Christmas and My Blog Resolution

A post about Christmas in January. Late January. Sighhhh. Of course, I’m only a month behind, so I’d say that’s pretty good. I could tell you that I’ve firmly resolved to be better about this blog in the coming year. And in a way, I have. But this life I’m writing about...I’m also living. And it’s crazy, people. So as much as I want to declare my unflinching commitment to consistency, I can only declare that I have hopes and desires for this blog that may happen or may not. But I hope they do. Because I want to share more about our life here, the ups and downs, the ins and outs, the how we do things, as well as all the funny (or not so funny) stuff that happens as we navigate the culture and learn more about ourselves in the process.

So from now on, I’m going to do things a little differently. You’ll still get the occasional post about what I’m learning and how the Lord is seriously breaking me over here and faithfully binding me up. And you’ll still get pictures of our family and posts that aren’t really about anything in particular except that one cool thing we did one day. But over the coming months, I’m going to concentrate more on what it looks like to live life over here. What does a typical day look like? How do we buy our food and cook our meals? What does traveling out of our city entail? What does traveling inside of our city entail? What are some of the cultural nuances? How do we celebrate different holidays, both Western and local? What is it like to learn another language...as a mom...when you’re seriously sleep-deprived? What does life look like for our children, for my husband, for me? These are some of the questions I want to answer, along with other quirks and differences and joys that make up our life here...a foreign land in so many ways but day by day, a land that is becoming our home.

Hmmmm. This was supposed to be a post about Christmas. I digress. But that’s what you have to look forward to in this blog. I hope it will be helpful as you think about us and our life over here.

Ok. Back to Christmas.

We had a great Christmas. Of course, it looked different than it did a few years ago when we were celebrating at home with our friends and family. And we definitely missed being with our loved ones, who seem much farther away during the Christmas season. But still, the Lord really blessed us, and in many ways, we were thankful to be able to celebrate Advent exactly how we wanted without the inevitable distractions that often consume us and our celebrations when in the States. 

Some of the ways we did that was through our daily Advent and Jesse Tree. Each day in December, our family worship time was spent studying a Bible story (with a corresponding ornament), beginning at creation and leading to the birth of Jesus.

Another thing we did was Shepherd's Pouches. Through the month of December, our girls did certain chores to earn money for a gift for Jesus. We taught them about giving as an act of worship to the Lord, just as the shepherds and wise men worshiped the baby Jesus. They put the money in the pouches, and then on Christmas Eve, they gave their gift to Jesus. Last year, we used the money to buy some supplies for a local orphanage. This year, we gave the money to some dear friends who are facing a hard road of illness. It was a blessing to be able to pray for this family together and be reminded that Jesus came to abolish sin and death and that in Him alone do we have hope!

We also had a Christmas tree and we baked Christmas cookies and the kiddos made a nativity scene out of popsicle sticks (our family Sunday school lesson provided by yours truly). We really wanted the Advent season to seem different than our everyday so that the kids would know it was special. I was really encouraged by something John Piper wrote: "Build God-centered anticipation and expectancy and excitement into your home - especially for the children. If you are excited about Christ, they will be too." This year, especially, I realized how easy it is to think that we have to have all these material (and worldly) things to make Christmas special, especially for the kids. But if we (the parents) are experiencing the joy of Christ's birth, our children will too. If we make the joy of Jesus visible to them, they will want that joy. So no...we don't do Santa Claus or Elf on the Shelf or letter writing to the North Pole. But don't feel sorry for my kids. They don't feel the lack of it. We still have fun, and my girls are excited about Jesus being born, which is a pretty good reminder to us how exciting Jesus' birth really is!

And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day,“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” ~ Isaiah 25:7-9

Decorating the Christmas tree. This tree (and all of our furniture. ALL of it) was given to us by a friend who was leaving just as we were moving to our city. A huge blessing. HUGE.

Our popsicle Mary and Joseph.

And baby Jesus.

Reading Christmas books.

Baking Christmas cookies.

Ready for our Christmas party with 30 of our local friends.

Party girls.

Party us.

Judah was sleeping. No party for him.



Christmas day fun with lots of gifts from family far away. Thankful to be able to Skype with them and open presents together.

So we decided to get the girls one gift this year. We were tired of buying toys that would fall apart after one use, so we decided to spend a little more and get one, good, BIG gift. Totally worth it.

Reading a Christmas book to my nieces via Skype. 

The best I could do at a picture of my three kiddos. They're cute, but they're crazy.

Merry Christmas!