A Simple Christmas

With life absolutely nuts, I'm purposefully taking things a little easier for Christmas. This means fewer decorations, fewer gifts and fewer obligations.

In fact, while I had already explained to the girls that we were going to be doing the 4 gift Christmas this year (1 gift you want, 1 gift you need, 1 gift to wear, 1 gift to read), I was reminded tonight of why we all need to refocus.

Because you see, while Kylie and Lexi were decorating the tree, Kylie thought it was fun to place the little elf figurines with the nativity scene. And that BOTHERED ME!! 

I am completely aware that my sweet girl had no disrespect in mind, but really? Is this were we are at? Has elf lore taken over my home?

NOT THIS YEAR!

I quickly called on my pastor/husband to explain in a calm fashion that the elf means nothing. In fact, the elf isn't making an appearance at our house this year. "Jingle" is needed elsewhere.. and that's cool. We have Jesus.

Anyway..

As I worked on my digital portfolio for my class, Maddie finished off the decorations for the tree.

 Thanks Mad.

And there you have it. Our decorations. DONE.

I'd say that was more than enough to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Advent thoughts from Doug

From Doug, 

We decorated the house for Christmas today.  The tree is decked out and standing brightly in the corner of the living room.  Emily’s Christmas village of houses is displayed and the collection of nutcrackers are standing guard on the mantle.  I put lights on the outside and picked up a new inflatable snowman to replace the one who melted on us last year (or something like that).  

This always happens on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving in our house, but only because I won’t let Emily and the girls do it any sooner.  If they had their way, decorations and Christmas music would start filling out home sometime in mid-October.  I think it is good to wait, to anticipate, to expect.  By the time the decorating happens, the girls are excited to seeeverything come back down from the attic and to see what new thing might be in the yard.

The tree and the lights and the stockings and the Nativity set that surround us for the next few weeks point ahead to the culmination of the season.  They help to build our sense of excitement and expectation.  The practice of Advent allows us to do the same thing with our hearts and our souls.  Advent is a time to prepare, to let the excitement and anticipation build as we wait to celebrate the birth of Jesus again.  

We know the story and if we are not careful we will jump ahead to the climax before it is time.  Our hearts need time to get ready.  Our souls need time to let go and refocus.  That is the goal of the calendar and activities with the elf.  Each day, there will be verses to read and an idea for your elf.  If you don’t have an elf, just use the verses (they are the important part anyway!)

Allow the story to build.  Allow your mind to focus.  Allow your heart to celebrate.  And when it is time, sing with all your might about the miracle of the coming of Christ.  By that time, you and your family will be ready and this could be your best Christmas ever!

When I was picking the verses for the calendar, this one kept coming back to me as a theme for this adventure, and really it is our prayer for our family and yours this Advent and Christmas season:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Now go find a good place for that elf to be in the morning!

The Advent Elf...2013 edition

Like many households in the US, we have an Elf that arrives for the Christmas season. "Jingle" our elf, joined us in 2009 and has rock star status in our home. 

The first year it was cute. After a couple of years it was a nightly chore to find a new place for Jingle to sit. You can only have the elf sitting on a picture frame so many times each season.

This year, since we are in a new house, we have new places!! Cool.

However, I really don't like the trend to make the elf do naughty things. That seems counter-intuitive to Christmas and the whole "better watch out" gift of Christmas.

I've also really been thinking and pondering Christmas and Advent. I looked up Elf and Advent activities far and wide and couldn't find anything that worked for our family. As Doug says, I am smashing Advent and Santa together. Yep... that's exactly what I was looking for. 

So I have created my own Elf Advent Calendar! I have even written the letter from Santa explaining what is going on and mapped out what the elf can do to reinforce the daily verses. 

Below you will find the calendar and the verse/letter files. I have attached them as pdf files should you want to use them.

Check back on Saturday evening as Doug will be my guest writer. I've asked him to do a weekly "What's coming up this week in Advent" post. In case you didn't know, he is an ordained minister. While he smirked about smashing Jesus and Jingle, he was completely on board and helped me with the verse selections!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have an awesome Advent season!

Advent Elf Calendar 2013 by emilymclemore

Advent Elf Passage Cards2013 by emilymclemore