If the Mood Strikes Me.....

The thought of making goodies always sounds better than the process.....BUT Livie and I had fun doing some simple pretzel stick dipping and candy making....Christmas cookies will have to wait until I feel another mood strike me.....anyways, I bake them and then who eats them? ME!

Not so cool....these sticks and candies are going to teachers, neighbors, and friends......I've decided to elf some of my neighbors: the new ones, the ones the kids love playing with, the ones across the street. Not too shabby for knowing three of our neighbors in the suburbans.....

of course in tiny town, I would have been making batches and batches of goodies......I think I can still go down main street and name the people who "used" to live in the houses....isn't that crazy?!?!

Anyways, I vowed not to get involved in the throes of the craziness of Christmas...it's become so commercialized......When Dean Martin sang his Jolly Good Feeling songs where every one's happy I wonder if they were pressured during that time to fulfill so many high expectations of society?

I'm a simple woman with simple needs and the hope that Jesus gets the notoriety that he deserves during this season. I really don't need a tree, present, Christmas lights, goodies....I just want my family (all of us snug in our bed watching a movie, eating popcorn that Paul pops on the stove top) I want fun board games which get everyone rolling with laughter, I just want TIME for Christmas.....to be with my loved ones.......I want TIME with my Lord, to thank him for all the wonders he has given us. Thank God for the best gift of all........for all the superficial things will not come with me when I die, but the deeds I have done, the memories I have made for my loved ones will be my legend......

3 gifts that Jesus received = 3 gifts that our children receive from us: A little gold, frankincense and Muir [sp]. I want my kids to know the symbols of Christmas: the tree's branches point up to heaven.....The angel on the tree is Gabriel who talked to Mary and Joseph...Our Jesse Tree honoring Jesus' ancestry...the advent candles lit for preparation of Jesus' birth....there is so much inward transformation to do this month and commercialism just dilutes the real meaning. I cram and stuff and pry all the great meaning of Jesus into my kids' brains so they know there is more to Christmas than new toys and if you would ask them, they would still answer this after all the stuffing and cramming and prying....but, I'll keep doing what I'm doing for they will know the mysterious miracles of Christmas and know that Jesus is the core, center, nucleus of it all.

Here's wishing you a concentrated Christmas of Jesus....and if the mood strikes you do what you wish but enjoy your family and kids, their laughs, smiles, and create those memories that are seeding in their brains for years to come. Toys come and go; memories stay in the heart.