Yesterday was a Titus 2sday at church, when alot of the women get together and fellowship. It was Christmas-oriented with a cheap/excellent gift wrapping demonstration and then a devotional on why we should make sure our Christmas traditions are meaningful. I think I said this in my last post. But I'm going somewhere with this. Well, three places actually.
1) I ride to and from church with Diane, the wife/mother of one of the three Salinas families that attend GBC. So we always have lots of time (1.5 hours) to talk while driving. She gave me a picture yesterday. It was one pose of Rachel (her adorable daughter) for her 1 year birthday mark. I was in shock.
Remember back to the post I had about the doll I made her? Look. CAN NOT believe they actually had that doll in her milestone 1 year pictures. My mom was right when she said it is "such a compliment." Diane told me all over again how much Rich (her hubby) adores homemade stuff. God has been good to relieve my fears that they might think it was dumb or not treasure it as much as I hoped they would! It's humbling at the same time it boosts pride in what my hands have done. Humbling because I thought it was just a simple thing to do to save Matt and I money, try my hand at something new, and give a present to a sweet little girl. And now it is a cherished item. All I can rely on is that God knew what He was doing when He put the idea in my head to hand-make a doll specifically for a girl who's father considers things like that priceless. God cares about the smallest things!2) One of the traditions the devotion lady talked about was how her family has collected Christmas books, one to be read on each of the 24 nights before Christmas. Not secular books...ones that speak of Christ's coming and our need for the Savior. She read one of her favorites to us called If You're Missing Baby Jesus. I think we were all fighting back tears by the end. It is a precious story...one I am considering adding to my Christmas list. It's about a family that buys a nativity set that has two baby Jesus' in it. The mother had the store owner post a sign saying "If your set is missing a Baby Jesus, call 7162." The set was never found, but a woman who had five children and a husband that left her (taking most of their belongings with him) called on Christmas Eve asking for help. She just knew that anyone who would post that sign would be "Good Christian people" willing to help her. So they went over to fix her furnace and ended up giving them blankets, cookies, milk, and the baby Jesus...then the dad goes out and gets some of his friends and they truck over a Christmas tree, some furniture they found, and clothes and linens from their own households. Punch line: "They need Baby Jesus just as much as we do." Find it and read it if you can!
3) I talked with Matt about Christmas traditions that I want to see implemented in our own family. That led me to think about when we will stay in our own home with our own tree ON Christmas Day. I see that day as a VERY long time from now, and I think that is because we are close to our families and our families are young. Therefore we will have somewhere to go for Christmas for quite some time. Doesn't bother me one bit! It makes me have a twinge of sadness to think of not going "home" for Christmas someday. But maybe by that day people will be coming to us for "home"! Anyway, I thought I'd tell you all the two traditions I treasure most from my family's Christmases. It might shock my mom...and that, agrees Matt, is exactly why I should let the world know! So she will know what she started in me though she might have thought I saw it as silly.
~ For as long as I can remember, we only got three presents every year. Why? Because Jesus got three presents from the wise men. As I thought about this, I realized that it really helped keep the materialism out of Christmas. Sure we enjoyed ripping open the packages and bows, seeing what new item we could play with or use. And the gifts got more expensive the older we got. But I never wanted more. It was an accepted tradition, and I always remembered the reason behind it. Because Baby Jesus only got three gifts. Why should I have more? I thought it was fun to get just three...not to mention it didn't take FOREVER to open gifts. I enjoy the family dinner JUST as much, if not more, than opening presents.
~ This will shock my mom, maybe. The other tradition that will be a must is the Pancake Birthday Cake for Jesus. My mom didn't start this until Autumn and I were pretty old and Hope was old enough to understand. Sure, it seemed silly on the surface. Having three pancakes that represent the Trinity, red hearts for each of us, red syrup for Christ's blood, white whipped cream for sins washed away, even lighting candles off of Christ's big white candle and singing Happy Birthday. But you know what? (All of the sudden I feel like I've told her this before.) I loved doing that. Even as a 23 year old with a husband and baby on the way, I'd love to do it this Christmas morning...extra family of Bruckmans and all. It is such a good way to set the tone of Christmas Day, of why we are even having a special day. As I look back, I remember how nice it was to get up to my mom making the pancakes knowing we were going to have breakfast as a family and read the Christmas story from Luke. We never RUSHED right into ravaging packages and going crazy with excitement, only to have it be over just like that and have to wait longer for family to arrive. It made the day seem much more relaxed and even-keeled. Contemplative in a way. It's hard to explain.
I'm gonna make a public appeal to my Momma - I know Christmas is on a Sunday this year and church starts at 10:00 am. I know we'll have 5 extra mouths to feed because Autumn and I have families now. But, you have three grandkids you can remind in a neat way on Christmas morning why we are celebrating on December 25th. And a daughter who misses that tradition and wants her husband to see it. If we start at 7:00, we can be done by 7:30 so everyone can start getting ready for church. Sure it's early. But I think it would be SO worth the memories...and starting off the day quietly as a bigger family this time with contemplation of Christ's birth and a tasty breakfast.
What say you?
6 comments:
::tears:: I say yes!!! I really never knew it meant that much to you :) It is good to know. I actually think we skipped it last year b/c I was afraid it was to "babyish" apparently not. Thank you for telling me. I'll make sure we have red syrup and whipped cream on Christmas morning :) Thank you, Dawn, you have encouraged me and made my day :*
I too found your Christmas traditions to be special and it gave me new ideas as well! I will be a person that limits presents. Although my parents have never spent tons of money on Christmas, we had LOTS of presents. Both of my parents admit that they go overboard... and most of their feelings come from their childhood and lack of presents.
I like your pancake idea, Kathie! It is not babyish at all!!! I think I may suggest it to my mom!
Dawn, I am on now, where are YOU? :-P
How can anything done to focus on Christ be babyish? :-) That was part of the point of "making Christmas more meaningful." And plus, if we have little children around, it fits even more perfectly!
Hey, Dawn, I don't want to ruin the sweet semblance, but could you go ahead and email me the guest list, etc. at rachel.shaver@cedarville.edu? I'd like to go ahead and get started on it.
And I really like your traditions; they are family-oriented and Christmas-y but also focused on Christ. :)
Those are interesting traditions. But since I'll be on the road Christmas morning, we couldn't even dream of pancakes:)
One of my favorite traditions (which I hope I can talk Paul into) is driving around and looking at the lights on neighborhood houses. Also, my family pulls open some Christmas crackers and opens the stockings on Christmas Eve...fun stuff!
I'm back from internetless land! Oh yes, I think the kids would love a birthday party for Jesus... especially Erik!
Post a Comment