I want you to know that I have very good intentions to blog regularly...BUT things don' t always work out as planned. I'm not even going to blame it on my kids, however I will blame it on laundry, cooking, a continually dirty house and finals week. Is that better than putting it on the kids?
Anyway, things have been crazy around here. The holidays are such a busy time, especially when you have big families. It seems like there is always somewhere to go or something to do. We have everything decorated for Christmas, and I'm going to do a post about that on Friday and link to to Kelly and Show us Your Life. I can't believe that Christmas will be here in a few weeks.
I'm excited for it this year because it is the first time Jackson is really getting into it. He understands about presents and the whole gift giving/receiving thing. I think he is genuinely excited to give family members their gifts, maybe even more so than getting his own. Yesterday he asked for his Mimi to come to his house at least 10,000 times, so that she could open her present.
We're also talking a lot about the true meaning of Christmas. Jackson knows about the story of Baby Jesus being born in a manger. We definitely want to make it more about that than Santa anyway. We haven't really started any traditions with him yet. I'm not sure what all we want to do. I don't think we'll do Elf on a Shelf. While this is cute, I just don't think it's for us. I could see us doing some sort of Advent Calendar or Bible study this time of year. We still have a few years before Ava is really ready to take part in the traditions.
As much as I'm ready for Christmas to get here, I'm also ready for a new year. We are thinking about how to simplify things around our house. Possibly no TV, more books and games as a family, and I need to work on staying off my cell phone more during the day. I have a few goals/ resolutions, or whatever you want to call it.
What kind of traditions do you do with your family?
Oh, and just so this isn't a completely pictureless post. Here is one of Jackson's school pictures. I think he's so handsome!
Carrie Dalton Photography took these this year at Mother's Day Out. She did a great job!
We have done no TV for a year.... I have a blog post about it in my draft section... that I just haven't had the courage to post yet... But it is AWESOME!!! There have been so many positives to it! During football season I always ask Sam if he wants to get it back and he says "no" the positives outway the 17 weeks of football and March madness... (so you know that's big!)
ReplyDeleteAlso... We are not doing the "Santa" thing either.... We have also opted out of elf on a shelf... I saw this website http://www.yourchristmasangel.com/... It is the "Christian" version of elf on a shelf... She writes her messages in Angel Dust every morning.... (Sam hates glitter and such... so we may not do this) We like the elf on the shelf thing for the "fun aspect"... but we'd have to completely change the story... I've also seen some people do "The Christmas Mouse".... So next year we will just come up with our own and do it...(or maybe this year)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to how you guys simplify your life- I love posts like that- They are so encouraging and such a good reminder of how to really live :) I love all that stuff about choosing people and relationships over stuff and technology :)
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