas isn't about the stockings. It's about Jesus. It's also about family. Each year when we get out those stockings we talk about their Grandma and how much she loved them and how proud she would be of each of them. We remember how she always had Pringles and gum and lots of love and hugs for her grandchildren. We wonder just what stockings she might have made for The Things. Then we laugh, because she would have laughed. She knew how much it meant to have something that was just yours, with your name on it. She would be glad those Things finally have stockings.

Thankful

Thankful, thankful, thankful.

As I scurry about the kitchen, I hear it on the tv in the next room. I hear it on the radio. I hear it at church, see it on the blogs, and on Twitter. Everyone is thankful. Even my little Clementine orange sports a sticker, "Thankful for Cuties".

Thankful.

Grateful. Webster says thankful means "conscious of benefit received", or "well-pleased; glad".

Thankful.

Full of thanks.

Thankful.

Am I?

Thankful.

Why, yes, I am.

I'm thankful for my health. I'm thankful for my home. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for everytime I laugh. Oh, yes, and I'm thankful for my orange Cuties.

Those are all good things. It's easy to be thankful for those.

What does God's word say about thankfulness? It says a whole lot. For example, Ephesians 5:19b-20 says, "Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Sing & make music....from your heart to the Lord.......ALWAYS GIVING THANKS.....to God the Father.....for EVERYTHING....in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ.

There is a lot to be learned there.

Thankfulness is from our heart. Sayin' "I'm thankful" doesn't make it from the heart. Can you sing about it? Compose a trill about it? Search it out. Do you really mean it? Are you really glad?

Who do we thank? God the Father in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ. The Creator. The Prince of Peace. The Almighty. Makes sense.

We are supposed to always be thankful.

For everything.

Uh-oh.

I'm not up for composing a trill about the 9x13 glass pan that dropped on my foot last night.

Nope. Thankful is not what I was just then.

I'm not really sure that is what that means. Honestly. I can say, however, things sometimes happen that I just don't like, and I have learned that God always gives me a reason to be thankful.

I have a long way to go. I know that gratitude is a state of heart, and I need to be more grateful. I'm getting there. Sometimes it just takes living life to learn thankfulness. I'm thankful that I'm learning.

I think just pondering it all & searching my heart is another step on the journey.