Christmas 2013

I think this has been my most disorganized Christmas yet! Don't think that just because we homeschool that we "have it all together". Sometimes, the best laid plans fall apart right before your eyes; other times they silently go awry and you don't realize it until it's too late. For for us ultimate list makers! Take our 2013 Christmas, for example.

I have always gotten most, if not all, of my Christmas shopping done by October. This year, I was one of those people crazy enough to be out shopping the week of Christmas. Oddly enough, the 23rd was by far the roughest, rudest shopping day this year. I took off, list in hand, knowing what I was going to get and where I was going to get it from. Three stores. Five hours. Traffic wasn't bad going (and I got a late start and didn't make it to the first store until 11:30 a.m.). Parking was horrible, especially for someone like me driving a monster Dodge Ram Crew Cab 4x4 with a full 8 foot bed. Once in the stores, people were elbow-to-elbow, blocking aisles as if they were the only in the store shopping at the time, and very rude. At one point when I motioned a lady to go ahead of me, she acted as though she were baffled and couldn't believe what she'd just witnessed. Like courtesy was a new thing. When the shock wore off, she smiled at me and said, "Why, thank you. You have a merry Christmas!" Second store, a man behind me who was only holding one small item was extremely grateful that I, with my cart-full, allowed him to go in front of him. I just smiled and told him the truth:  "You can be out of here before I even get my cart unloaded." Then traffic coming home was busy as I timed it as folks were getting off work.

Christmas cards always leave our house during the first week of December. This year, on the 23rd, I made trips to four small towns around me to mail my cards that were headed into those same towns so that they would be delivered on Christmas Eve. Nothing like waiting till the very last moment. Uggg!

Our Christmas baking - which we give half away to friends and neighbors - even had it's fiascoes. Buckeyes tasted great but the chocolate was dry as it melted (still trying to figure that one out). I totally scorched (beyond edible) a batch of peanut brittle. Had trouble with our hard candy wanting to spread too thin with the first couple of batches. Same with our chocolate chip cookies. Then came the biggest disaster of all...our birthday cake for Jesus...Baked up wonderfully, had the icing ready to put on it while it was still warm, then the girls were going to decorate it. But as I went to invert it onto my cake carrier bottom, I somehow managed to "lose" the cake...it literally went flying and landed still upside-down, still in the pan, on top of the remote, on the bar. Alayna tried to help me get it back up on the tray, but I ended up with a mess. A pile of big crumbs. But Maddy, who seems to always see the best in every situation, reached out to grab a bite. I warned her it was still hot, but she took a big bite anyway then says, "Still tastes good, Mom. I'll tell Papa it still tasted good." So, this year, the honorary birthday cake looked like one of God's volcanic creations after we piled it up and dumped the coconut & pecan icing over it, instead of a pretty birthday cake for Jesus. Lesson learned: Just as Jesus (Perfect and without sin) came as a humble, helpless baby born in a dirty, stinky stable, to bring the Plan of Salvation to a very imperfect mankind, we humbly offered our imperfect cake to honor the King of Kings on His birthday. You were right, Maddy, it still tasted good! ----- God doesn't expect us to become perfect before we come to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. He wants us to come as we are, broken and needing to be transformed "into a new creature through Christ." God doesn't expect perfection...He wants us to come and lay all the broken pieces before Him, as clay before the Potter...He will forgive our mistakes and sin and use us to bring honor and glory to His name as He reshapes us into a new creation.

We were late getting the Christmas tree up. Our outside decorations never did put up...12" of snow that lasted a week then days of pouring rain...decided it wasn't worth it for 3 days. We've been out looking at everyone else's beautifully decorated yards. We found some very impressive ones!

Sunday before Christmas? We forgot all the gifts for the kids in my nursery, for the preacher's family, and for the girls' Sunday School and missions teachers. Also forgot to take their gifts to their Tae Kwon Do instructions the day before that.

Christmas Eve, we had not wrapped the first gift - to anyone in our family. I spent the morning going back into town yet again for finish up some last minute shopping. The afternoon cooking. Had to wrap my husband's family's presents before we could go to his mom's for supper. Got back home at 9 p.m. with still tons to do. And did I mention the girls wanted to make our own wrapping paper with craft paper and glitter gel? The girls were up until 11 p.m. Alan and I went to bed at 3:17 a.m. Christmas morning.

I was so proud of Mattie when, while opening presents at Alan's mom's house, "Granny" told made a comment about not getting them "very much stuff". Maddy looked up from her playing with the doll house bedroom set she'd received and said, "Christmas isn't about getting 'stuff'. It's about the Baby Jesus being born in Bethlehem in the stable and the angels telling everyone." Caught Granny off guard and she didn't know how to respond to that.

The good news is that Maddy and Kenna slept until 9 a.m. Christmas morning. I was headed down the hall to wake them up when Maddy met me halfway. We had to wake Kenna. The look on their faces when they walked in and saw Santa's gifts under the tree was priceless. They were very happy and content with their gifts, not just from Santa, but from Alan and I, and from each other.

Although the route to Christmas was a rough one at times, and I was not on top of things as I should have been, the fact is that our family was blessed beyond measure on the day of Jesus's birth. I hope you and your family were too!