Happy New Year!! :)

Howdy Howdy!!!

I'm attempting some happy wishes while feeling sick again on a GORGEOUS day. I may have to get the girls and I out despite my swollen sinuses for a walk before the sun sets. But, I'll end this pity party with a hearty "Happy New Year!"

No - I'm not confused from my medication! For any Christian followers who enjoy the season of Advent, today is the first day of Advent and the start of a new Christian year. For Catholics, it's the start of a new liturgical year which includes reading a different new testament book of the bible than the previous year (new cycle). The older I get, the more I think these trivia facts get cooler, and I appreciate them more.

I'm also excited because Advent is the time of preparation for Christmas! We're preparing our hearts, homes, and minds for the coming of Baby Jesus and the Promise! It's a time rich in tradition for so many families. People love their Christmas traditions, and I love hearing about them. As Lovely ages, I've tried to do new traditions that can make this season more enjoyable and meaningful for the whole family. I guess I feel that with each passing year, we rush from Halloween into Christmas in the retail world, and their calendar dictates what we think and feel. Poor Thanksgiving gets skipped over, and then in the countdown to Christmas it seems stressful -rush rush, buy buy, etc. Sure, I can be working on myself to stay calm, but a lot of that pressure can be external. The true reason for the season, and the whole reason Advent is around is to help us quiet down, prepare, have hope, peace, and joy as we await the coming of Hope and Life. It's a time to enjoy Advent and Christmas traditions, family, and friends. It's more than just shopping and presents (though the making of presents can be fun!) and I like that something out there is telling me to slow down, listen, and wait.

Many church denominations share the same traditions (Advent Wreathes, Jesse tree etc), hold Advent Women Teas, focus on scripture, pause and reflect each Sunday and every day - and I love how Christ brings us all together in the hope of this season! Even when we feel the pinch of the economy on our wallets, if we just look to each other we realize just how RICH we are in those around us. My life is so full of blessings, I can hardly list them all. Now that's MY 401K!!

So what are your Advent and Christmas traditions? I wonder what my family could be missing? I love making this liturgical season special, and a time to renew my own faith, and today starts so much of that for my family!!! Here is a starting list to what we'll be doing in our home. Some of these things we've always done, some we're starting this year:

Christmas Tree
Decorations all over the house
Nativity (I love having them everywhere - and the girls have a set to play with)
Advent Wreath
Advent Calendar (I wanted to make one, but ran out of time. We got one of those cute door and chocolate ones from my childhood for Lovely. I LOVED those! See picture - she's holding it!)
Bible Stories
Christmas Stories (many from the books I read as a child!! I still have them!)
The Nutcracker (we have a big music box the girls love watching and hearing, and the story and the ballet music are so wonderful!)
Holiday Music in the house (more sounds of the season - to calm and enjoy. We'll also have less TV )
Jesse Tree (our first one!! This is a new tradition for us, kid led with Lovely making the ornaments. We're using the Advent Adventures as our guide!)
Coloring pages, projects, and games (again, many in thanks to Advent Adventures!)
Special Holiday foods (both traditional and some more symbolic - all tasty hehe!)
3 Gifts on Christmas morning (my parents did this...not sure how old the tradition goes back in the family - but my parents never let us have more than 3 gifts from them and Santa - Santa and my parents only give us the same amount of gifts Baby Jesus got. LOVED this idea...even as a child! It helped me remember Christmas is Jesus' birthday and "the reason for the season.")
Santa/ Ole St. Nick (yes, we love Santa here. I love the magic of the imagination with the blending of the Christmas spirit. My parents always told us Santa/St. Nick was a way to spread that love of the season of giving on Jesus b-day and he was a Saint too! It made that spirit, that magic, STILL fun, even after we were old enough to know who acted on Santa's behalf hehe!! Here is a great post about Santa/St. Nick from Sarah at Snoring Scholar)
Christmas Stockings
CLASSIC holiday movies ( love Rankin Bass classics like Rudolph, Nestor [LOVE Nestor - the story of the donkey who carried Mary], Little Drummer Boy, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, Frosty the Snow Man, etc.)
Christmas Cookies and Reindeer Food!
Reading of the Christmas Story and Twas the Night Before Christmas
Advent Adventures (I LOVE this home program. It helps all of us learn new traditions, understand why we do what we do, craft together, learn liturgy, as well as gather us in prayer)
...and I'm always remembering more....I'd love to hear more!

Here is a New Year's picture from the girls to you :)



This was today after Lovely and I got the Advent wreath ready with greenery (this pottery wreath is from my childhood and growing up years!! I love it for both sentimental reasons and the fact it holds both the candles AND water for the greenery!) and did our lighting blessing and song. She's also holding a tradition of my childhood - the Advent calendar - the chocolate kind - open a door and find a surprise as we countdown to Christmas (maybe next year I'll have made my own...). Little Valiant enjoys the candle, singing, and snacking :) It's a good day to just hang out, ready the house, and be together in this new season, new year.

I hope you all have a great season! Blessings abound if you look hard enough! Fill free to send any traditions you do. I LOVE ideas and hearing other people's stories! This season is SO RICH!

Happy New Year! Happy Advent!!

(Oh! An another cool thing? Once Christmas is here, it REALLY is 12 days long hehe, not just one day like retail says!! FUN!! Bring on the Christmas music!! But I digress....lol)

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Oh - if you didn't click on the above links to those classic movies, below is a clip of Nestor, and Rudolph. I love how both address lovely aspects of faith, the season, and the magic - along with overcoming obstacles with some grace (Nestor trips over his ears and is made fun of, but yet is chosen to carry the Holy Family, and Rudolph has to overcome teasing to save the day (Hermie too, and the misfit toys...lol!)





and just for fun - I have this book based on the art of this lovely version of the 40s Rudolph: