If Elsa is feeling better, I will try again tomoorow. Until then God Bless and once more;
to all.
Blessings
mum2twelve aka Christi Read more!
A blog dedicated to sharing the joys and challenges of being the mum to a large family.
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Following the tradition started way back when my four oldest were still mostly in the single digits we call today Christmas Adam as it is the day before Christmas Eve. They borrowed this idea from another family of friends who were more or less all the same age as themselves.
The children love Christmas Adam since it means that Christmas Day is almost here.
The evening before last my nine year old, Teddy, was showing me his wounds from the day. Here is the bruise from bumping on. And I got this scratch from... and then suddenly I was directed to a bite mark.
"And this is the bite I got from Emma!" My head pulled out of the dryer quickly when I heard that one.
"Emma bit you today?"
He shrugged his tough guy shrug and went on showing his badges of honour, err rather wounds.
As I was behind in all I had to do and in a hurry to catch up - I quickly forgot that little red puncture wound he had shown me.
Yesterday though my 20 year old son, Jonathan, filled me in on the details.
Emma had been wearing her beloved lion disguise and had been on the prowl in the living room. As she pounced on Jonathan he teased her.
"Oh Lion - you aren't going to bite me are you? Lions BITE!"
Apparently she just growled her answer and kept seeking her prey. But the wheels were turning as she crawled about on the living room, hunting her unsupecting victim.
Suddenly as she passed Teddy she lunged at him announcing I'm a Lion and sunk her teeth into his calf.
When he gave a scream of pain she clasped both hands over her mouth and sat back on her hunches apparently very disconcerted that she had done this, but also quite worried that she was going to be in big trouble for biting.
Jonathan examined the wound and informed Teddy he would live and to "offer it up" and get on with his day. They had a guy to guy talk about dealing with pain and moving on. Hence the nonchalant shrug when he answered my query the night before; "Emma bit you?"
Still, being only nine, he had needed to inform his mother of the insult, but without whining. I'm quite proud of him!
Well - I have to confess, I wimped out. The boxes of decorations are still below the other 8 feet of boxes. BUT I bought some cheap (and I mean cheap) decorations at the dollar store. (I told you cheap!)
The kids had fun decorating the hearth and living room as well as the balcony that connects the two sides of the house. Sounds like a mansion, eh? But in truth it is a small 3 bedroom log house with a living room, small (to me) kitchen and dining area. Still - I feel like a millionaire with my house looking all jolly and Christmasy and happy children sipping egg nog and munching on cookies. (Store bought, I'm afraid. After 5 hours of marathon stocking stuffer shopping and Christmas grocery shopping, I have little ambition left for baking)
Now I need to talk to a certain 9 year old who has the memory of an elephant and is reminding the rest of the gang about the decorations that are still supporting the 8 ft wall of boxes filled with untold treasures brought from our previous home - a five bedroom 2 story brick. (Sigh...)
Now I have an appointment with St Nick. I usually end up meeting with him on Christmas Eve but in hopes of staving off that midnight marathon of wrapping (which when you multiply by 12 can go on for hours - no matter how simple you try to keep it!) I managed to wrangle an early appointment with him. He helped me last night go through my various piles while small ears leaned against my bedroom door and little snacks were passed though the door opened barely a crack. We discovered (as usual) that some piles were dangerously high and can not possibly hope to fit into one lone stocking, while others will barely fill a toe. Hence my whirlwind shopping spree that my husband has already forgiven me for. (Surprising what a little egg nog can accomplish!)
Then this morning little Emma, with eyes aglow with excitment, danced around the kitchen waving her beloved St Nick mug telling how HE had been in Mummy's room last watching a 'Cwitmass Mooie while Mummy wapped presents!' She showed me St Nick on her 2 inch high mug - just the perfect size for a little egg nog by the fire or a touch of cocoa with a peppermint stick in it, and reminded me again how he had been here last night. I was digging yesterday’s laundry out of the washer and stuffing it in the dryer when I heard the inevitable crash.
Emma was devastated. She collapsed to the floor in a puddle of tears, and I wrapped my arms around her while she sobbed over her broken mug. Children came running from all over the house to see what was wrong. Jonathan, her 20 year old brother and God-father rubbed her back and tried to offer her solace. I promised to look for another copy of the same, but in my heart seriously doubted such a mug would be found so close to Christmas Eve. Wiping her tears she accepted the loan of my Christmas mug.
After hitting two Wal-Mart’s I finally found the exact picture of St Nick, but on a regular sized mug and beside it a copy of Nathaniel's snowman mug. Not as cute as the miniatures they had received on December 6th. But it was St Nick, and with a twin for Nathaniel - there would be no arguments regarding the fairness of servings.
She was thrilled with it. All is well with the world and now... St Nick awaits. I must not keep him waiting!
Blessings
mum2twelve aka Christi
PS Tomorrow both of my daughters, God willing, arrive!
We are all SOOOOO excited!
It was mid morning and Emma needed my help putting her underwear back on after a trip to the pottie. (These days I get a pair of underwear shoved in my nose instead of a full pottie! It is a nice change. ) I sat down on the bed and Emma immediately wrapped one arm around my neck and leaned against me as she balanced on one foot. She had complete trust that I would not move or set her off balance in anyway as I helped her put one foot into her undies and then the other. As she stood there leaning on me, dependent on me for her balance, I thought about how God wants us to trust Him in this way, and I also thought about how children trust their parents implicitly. From the moment a newborn is laid in his mother’s arms, there is this bond of trust. While the newborn is not aware of his trust – this trust is evident as it gazes into his mother’s eyes. We have done nothing to warrant it, but it is there and as long as we do nothing to disprove this trust it only continues to grow. And it is this trust that God seems to want from us – to know that He will never move away from us as we lean on him, especially at moments in our lives when we feel very unbalanced. I only wish I found it as easy to trust Him as Emma finds it to trust me when she leans against me to steady herself. How freeing that would be!
Read more!Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing;
You reign now in splendor with Jesus our King.
Ave, ave, ave, Maria! Ave, ave, Maria!
In heaven, the blessed your glory proclaim;
On earth we, your children, invoke your sweet name.
Ave, ave, ave, Maria! Ave, ave, Maria!
We pray for the Church, our true Mother on earth,
And beg you to watch o'er the land of our birth.
Ave, ave, ave, Maria! Ave, ave, Maria!
...and normally I would have made these ahead of time. This year we will make them as a Saint Nicholas Day activity, together as a family. I hope to be able to post a picture of them tomorrow but it rather depends on my camera, which has not been co-operating of late. My oldest daughter Amanda, introduced the idea of mixing ginger and chocolate together to our family. I will always remember her words like it was yesterday: "I know it sounds weird Mummy, but trust me - they will be delicious. Really!"
And she was right - they were delicious and the start to a new tradition. I don't think we have missed a single year yet without these delicious cookies on St Nicholas' special day.
Marlene’s Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 f
Single
½ cup white sugar (If you double use only ¾ c white sugar)
½ cup molasses
½ cup shortening (butter etc)
1/3 cup HOT water
1 egg
2 level teaspoons baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
2 ½ cups white flour
Chocolate M&Ms (Emmmm – delish!)
Cream the sugar molasses and shortening together and then add the hot water stir until smooth and then add the egg(s).
Add salt, soda and ginger to the flour and then slowly mix the flour into the wet ingredients. When the dough is well mixed you can roll it out on a slightly floured surface and then begin to cut your cookies out.
Decorate the cookies with your M&Ms, bake at 350 until lightly browned, typically 20 minutes.
Divine Child Jesus,
In my difficulties: help me
From the enemies of my soul: save me
In my errors: enlighten me
In my doubts and pains: comfort me
In my solitudes: be with me
In my diseases: invigorate me
When others despise me: encourage me
In temptations: defend me
In difficult hours: strengthen me
With your maternal heart: love me
With your immense power: protect me
And, into your arms, when I die: receive me
Amen
As promised, I am posting a picture of our Advent wreath. I had worried the past month that although I had my candles well in advance, I would put off searching for the old wreath or purchasing a new one until the last moment.
I did.
So Sunday afternoon I spent a half hearted five minutes searching under the stairs for the old wreath, but decided I wanted a much smaller wreath than the one we had used over the past years. So some of the girls and I hit the stores looking for flowers that would be exactly like the ones I had decorated the previous wreath with. James, our ragdoll had eaten, picked off, chewed and ultimatly destroyed all of those original flowers until we had a simple bare wreath with four candle holders. It took him approximatly three Advents to accomplish this.
However, the flowers we used 7 years ago are apparently no longer being produced. Old stock long gone by the wayside. I took a deep breath and regrouped.
"Stand here girls for a minute."
I gritted my teeth while I dove into these rows and rows of flowers, and tried to figure out what would come closest to what I had wanted! So many flowers and none looked the way I had imagined. Slowly, with input from Anna and Gabriela, I began to make choices and build a new wreath in my imagination, but it was proving difficult to match the image of pruple that I had in my mind. Finally we gave up and decided to try another crafts store. We paid for a few flowers, the wreath and other craft supplies I wanted for some of our Advent crafts that we will be doing over the next few weeks and left.
We got to the next store and Elsa simply demanded to be nursed before we could scurry again through the rain and into Michaels. Once there we were again assailed by rows and rows and rows of silk, dry and plastic flowers, but none quite the shade of purple I was seeking. Lots of purples, reds, browns, golds, yellows and even white, but that exact shade of purple was proving to be quite elusive. At last content with my choices, I grabbed a cheap glue gun and stuffed it into the cart and asked a lady behind the floral counter where she kept her candle holders that she had used on her advent wreath - the one behind her on display.
"Oh - I'm sorry - I didn't make that, it came like that from our supplier, we just put it up as a display. "
I stared at her dumbly.
"Oh, well, ummm okay, but you do have candle holders, eh?"
The florist behind her chimmed in helpfully.
"Those would be over there." (Gesticulates in a general direction over her shoulder) "But we are sold out of those, I know because I was looking for them for another customer earlier today. You could try A.C.Moore...."
I blinked at her. This couldn't be happening. I had just been to that store and had not found holders.
"Well," I asked hesitantly, "is there another Micheals nearby..."
Glad to be helpful, they listed three or four different craft or fabric stores, not one closer than a thirty minute drive... The first lady added brightly - "Oh you could try the dollar store in Wakeforest." I brightened at that, I liked the proposed cost, as well as its near vicinity.
"But they are closed on Sundays."
Try as I might I could not help but feel bitter about that, and the irony of it hit me hard!
"Well, thanks anyway." I replied not really making much effort to hide my dissapointment. Refusing to give up all hope I slipped over in the general direction they had pointed, hoping against hope that the second lady was wrong. She wasn't.
I gathered the girls and patiently answered
I am grateful that I did not (entirely) give in to it, especially in front of my four daughters. We piled the bags into our cart and headed back into the rain and loaded our purchases and ourselves into the van. I backed up and then wove my way through the crowded parking lot, stoppng for other drivers and waving them ahead of me. As I continued to force myself to show a charity to others that I was not feeling, my mood began to lift. I chuckled inwardly at myself. So what if I we had to light our candles tomorrow, or use regular candle holders. Was it worth spoiling the day over that? (How often has my husband asked me that very question over our 25 yrs of marriage? What can I say - I'm a slow learner!) Then another thought struck me - something I am often saying to the kids.
Well you just got lucky. You have something to offer up!
At this point I laughed out loud, causing Anna to ask me what was so funny. She knew how dissappointed I was. I am not that good an actress. I shared with all the girls what it was that I was thinking. As I drove home, I thought quite a bit about how hard it is sometimes to do as I say and not just say what to do.
He strongly advised that we forbear all Christmas Carols and try to listen only to Advent hymns such as O Come O Come Emmanuel and to not put up our Christmas tree until Christmas Eve.
mum2twelve,
aka Christi to her friends, Madre to her two oldest sons, mummy to the rest of her children and originally localinda to her husband!
We have many things we love to do during advent and this morning we have begun preparing for one of our most favorite activities. The children have decorated a cracker box by removing the outer flaps, drawing lovely pictures on some white paper and gluing it to the outside of the box. To what end, you might ask! Well – they have also written their siblings names to be put into the box. Then this Thanksgiving the eleven oldest children will all draw names. (Actually, one of us will draw for our oldest daughter Aimee as she is unable to join us for Thanksgiving this year and it is only eleven names as Elsa is too young to participate yet.) Then each child will be a secret angel to the sibling whose name they draw.
Paper or Styrofoam plates
Coloured paper
Scissors
Glue sticks, hopefully enough to go around for each to have their own as there is a lot of gluing in this activity.
Baby Jesus’ bed…
Wreath update…. In one word… GULP!
Read more!"For me prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy."
... Saint Therese of Lisieux
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