25 Stories of Advent--December 3

Today's first book is a classic; you might have had a copy when you were a child. The Christmas Story by Jane Werner is a sweet re-telling of the familiar story in Luke in the child-friendly format of a Little Golden Book. The timeless illustrations by Eloise Wilkins add to the traditional feeling that will make this book a keepsake. I found our copy at a local toy shop. It can be ordered online as well.

Our second book is a newer, original story by Lisa Tawn Bergren. God Gave Us Christmas  is told as Mama Bear's answer to Little Cub's question, "Who 'vented Christmas?"


Mama Bear and Little Cub venture out into winter where Mama Bear shows her cub God at work in the Northern Lights explaining that Jesus is the Light of the World. As they continue their exploration Little Cub sees other aspects of God's nature and hears Mama Bears explanation that leads Little Cub to the realization that "Jesus is the best present of all." God Gave Us Christmas, (Waterbrook Press, 2006).

What's your favorite Christmas book?

25 Stories of Advent--December 2

Our Advent celebration got off to a good start last night. I loved how they looked forward to it all day. Things do change some as they get older. Bug had an activity at school and I had a different meeting and wasn't going to be home at bedtime, so we ended up doing it before he and I had to leave.


There was the usual squabble over who got to open the door on the "Christmas house" (our Advent calendar). The little one doesn't quite get the "He'll do it tonight, you'll do it tomorrow" concept. My goal is to ultimately have two ornaments behind each door so they both get to pull one out and hang it on the tree each night. (Ultimately I want to have two of everything so they'll have their own set.)

Story time is the perfect addition to the process; you can tell they really don't want it to end. I love being able to tell the Nativity story in a dozen (or two) different ways between now and Christmas. Whatever else they may or many not understand about the Bible, they'll know the significance behind Christmas.


I left a new bedtime story that I picked up after Christmas last year. Waiting for Christmas: A Story about the Advent Calendar by Kathleen Long Bostrom (Zondervan, 2009) explains how Advent calendars might have come about and gives a nice story about waiting for something important. It includes an Advent calendar and stickers to start your own marking off the days until Christmas. It's even available as an eBook if you want to get started with it right away and don't have easy access to a Christian bookstore.


Tonight we'll be reading from The Lion Book of 5-Minute Christmas Stories. Told by John Goodwin (Lion Children's, 2007). This is another of the collections that we'll return to several times. Each of the ten chapters creates a short story around one person or situation described in the Nativity story.

For example, tonight's story is a first-person account of Mary's visit by Gabriel and her conversation with her mother afterward. It takes some literary license, but I think it's a nice way to help the boys understand that the people we read about in the Bible existed beyond the brief glimpses of them that we see there.

What's on your Advent agenda today?

25 Stories of Advent--December 1

We'll start our family Advent tradition this evening with Christmas is Here by Wendy Brawer (2008, Kregel). While it's a lift-the-flap board book that could be considered too young for my boys, I like that it tells little excerpts of the Nativity story on each spread along with a couple of questions that get the kids more engaged in the story. It also comes with a CD that has a specific song that corresponds to each part of the story. That's another layer we'll be adding this year.

Tonight we'll read just the first page about the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary. Then we'll turn to the back of the book and open the relevant flap on the Nativity picture. The numbers are mixed up throughout the picture which makes it more fun for them to find the right one. We'll alternate which boy gets to open the flap each day.

Parable.com has this book on sale right now, (I think Barnes and Noble carries it too)!

What are you reading tonight?

25 Stories of Advent--Getting Started

When my oldest son was 4, he started to make the connection between Christmas and getting presents. I wanted to be sure he understood that Christ's birth is the real reason for all the celebrating and that giving and receiving gifts are part of the observance--not the point of it.

That was the year I started our "Christmas House" tradition. It's a large, house-shaped Advent calendar that I fill with ornaments we hang on a miniature tree. Each evening we open the door for that date, hang the ornament on the tree and read a verse of scripture.

Now that the boys are a little older and their attention spans are a little longer, I want our time together to last a little longer too. I've been acquiring Christmas story-books since I was waiting for Bug's arrival the Christmas I was pregnant. Now I have enough to read a story or two each night from the first of December to Christmas.

I've mentioned this tradition to friends, and they're interested in starting something like this themselves, so I'll be sharing about the books/stories each day until Christmas. (Imagine that! A post every day from me!)

Most of the stories I'll be sharing are specifically (and intentionally) Nativity-themed. We also read some books that are just fun; I'll post those too.

To add another layer to our tradition, I've started looking for Christmas Carols that correspond to the stories. I may share some of those as well.

My ultimate goal is to create a fun, kid-friendly family devotional time that provides a daily reminder to our boys that, in the midst of the parties and presents, there is One person the whole world celebrates this month.

I hope you'll join us in our tradition. Do you have a favorite Christmas story or Advent tradition to share?

Sometimes the World is too Big

I know the saying is, "It's a small world," and for the most part I agree. But there are days like today when I'm reminded just how big it is, and how far away some places are.

We've lived here nearly 5 years now and have only been back to the NW twice in that time--the last trip was two years ago. When we got our Christmas cards this past Christmas and we received news of the declining health of several people we care deeply for, I felt an urgency to make a trip to visit while the opportunity still existed.

Unfortunately, finances (and paid time off) don't operate on desire alone, and it hasn't been possible. And sure enough, two of the people I'd love to see moved to another state to be closer to their children (a state that isn't on our rotation for the rare times we do get away), and I just received word of the passing of another dear soul who came to mean so much to us in our time there.

I am grateful to know that her long suffering is over and she's at last breathing freely as she walks the gardens of heaven with the Lord she loves. And I'm glad we'll get to catch up again one day.

And I'm sorry the world is so big and I didn't get to see her again.

Have They Found the Pessimism Gene Yet?

From the moment he was born, everyone remarked how much our oldest looks like my husband. I could always see a few traits from my side of the family, but if we were in a crowd, people would identify the two of them as belonging together before me.

When our second son came along, there was nothing familiar about him. The scant fuzz with a strawberry-blond tint came from nowhere (unless you want to count my step-dad or Hubs adopted sister!). The chubby-cheeks and bulky build, the widow's peak hairline...if I hadn't been there when he arrived and knew he'd never left the room, I would have insisted they brought me someone else's baby.

He's five now, and there are still days when I look at him and think, "Where did you come from?" People will often say he 'favors' me in the way his brother does their dad. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that it's not his physical traits that resemble mine.

The older he gets and the more he expresses himself (and express himself he does!), the more I feel like I'm looking into a funhouse mirror that turned me into a little curly-haired, blue eyed boy with a temperament that is a reflection of all my worst traits. If it's true that the things that bother us most in others are the things we dislike most about ourselves, then I'm beginning to realize that maybe I haven't grown as much as I want to believe I have.

While he wakes up with a smile, it doesn't take long before the lips turn to a pout and the voice comes out a whine. After school, or the park, or a playdate, if we ask how things went, we're regaled with a litany of his friends' faults, perceived injustices, and otherwise simply unhappy occurrences.

I started to catch on to this after most of the school year passed, and decided to try a modified version of my husband's "What's good about it?" method of conversation modification. When greeted with a tale of woe at the hands of a classmate, I'd prod him to tell me something he likes about them.

The result is a lot like mine probably was at the beginning. "I can't think of anything." But just like I learned to start looking for something good to say in response to the question, "What's good about it?" I'm hoping that he'll begin to make it a point to remember the good things too.

And it's a reminder to me that the very best way I can help him be the positive, happy kid that I believe he's meant to be, is to model that behavior to him. To be quick to find the good in people and situations, and quicker to keep the converse to myself. I know I've grown in that, but I really need to keep working on it and demonstrating it.

And I need to encourage and praise him when he is happy and kind and generous more than I am exasperated with his whining and grumbling.

And someday, when someone says he's just like me, I hope we'll both take it as a compliment!