I hug my five year old tight, as I watch news of another school shooting unfold with even more horror.  Five year olds.  I have one of those.  It could’ve been mine.  I sit at the foot of his bed late at night with tears running down my cheeks.  I am reminded that we are not guaranteed a single day with our children.  Indeed, we had been told that Caleb might not live to birth.  And here he sleeps, already five years old.  And bedtime is such a struggle…but when I think of all the Moms who will never tuck their little boys in bed again…I treasure every minute.  Wrapping Christmas presents one by one.  I can’t help but thinking of the presents wrapped around the tree for children who never came home from school.  Who won’t be there for Christmas morning.  And when I think of that selfish man, who wanted his suicide to be noticed and so decided to take 28 lives with his.  Well, I confess I want that man to burn in hell for what he did.  And it wasn’t even my son. 

But what if it had been my son? Could I ever forgive that man? Suppose he had lived.  Would I pray for his salvation? Or what if my son had to die at the hands of an evil man as the means of that man’s salvation? Isn’t that what Christmas is about; a holy God sending his son to be killed by evil men…for their own salvation. It isn’t really fair. If it had been my son, I would want justice…I would want that man to suffer in Hell for what he did. But not God. How can he even love us enough that he would do that?  So this is Christmas then.  The shadow of the cross, a reminder that it was my sin that put him there…and it was for my salvation that he died.  How could God love us so much?   Remember his love this Christmas.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

I remember my first Christmas without my family. Being from a family of 13, there is joy, exuberance, and general chaos on Christmas morning. I know, the Grinch would have freaked out at all the noise, NOISE, NOISE!!! But that was what Christmas meant to me. So it is understandable that my first Christmas morning as a newlywed, waking up alone in a quiet house, was quite a shock. It was sooo quiet!! SOOOO lonely! Last Christmas was our first one with all three children. Oh what fun!! There was noise again; joy, delight. It truly felt like Christmas. This year, I suspect will be even more fun.

In preparation for the ‘best Christmas ever’ I decided to gear the Christmas decor towards the kids. We’ve typically done a very monochramatic, silver blue and snow white tree. Not very cool, if you’re a kid! So this year, I pulled out all the stops and built a Candy Land themed Christmas tree. Complete with a gumdrop garland, lollipops, peppermints, and candy canes. What a cool idea!! I did not, however, consider that my children would deem these ‘ornaments’ edible. (they are in fact home-made entirely of styrofoam and glitter paint) I also did not consider that the glitter would procreate and find it’s way into every corner of my home-including, but not limited to, our food. (so much for eating organic! I’m trying not to think about the toxic chemicals that might be involved in glitter paint…or the hyperactive effects of Red Dye #40…in fact, that explains a lot about the children’s behaviour lately!) Still, despite the harmful effects of ingesting styrofoam and glitter paint, I think the kids have really enjoyed the Candy Land tree. And it’s so much fun to see all of the glittering colors on our tree. But after this is over, if I never see glitter paint again, it will be too soon! So I snapped a few pictures before every ornament is ‘eaten’ off of the tree

                                                                              The Tree

                                                    A closeup of the gumdrop garland, lollipops, etc

           See how nicely these wrapped gifts look under the tree?  Nearly all of them have  been opened to some degree since I snapped this photo.  How did I not realize that this would happen?!!  But instead of spending my time re-wrapping them, I am sitting here blogging about it.   

 

The Candy Land Centerpiece on our dining table…the camera does not do justice to all the sparkly glitter

I also did not recognize the danger in putting real cranberries all over my house. They look just like grapes, but are surprisingly more bitter. I keep finding these chewed up and spit out all over my floor (Miriam strikes again! The boys are old enough to know better!)

The candy canes on this tree are genuine food products…as such, they have been disappearing at a steady rate

I taught Caleb to ride his bike this Spring. This consisted of my steadying the bike, giving him a push, and he was off and riding – that was that! He’s been riding extremely well ever since.  This was his first bike accident, which as you can see, he is very proud of!

 

Miriam is a little young for a purse and shoe fetish! Nevertheless, she is ver opinionated about her accesories.  She doesn’t consider herself properly dressed until she has a bow, shoes, and handbag.  In this case, she chose the lunchbox.

This is the best Christmas photo we got of the kids.  A very typical Jackson expression!  It makes me laugh

                                                         Our 2012 family Christmas photo

                                                          Merry Christmas to all of y’all!!