Christmas Musings and Other Thoughts

Christmas is such a beautiful time of year. Last night I was out making a delivery and got to enjoy all the lights. It's so different than Halloween. I cringe at Halloween decorations. Christmas decorations make me smile inside. They are so bright and cheery. One of our neighbors has lights timed to music. We can sit outside their house and tune into a particular radio station. We listen to music as the lights change in time. Pretty cool.

Our decorations are sweet and simple. We put up a tree and decorate the mantel with my Precious Moments Nativity. I have 37 or 38 pieces. It now sprawls across the mantel and over to two adjacent shelves. Of course, we have the stockings hanging, too. All of our stockings were made by someone. Nathan and I have stockings made by our grandmothers. The kids have stockings made by our neighbor. I love the way they look hanging there.

We don't make a big deal about Santa Claus. We put a lot of emphasis on the birth of Christ. We read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, make a cake and have a birthday party for Jesus. My husband likes to tell the kids that Santa filled their stockings. We read Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend and practice this one custom, which possibly originated from his charitable giving. Of course, they don't really care where the presents come from. They are just so excited to see them there.

We have a standing tradition now of not putting any presents under the tree until the kids are asleep on Christmas Eve. They want to open them immediately otherwise. Nicolas, especially, doesn't like to wait and has only a vague concept of time. It's really fun this way. The kids go to sleep without any presents under the tree and awaken to lots of wonderfully wrapped gifts. Last year, I was up early just to see their expressions. I loved it! What a joyful moment! This year will be really great because of some extra surprises we have in store.

For Nathan and me, we are waiting for word about a job for me. I have an interview next week and a possible offer from another company. (The manager is just getting her ducks in a row.) Working outside the home, full-time, will be a change for us. The timing seems to be right, though, and we continually pray for God's guidance and blessing. He is faithful! We expect it to be a happy new year.