Christmas Is Coming...

It certainly is! As Caleb daily reminds us, it's less than two weeks to Christmas now. Excitement, carols, and the lovely smell of pine trees and cookies are in the air. There is much talk about, "Oh, you're just going to LOVE what I got you!" and, "What do you think Mom got me this year?" And then there are all those cozy, quiet moments of singing carols together in the living room, reading silently before a shimmering tree, and walking in the crisp, new-fallen snow.

We made Christmas cookies last week...and then again this week. It was my venture the first time and Beka helped me decorate them. However, Christmas cookies are a favorite in this house and they were all gone in three days. So, Beka decided she was going to make some more. And make some more we did. But, unfortunately, all we had left from the week before was some red sprinkles, so we had white Christmas trees with red sprinkles, white snowmen with red sprinkles, and white stars with red sprinkles. But that's fine. They all tasted wonderful.

Beka and me decorating cookies. Photo by Mom.

We've had unusually wintery weather here the last two weeks. It snowed and iced and blew and blizzarded until we were all longing for the sun to make an appearance! Our driveway and road were sheer ice for three days straight, keeping most of us at home. It hasn't snowed for a couple of days here, but there is still lots on the ground. It's just beginning to really melt.

On Thursday we began a new tradition. Mom and Dad had recently discovered a wonderful Chinese buffet in a town fifteen minutes from here, and we had planned a family excursion there for several months. We were supposed to go on Monday this week, but our road was way too icy for any going anywhere! On Tuesday morning we were hoping to go, but Dad said no, since it was supposed to rain in the afternoon, and we had plans to get our tree on the same day as we went out to eat. On Wednesday morning we were going to go, but Matthew had already made plans for an all-day hunting excursion with a friend, so we had to wait one more day. On Thursday, however, it happened! The weather was nice and at 11:30 we all piled in the car and off we went.

The food was delicious. We all ate too much of everything. Caleb, however, won first prize in that department, filling up his plate three times with food and then eating two bowls of jello, several cookies, and a piece of cake. He said it was all very good, but as we sat in a Wal-Mart parking lot later, waiting for Mom, he announced he felt very sick. We didn't wonder.

After sitting for exactly an hour in the Wal-Mart parking lot, off we went to a local tree-farm to get our Christmas Tree. We are good friends with the owners of that tree-farm, and get our tree there every year. Mom wanted a small tree this year, but as soon as we got there we began running around selecting all the biggest trees! Mom pointed out a few small ones, but the general vote was against her. We finally comprimised on a medium tree that turned out to be the perfect fit for our living room!

Matthew at the tree-farm with our freshly-cut tree! Photo by Mom.

Once we had the tree home, Beka and I began decorating it. We had been planning our classic and elegant tree for several weeks. First we set it up in the stand with all the usual comments about how crooked the tree was and how the stand wasn't straight and how the pine needles were poking the unfortunate who was underneath operating the stand.

After the lights were up, Matthew came to join us as we attempted to entwine a string of pearls and a fake cranberry chain. That did not work, so he creatively suggested 'scalloping' the two. What exactly that meant we weren't sure, but as he made large loops of cranberry chain under the pearl chain, we saw that it would look lovely on our tree. And it did. After the chain we put red bows all over our tree. Silver, green, and red balls soon followed. Then came pretty cloth snowflakes to finish it off. A pretty angel topper was the perfect way to top the tree and we felt very proud when it was in place and we were done.

Mom decorated the house last week, putting out all the old Nativity scenes, little snowmen and angels, and putting lights and a chain of pine-cones on her peg shelves in the dining room. With that and the tree, we all feel very Christmasy.

One of Mom's pretty Christmas decorations. Photo by Mom.

Presents are high on Caleb's list this year, as always. We wrapped them this week. He is madly curious about his numerous lumpy packages.
"What do you think this is?" He asks every day or two, poking and prodding his colorful gifts. "This feels like a shirt to me. This one is hard and knobby. What do you think?"

And what is Christmas without carols? There have been a few impromptu carol-sings lately. The first one was at the very beginning of December. Matthew started it by requesting a Christmas song one Sunday evening as the five of us kids gathered in the living room. Out came the hymn-books and we began to sing. Somehow I found myself at the piano, stumbling along and trying in vain to keep up with my brothers, all of whom wanted the songs faster, louder, and with more "You know, rhythm." Beka and I quickly sang ourselves hoarse as we fought to be heard over the din of three boys singing off-key and banging their feet, hands, and heads against everything. Near the end I gave up playing and let Beka take over. Things went better from there. There was much laughter as those who could not carry a tune led the rest astray and those who didn't know the song just sang "La la la!" loudly, drowning out the rest. Mom walked through commenting on how singing very loud like that could damage voices. That quickly led to all of us replying, "Oh, I didn't hurt my voice" in stretched, hoarse whispers suggestive of colds with tonsillitis.

And, of course, there are all those Christmas conversations that go like this:
"What's your favorite part of Christmas?"
"Presents."
"What else?"
"Guessing what the presents are."
"What else?"
"Opening the presents."
"What else?"
"Playing with the presents."
"What else?"
"Oh, I don't know. I kinda like the food too, and the stockings, and..."
"No, no, no. Don't you remember what Christmas is all about? You know, Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus in a manger..."
"Huh?"
"You know, the story Dad reads every year?"
"Oh, that."
"Yes, that."

But despite the above person (who will remain un-named) and their attention to the more material side of Christmas, there is some attention paid to the Christmas Story. Beka likes to guess where the different characters in the story would have been on such-and-such a day, which always leads to lots of interesting conversation. And even though presents may be first and foremost in some minds, I think, personally, I'll be paying a bit more attention to the CHRIST part of Christmas this year.

The Weekly Bible Verse

John 14:6: Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Bits and Pieces

It's been a pretty exciting week over here. Besides all the fun activities mentioned above, we had a few non-fun things to do as well, like strawing our large patch of strawberries, for example. That is always the last project of the year in the garden. We cover our strawberry plants with a thick layer of straw to protect them from the cold of winter. (Ever wonder where they got the name 'STRAW-berries' from? Well, now you know.) That is always a big project, and as usual we did it on a very cold day. Beka and I did the actual strawing while Matthew moved bales of straw and Timmy and Caleb helped and got in the way all over.

A Word About The Weather

Another very cold week with only one or two sunny days. This is unusual for Illinois, but we are enjoying it.

Two Winter Jokes

What happens when you drop a snowball in a glass of water?
It gets wet.

What do you call a penguin in the Sahara Desert?
Lost.