Azlan's preschool class "performed" a couple of songs for the parents at their Christmas party this week. Enjoy these!





Patriot's class had their Christmas program together with the other classes at his school. This is the program in it's entirety. If you take the time to watch it all, see if you can guess why he'll be receiving a handkerchief in his stocking this year. And maybe some coal.

. . . quite like Jack Bauer interrogating Santa.

WARNING: This is NOT family friendly. But you'll love it if you're a "24" fan.



BTW, 2-night 4-hr Season 8 Premiere begins Sun Jan 17th at 9.

I enjoy most parts of the Christmas season. However, some traditions I could live without and my Christmas would not be ruined. Those are the things I do kind of halfway -- for example, decorating the Christmas tree. Just doesn't mean much to me. So we let the kids put the ornaments on and they're all in one heavily decorated part of the tree. I considered rearranging them so the tree is evenly covered, but I just don't care that much. Honestly, our tree could be bare and I'd be fine with that.

There are a few, kind of strange, parts of this season that I just love and am willing to put extra effort into. Be prepared, it's an unusual list, but these are the things that make my season bright (besides my family, of course).

1. Wreaths - I have an unexplainable affinity for wreaths. We have a wreath on almost every door of our house. (Couldn't find the wreath for the downstairs bathroom door this year. I personally think Matt "lost" it in the storage shed. I fear next year he might "lose" another, just to harass me.) Our indoor wreaths are very simple, just the greenery and a bow. Our front door wreaths have some pine cones, but that's it. No reason to mess with God's natural beauty. Our wreaths are artificial, but I daydream about filling the house with live wreaths . . . maybe someday.

2. Bows/Ribbons - I adore beautifully wrapped presents under a tree. (Shoot, I like any present with my name on it, but that's a different story.) Last year I found a Bowdabra on sale and used it to make a few bows -- I was hooked. I determined that this year I would make all my bows, no pre-made bows for me. I'll admit that it's taking longer to wrap gifts, but I think it's so worth it. I also like to decorate the house with ribbon and bows, so I have them tied to the banister and on every wreath. Something about brightly colored ribbon just feels like Christmas to me.


3. Photo Christmas Cards - I love receiving Christmas cards in the mail. We so rarely send snail mail anymore, but the tradition of Christmas cards is classic. The artistic cards with beautiful covers and rhyming prose are meaningful, but I get so excited to receive photo Christmas cards. Even if it's someone I just saw yesterday, I like looking at their picture on their Christmas card. I especially like cards with the entire family included in the photo, but I'll admit that our card this year only has the kids (it's so hard getting everyone looking at the camera and smiling at the same time!). I confess that I find it a real hassle to send photo Christmas cards and consider not doing it every year, but I like receiving them so much that I always talk myself into sending them.

So there's insight into some of the little things that make my season bright. I also adore Christmas music and movies, that's a trait handed down from my mother which I hope to hand down to my boys (although even the 5yo fought me listening to Christmas music in early November). We also have our Christmas village that I'll discuss in another post.

What makes your season bright? And what could you live without during the Christmas season?

I'm reading "The Birth Order Book" by Kevin Leman with my MOPS group. I haven't finished it, yet, so I'm not going to review it now. But it has caused me to pay closer attention to the developing personalities of my boys, and watch how they mesh with their parents' characteristics.

As described by this book, Patriot is a classic first born. He always has a plan and a schedule, and gets very bothered when things don't go the "right" way. I can identify this in him because I could also be describing myself (I'm also a first born). You can imagine the struggles between us at times. His preschool teacher has noticed perfectionist tendencies, especially when it comes to cutting and writing (she says it takes him forever to write his name). I've been helping him develop the positives in these characteristics by teaching him how to tell time, showing him how recipes work, asking him to help determine the dog's routine, etc. He really seems to flourish in tasks that require precision and routine.

Azlan, however, is the baby of the family. I call him my jokester because he's always thinking up a joke or a prank. The other day he hid the angel from our nativity and replaced it with a monkey figurine. Then he walked around the house "looking" for the angel: Is she in the Christmas tree? Is she under the couch? He played it well -- I really wasn't sure if he was joking or serious. After I gave up looking, he "found" the angel and laughed and laughed. I fear this is going to become a problem in the future (pretty sure I will be the butt of too many of his jokes), but for now his easy-going, light-hearted personality is such a breath of fresh air for me. The difficult parenting piece for me is developing the positives of this personality, since its so different from mine. For now, my focus is giving him enough free time in his routine and wiggle room with the rules (i.e.: not punishing him for messing with the nativity) to allow his creativity to bloom. And helping him realize appropriate times to joke. For a 3-year-old, I think that's enough.

I'm having a ton of fun with this stage of parenting and can't wait to see how God will use these characteristics.