The Sparkle Box

Have you ever heard of the book called The Sparkle Box?

 

I hadn't until recently but after reading it, I knew it had to become a tradition of ours. So I bought a copy and I have to say, I am super excited about opening our Sparkle Box Christmas morning!

 

 

I don't want to give away the premise because I think it's a beautiful story about the true meaning of Christmas. But if you've never read it, check it out here :)

 

(PS- This isn't a sponsored post or anything- it's just so good that I wanted to share :))

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Houses... SNOOPY style!

Our kiddos woke up yesterday morning, opened up our Advent calendar and learned that we would be making gingerbread houses. There were shouts and hollers of joy! They love anything craft and food related :)

We didn't make any ol' gingerbread houses... we made a SNOOPY gingerbread houses. That made Megan even more excited because this girl looooooves her some 'Snoofy". 

The big kids did a pretty decent job constructing, frosting and placing their candy decor. Megan? Notsomuch:

Haha! From the looks of it, Snoopy died and was buried under a few pound of frosting ;)

This was crazy messy. I mean frosting everywhere. And candies everywhere. And stickiness everywhere. But, it was a sweet fun family event and the kids really had a great time. So the stickiness was worth it... sort of ;)

Angel tree Ministry

 

Every year our school participates in the Angel Tree Ministry which provides Christmas gifts for children of prison inmates. This was our first year participating in this but I can honestly say it will now be a tradition because it very much touched my heart and both of my children's hearts.

We walked around the tree and read the descriptions of each children, what they wanted for Christmas, and what their incarcerated parent wrote to them. And as I read each of them, there were times I broke down crying. Some children wanted a jacket for Christmas, some wanted a warm pair of pajamas. These were the ones that touched me the most; here are young children asking for necessities that we all take for granted. And it humbled me tremendously. And it prompted a conversation between my children and I about just how very blessed we are and how much we have to be thankful for. It was a blessing in disguise.

 

And so, we chose two baby boys (both of my kids choices). And picked out the gifts that their parents had requested for them: 

 

 

My prayer is that these children will be blessed without measure as they go through this stage of their life without a parent. And more importantly that the message of the Gospel would be transforming in their little lives.

LOTS and lots of Christmas lights!

Justin has never been a fan of hanging Christmas lights (but then again, who is?). And he especially wasn't a fan of hanging Christmas lights on our second story. Buuuut, the kids begged, and he's a sucker good daddy, so he gave in.

 

He gave in a lot. We measured and bought enough boxes to cover the perimeter of both stories, which ended up being... drum roll please... 26 BOXES of Christmas lights!!!

 

CRAZINESS.

 



And as if we didn't have enough lights and inflatables to make our house fun and festive, my man built 2 crosses (one for the front and one for the back) and strung lights on them. And because we live on a hill and we have a two story house, you can see our backyard cross all over our community. And I LOVE it!

A view from the street behind us

Another shot from the street behind us

The front of our house

Beautiful!

Makes me thrilled to know that our neighbors see our crosses daily. My hope and prayer is that we can build relationships with them and that hopefully, God would allow us to be part of their seeking and searching which would eventually lead them to Him :)

SVL Christmas tree lighting

One of the reasons I love living in SVL is because they organize lots of fun community events. We did the Halloween Boat Parade back in October, and a few nights ago we went to their Christmas Tree Lighting.

 

We went to a local pizza place for dinner and then bundled up the kids (it was FREEZING!). When we arrived, we were greeted with hot chocolate and treats. There were so many to choose from but we ended up with doughnuts and various cookies :)

 

We sat down next to some space heaters (that thankfully kept us warm) and met up some sweet neighbors. Within moments, a group of kids from a nearby school led us in singing some Christmas songs. It felt so 'Christmas-y' to me :)

 

And then the moment we waited for... the Christmas tree was lit. While it was pretty, it was a little anti-climactic. It wasn't as amazing as I had expected but the kids thought it was beautiful so it was worth it!

 

 

Such a fun,, COLD, festive night. Love this season (and those kiddos above!)

Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas tree...

Moments before we were set to decorate the Christmas tree, I came across a post from a friend of a friend who had just recently lost her young son to cancer. Here is the post:

 

I used to want the "perfect" looking tree at Christmas. You know, all the ornaments in their places, spaced just the right amount apart and all the colors matched. I think I did a pretty good job achieving my goal throughout the years. But I have come to realize over the years, as my children grew older and began to help decorate and place the ornaments on the tree that my tree wasn't looking so "perfect" anymore. I would allow them to decorate it and then I'd secretly go... back when they weren't looking and move the ornaments where I thought they should be (like they never noticed right?!). Over the past couple of Christmas seasons, I tried my hardest to leave the ornaments exactly where they placed them but would sort of direct them saying, "Are you sure you want that one there?" (is anybody with me here?). I say all of this because this is a picture of our Christmas tree this year.  Sara decorated it completely by herself with the exception of only a couple of ornaments that she asked for help with. No, it is probably not considered "perfect" to a lot of people and certainly will not be seen in any fancy Christmas magazines. But I will tell you that it is full of the ornaments and crafts that both of my children have made over the years and every ornament was placed with love by Sara. Now I am not saying that I don't admire and appreciate a beautifully decorated tree (because I totally do!) but I do say this to remind you to let go of the things that don't matter and enjoy the things that do. I happen to think that our Christmas tree is just perfect this year and I am so thankful that Sara had so much fun decorating it just the way she wanted it to be.

 

And so, I took her advice. I prayed that God would allow me to look past the areas that were empty and the areas that were crowded, and that instead I would be filled with love for my children and their sense of style :) And I'm not gonna lie... it was hard at times for my OCD personality to look past the imperfections... but I did. And I did it with joy. Joy in seeing my kiddos find the wonder in unwrapping their favorite ornaments, joy in seeing their grins as they hang up their new ornaments, joy in watching them string colorful lights, and joy in watching them decorate together (without bickering- a miracle in itself!).

  

 

 

 

 And while it's not perfect, it really is the perfect family tree for us :)

  

 

Merry Christmas friends!

Christmas Advent Calendar

I made this Advent Calendar last year and the kids LOVED this. So when I pulled this out on December 1st, my big kids literally shouted for joy! :)

 

We have lots of fun things planned!

Go to Mission Inn; Maybe do some Ice skating, visit Santa, look at decor
Make Jesus' Birthday cake (brown, red, white, green)
Check out the Christmas lights in town (Phelan has two really fun places to check out- both with over 20,000 lights!)

Paint finger/toenails in Christmas colors

Make gingerbread houses
Watch a (few!) Christmas movies
Go caroling
Make a Christmas craft
Read the Nativity story
Lauren and Jake's Christmas choral recital

Bake cookies and deliver to friends/family

Decorate sugar cookies
Have French toast and hot chocolate for dinner under candlelight (a hit last year!)
Create ornaments for family, friends and teachers
Buy and decorate our Christmas tree
Go to Alta Loma to see more Christmas lights
Serve others by choosing gifts for Angel tree kids and Operation Christmas Child
Dance party to Christmas music
Lauren and Yeo's piano recital
Make paper snowflakes
Dress up fancy for Christmas eve service
Choose and wrap gifts for each other
Perform a random act of Christmas kindness :)
Make play-doh snowmen
Kiss under the mistletoe
Make Hot Cocoa

What are you planning on doing this year?

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

I have so much to be grateful for; for Jesus and His awesome, sacrificial love and the knowledge that my eternity has been sealed! For my amazing, supportive husband and equally amazing, beautiful kids. For the family I have that would (and have) dropped everything when I need them. For the friends I treasure most. For the people in our lives and not. For the things we have and don't. For the inner peace and faith in knowing that everything right now is as it should be, just the way He purposed it. There is such contentment in that :)

 

I feel so very blessed.

 

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone :)

Thanksgiving parties

Last week we celebrated with not one but TWO Thanksgiving parties! Jake's Kindergarten class dressed in their Indian and Pilgrim costumes and performed a few sweet thankful songs for us parents. After that, they went around the room sharing what they were thankful for. It was adorable :)

 

After the songs and play, we feasted!

A day later, Lauren's class dressed in their costumes and threw a feast! Each child brought a baggie full of something (Cheerios, candy, chips, etc) and then one by one, Mrs. Foster called them up, had them dump their bag into a bowl and asked them, "Pilgrim Lauren, what have you brought to share?" When they had finished dumping their goodies into the bowl, they all got a turn stirring it and then they ate what they brought to share... much like the Pilgrims and Indians did way back when.

It was such a great week full of thankfulness. And I am incredibly thankful for this school that inspires and teaches our children to live lives thankful to Him :)