Christmas Traditions

I love traditions. Traditions of any kind, really, but especially Christmas traditions. We always had a lot growing up, and I love being able to incorporate my past with the traditions Jeff and I are creating for our family.

When we were growing up, we didn't do Santa Clause. Ever. My parents aren't heartless or anything, but they didn't see the point in basically lying to us children. They expected us to be obedient and good without fear of being added to a naughty list, and Christmas was always about celebrating the birth of Christ without commercialism added in. But I never felt like I missed out on anything. We didn't have very much money (my dad was a preacher, my mom stayed home with four kids...you do the math), so we each were allowed to pick one main present that we wanted for christmas and then we always got a stocking (filled with a piece of fruit, a pez dispenser with candy, and other little odds and ends my mom would pick up throughout the year). My mom would stack presents we'd received from extended family members on top of a hutch all throughout the month, and on Christmas eve my dad would don a santa hat (looking back, i really don't know why since we didn't do santa), and the four kids would line up and carry the presents from the hutch (in one room) to the tree (in a different room). It was always so much fun, and we'd shake the gifts and try and guess what we got. We'd put out cookies and write letters to santa (again, it doesn't make sense), and then all 4 kids would sleep in one room that night. The next morning we'd wake up (my parents would give a set time we couldn't leave the room until), and sing christmas carols to wake up my parents. Then we'd wait in the living room until they got there, and we'd first open our stockings. Then my dad would hand out the gifts under the tree, and we'd open those. We actually didn't receive our main present from my mom and dad on christmas because they couldn't usually afford them, so we'd keep our christmas tree up until those presents had been purchased (ususally sometime in february), and celebrate a second christmas at that time. I loved that. It kept the season going well into the winter blues.

I have such fond memories of those traditions, and I hope that we can create new and memorable traditions for our kids as well. Some are borrowed from my side, some from Jeff's, and some we created all on our own. Like, I wrap up 24 christmas books and put them under the kids' christmas tree, and everynight they can unwrap one book to read before bed. We also do the "one main present" per kid, but thankfully we have been blessed where we can have christmas all on one day. We don't do santa at our house, but we talk about who St. Nicholas was and the spirit of that side of christmas. We also adopt a family, and buy presents for them and then have a birthday party for Jesus (early on in the month) in order to drive home how precious His gift was to us and how we need to be His examples, and give sacrificially as well. On Christmas eve we put the kids to bed, and then Jeff and I put on a Christmas movie (we take turns picking - this year is his turn so it could be interesting), and wrap the kids' presents before going to bed.

I know it's a long blog. It's okay if you've quit reading before now. But i love traditions, and I love talking about traditions.
What are some of your family traditions??

thanksgiving festivities

I love my family - both sides. I would hang out with my family or in-laws all the time, if I could. So, this year when trying to decide how to handle Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate it with both sides. It was great! We had Thanksgiving dinner with Jeff's side of the family in St. Charles MO - the traditional turkey dinner and then the traditional Chamberlain sides (homemade mac 'n cheese, corn bread, green bean casserole) and then did desserts w/my side of the family that evening in Troy, IL (cobbler, pecan pie, turtle pumpkin pie and cheese curls. we try to include cheese curls at every major event). It was so much fun. Jeff's side is notorious for teasing - if you can breathe, you will be teased. And between the 3 siblings, there are 7 kids from ages 1-6, so it's fun watching them play (and fight). I can't really give justice to it, but being with the Chamberlains is always fun. My side is notorious for speaking in movie quotes, or tv sitcom quotes. I pretty much only quote from the same shows or movies because I'm not really a movie kind of person (i don't like to sit still that long), but it's always entertaining listening to conversations and trying to figure out which sentences are original or quotes. we also love to play games. Well, I use "we" loosely - the sisters and my mom like games. The husbands, and my dad do not. My brother can go either way, depending on his mood. So, we played a fun game - Loaded Questions - which had us laughing. Good times.
I spent the night at my sister's, sans kids, and went shopping w/my dad and brother-in-law on Friday - that was fun. I actually didn't do so badly - I had a list, and stuck to it (for the most part). The highlight of my trip was the $50 Bissel steam mop. You know you've gotten old when a steam mop excites you.
But, all in all, it was a fun weekend. We put up the trees (we have two - one for me and one for the kids), i pulled out my christmas decorations, and we watched the neighbors put up christmas lights. I think they finally talked jeff into doing it too, so hopefully we'll have lights up this season. And now we're just counting down the days until Christmas! Yay!

Birthday parties

I love birthday parties. In my family, growing up, we could have birthday parties up until 3rd grade (i'm not entirely sure why, but we were pretty poor and I think money had a lot to do with it. that, and a houseful of lots of kids made my mom nervous....which, on a sidenote, is weird because there are 4 kids in my family). Anyway, I managed to have a birthday party every year up until my senior year of high school. I would always plan it (the games, the food, the time), and then I'd use some of my birthday money to fund it (Aldi's was good to me), and every year in April I'd start getting excited, planning my birthday party (which wouldn't be until June, but i love to plan).
Well, now that i'm 27, people just don't make as big a deal over my birthday as they used to. It's okay. I'm slowly adjusting. But the fun side is I have kids! And they have birthdays!
Josh - my 4 year old - has a birthday 10 days after Christmas, and my goal is to have the general idea as to what we're doing at least by mid-December so that I can enjoy the last half of the Christmas season without birthday anxiety. Now that I'm back in school, I'd love to have this hammered out by the end of November, so if any of you have any ideas I'd sure take them!
Josh has changed his mind about what kind of party to have every month since his birthday last January, but I think he's settled on bowling. He would like to have a bowling party. I checked the bowling alley rates for having a birthday party there and it is highway robbery. Chuck E Cheese is cheaper than they are. Now, I've been collecting free bowling coupons from The Tony's pizza boxes for about 6 months now (when josh first mentioned bowling), and I'm trying to figure out a way to do a bowling party inexpensively without making it look like i did it inexpensively. (I debated buying those $5 bowling kits from walmart and just setting up my own bowling alley in my church's youth room...i haven't ruled out the idea)....But any ideas? Anyone? I'll take them all!

The No S Diet

For about 2 days I thought about doing my research paper on self-image, and focusing on various influences of self-image, but after requesting about 30 books on diets, self-image, confidence and self-esteem from my local library (oh, to have a picture of the face of the librarian checking me out. you could tell she wasn't sure if i needed an intervention of some sort) I decided to stick with my original topic. And now i have about 30 books on diets, self-image, confidence and self-esteem sitting around my house. The other day i picked one up that was short - "The No-S Diet" and gave the intro a read. Basically, the premise of this diet is to eat No Sweets, No Snacks, and No Second helpings on any days that do not begin with S (so really, you are can only eat sweets, seconds and snacks on saturday and sunday. oh! and special days, like birthdays. but no. you can not make wednesday a special day just to get around the rule. i checked). What tickled me was that after reading this claim in the intro, the writer pretty much said that was all we'd need to read and the only reason he wrote the rest of the book was for doubters who needed to have those rules spelled out ("what about holidays that coincide together? fast food? soda?, etc). Well, I decided to give it a try. I'm on day 5 of this No S plan, and it's hard to say how I'm feeling so far. I was sick all weekend and didn't even feel like eating, but I ate me a butterfinger just because i knew once i started feeling better i wouldn't be able to eat it until next weekend (this is why i usually fail at diets). But yesterday and today are going pretty well...when i eat, i make sure to take enough food to fill me up w/o over indulging knowing i won't be able to snack later. and i'm actually staying full. it's a weird feeling! instead of sitting in class dreaming of what to eat, i'm finding time to dream of other things. =) But, thanksgiving in next week and we'll see how I do then.

follow that smell

There is a dirty diaper hiding somewhere in my car. I know it's there. You can't deny its existence because anytime you open the door, a waft of definite stink hits you right in the face. That being said, I just can't find the diaper. Seriously, I feel like I have torn my car apart trying to locate said diaper. Under seats. Over seats. Behind seats. Today it struck me that maybe my husband planted a diaper somewhere in the car to inspire me to clean it out - on the one hand, it's worked. My car is cleaner. But on the other hand, it smells like a public restroom. So gross.

what is beautiful?

I thought about changing the topic of my research paper - i'm still mulling it over, but odds are I'll save this new topic for another day. I'm really becoming interested in the concept of beauty - what it is, what we teach others that it is, and what affect that has had on us. I've always struggled with wanting to be "beautiful" - tall, thin, "model-esque" and I think secretly I believed that when I got older, those desires would disappear and I would simply become content with who I was because I was older. It's been interesting to discover that not only have those desires not "simply disappeared" but I'm fighting them just as much - if not more - than I ever did in high school and my first round in college. I teach junior and senior high girls at my church, and it's always a topic that seems to hit someone at some time - what really is beautiful? So, I thought about doing some research on the topic, comparing historical values of beauty -from ancient days (like the venus figurine) through various civilizations up to now. I truly believe beauty is something that you are from within- not something you look like on the outside - but it's not something I always remember...even as I'm trying to talk myself out of this topic, it's on my mind. Now that I have a daughter, I don't want her to grow up knowing/having those struggles. I want her to be confident in who she is, and never doubt she is beautifully and wonderfully made. And I know I'll have to be the one to teach her that...which means it's gotta start with me. Hmmm. Lots to ponder before bed.

i love my neighborhood

When my husband and I moved back to the Midwest last year, we spent a lot of time looking at houses before we finally bought one. A lot of it had to do with fear - we had moved to Phoenix at the height of their housing boom, at a time where the average house was $245,000 and if a house was listed on Monday, it was under contract by Wednesday. As a result, we bought a house that was a little (a lot) more expensive than we would have ever imagined, and in a neighorhood that was nice but not ideal. When we moved back, we decided to take a lot of time before making such a big decision. I made a list of all the characteristics I wanted from my new house - a newer home (or a home with newer appliances!), in a good school district, on a cul-de-sac, 3 bedroom/2 bath - the basic things you would look for in a home. But at the top of my list were two things, and one of those was that we would have good neighbors whom we could build a relationship with. Last September, we bought a home in a newer subdivision, on a cul-de-sac, 3 bed/2 bath, within walking distance to a new elementary and middle school...and in a neighborhood where kids can play outside without too much supervision, and where my neighbors are amazing. To the left of us is a family who happens to go to the same church we do - they have 2 kids (like us), a boy and girl (like us) ages 3 and 1 (pretty close to our kids' ages). To the right of us is a family with three kids, ranging in ages from 2 to 7, who are such a delight to get to know. Seriously. I love my neighbors. Last saturday we celebrated my husband's birthday, and had both sets of neighbors over for brunch - it was a blast. It was crazy, hectic, noisy and messy but it was such a great time! Tonight we went "trunk or treating" with a set of neighbors, and had such a good time getting to know them even better.
Every time I'm tempted to wish I had a different house for various reasons (no basement...abundance of crickets...), I'm instantly reminded how blessed I have been to be placed in such a wonderful neighborhood. And it's good.