Mrs. H

Looking Forward to Christmas Future

Thursday and yesterday, I shared with you the first two of my “A Christmas Carol” moments with you – Remembering Christmas Past (on #TBT), and Enjoying Christmas Present. So now, here we are, Looking Forward to Christmas Future.

I was recently approached by an artist and her team who likes my blog (thanks guys!!) asking if I’d check out their website and see if I’d be willing to share. Not only was I really impressed by her art (WOW!), I liked the writing prompt – to share photos of family memories at Christmas time. I decided to take it a step further, and use one of her ornaments to inspire my writing each day of this set.

This is the Tin Rejoicing Star Ornament!
This lovely bit hand-crafted brilliance is $38 and available here.

It’s hard to know what Christmas future holds. Right now, it’s lots of questions. I could make assumptions, but I chose not to. I know that what will be, will be. And so, this star instead provided inspiration to look back, as I look forward. Because there’s only One who knows what our Christmas Future looks like. And He is the one for which the stars dance.

Which reminds me of that night, long ago, when a young teenage girl couldn’t have possibly fathomed what Christmas Future would look like. She didn’t even know what Christmas was – because she was about to deliver the Reason for the Season. She couldn’t have known that in 34 years, the Reason we celebrate would have already died, and risen, and ascended into Heaven. She couldn’t have known all the things the next 33 years of her life would hold – or even that in the coming weeks she and her small babe would be visited by three astronomers who happened to notice a brand new star, dancing in the Heavens. She couldn’t have known they would bring Him valuable gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gifts for fit a King, but for one born in a stinky, sweaty, unsanitary stable with the pigs and goats watching.

The star had suddenly appeared, and these Wise Men knew it was special. It was worth following. It would lead them to the prophesied King. No, Mary couldn’t have possibly known what was in store for her. Nor could she have imagined that the One whom she delivered would deliver all of us in the way that He did, giving us the REASON for Christmas – Past, Present, and Future.

Only He knows what our Christmas future holds, and I know that whatever He has in store – be they happy or sad, He’ll be there to get us through them. And THAT is why we have Christmas.

So dance, like this little star, and REJOICE! For the babe that was born lived like us, died for us, and loves us. He holds Christmas Past, Present, and Future. REJOICE!

Enjoying Christmas Present

Yesterday, I shared with you the first of my “A Christmas Carol” moments with you – Remembering Christmas Past (appropriately on #TBT). Tomorrow, we’ll be Looking Forward to Christmas Future. But for today, we’re right here. Right now. Enjoying Christmas Present!

Meet the Poinsettia Queen! Isn’t she gorgeous?
This lil hand-crafted beauty is $44 and available here.

Seeing her, I instantly think of Becca. Her dress is light and airy – just like Becca loves, and she has “magic fairy wands,” which make her super special. The wings are just the perfect finishing touch. She’s just Becca. Through and through. And this year is super special with Becca. She’s got such an understanding of giving, and I can’t wait to share with you next week the special gift giving project she’s got for this year. She also embodies the Spirit of Christmas because of her wonder. I never get tired of watching her step on the button to turn on the Christmas tree lights. When they light up, so does she, and there’s just nothing more beautiful than that little face all lit up by Christmas lights and excitement.

She enjoyed Christmas morning last year, but THIS year, THIS is the year. The year that she really understands. She really gets it. She knows about giving presents, but she also knows about receiving. And she also knows about Santa. She doesn’t have total understanding yet, but she’s starting to “get it,” and we’ll soon be writing a letter to send to Santa. She’s already started compiling a list of things she wants… and uhh… Santa’s working hard to live up to his reputation of being able to keep track of all those little wishes!

This is the year that our own little Poinsettia Queen will be the star of Christmas morning. And yet, all at the same time, little brother is celebrating his first Christmas, which is also super exciting! His awe and amazement looking at the Christmas tree is also a thing of beauty, and the sense of “wow” he had when sitting on the Big Man’s lap was just too priceless. I’ll treasure that moment forever.

This year as we prepare for Christmas morning and all of the excitement it brings, our hearts are full to bursting. God has delivered to us two of the most wonderful Christmas presents we could ever wish for in our two precious children. We want for nothing, and Santa need not bring Mommy or Daddy anything else and our hearts would be content. The family that we dreamed of, while walking in a “Winter Wonderland,” has come true. God is so good.

Remembering Christmas Past

The next three days, I’ll be sharing my “A Christmas Carol” moments with you – Remembering Christmas Past (appropriately on #TBT), Enjoying Christmas Present, and Looking Forward to Christmas Future.

Let me introduce you to “Thaddeus.” Isn’t he just adorable?
This lil hand-crafted penguin is $17 and available here.

And where did Thaddeus take me in my Christmas memories from the past? To the year 2002, when Tulsa, my home town, became flooded with penguins – of the huge variety – as the Tulsa Zoo prepared to build a new penguin habitat and needed funding. Ginormously huge penguins were crafted, and decorated, and placed in front of stores all over town. Then, they were auctioned off to the highest bidder, thus raising money for the Zoo exhibit.

In our usual go-all-out fashion, my mom and I drove all over town on my Thanksgiving and Christmas break from my freshman year of college… and just as though we were back in the day of collecting those Teeny Beanies from McDonalds Happy Meals, we hit up every penguin we could find (with a carefully marked map in hand) and proceeded to take pictures with every single one. That was a LOT of penguin-graphing, and such fun times in the car with mom, mapping out the best route to the next penguin. Many of the penguins have started to disappear – as their highest bid winners have moved them – presumably indoors. But you can still see the penguins in random places around town, and when we’re “back home,” and I happen to drive by a penguin, or when I see one like this Thaddeus ornament, they always make me smile, as I remember that crazy Christmas when mom and I raced all over town to see if we could see every single one.

Thanks, Mom, for keeping these pics and send them to me! I figured the best way to show them would to be a collage of all of them instead of picking just one or two to share.

Wacky Astronaut Wednesday

So, if you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know that Becca is what is termed by professional educators as “gifted.” Most of us “normal” folks think pretty much inside a box – even if we are high achievers. Well, Becca doesn’t have a box, or even really know what it would be like to be inside one.. unless of course, it’s that big box in the family room that she likes to pretend is a car, or an airplane, or… a rocket. Becca’s main interest at almost 2 1/2 (in just 5 short days! WOW!) is outer space. She’s quick to tell you she’s going to go to the moon some day. And Mars. And Saturn, too. And who knows, maybe some day she will. She enjoys watching “This Week at NASA” with me, and often has questions that I have to google the answers for because I’m a little clueless when it comes to deep space and techy-science stuff. We are learning a lot together about our space program! She’s certain one day she’ll live on the ISS (International Space Station). And if this interest continues for her, maybe she will. (The sky isn’t her limit… deep space is her limit! Heaven help us the day she first sees Star Trek…)

So, we’ve of course been tracking the creation of Orion, and we anxiously watched and waited on the 4th for it’s launch. I woke up early and began tracking everything, taking screen shots on my phone of the launch pad as I waited for liftoff so I could show her… ready to go get her up if it was really gonna happen. Well, so, I waited, and waited, and if you, too, were tracking Orion, you know that liftoff did not occur on the 4th. I got her up near the end of the time window, and she came down and ate her breakfast in front of the tv, anxiously hoping that maybe they would be successful. Here are some of her responses as she watched the rocket sitting there, not moving:

In response to being woken up and told the rocket was hopefully going to launch soon: “I’m gonna go on that rocket all the way to Mars! Are you gonna go too?”

Watching:
“Mommy, it’s not moving.”

“When’s it bwasting off, Mommy?”

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4… Can it bwast off now?”

“10.. Bwast off.”

“Is it moving, Mommy?

“That’s a big rocket! It’s gonna bwast off. The grass is shaking!”

“It’s got smoke, Mommy.”

Hearing that the launch has been cancelled:
“Mars… but they’re not going!”

Yup, the girl was super bummed out, and unimpressed – as you can see in the pic. So, as you probably know, the very first Orion test launch time on the 5th was successful, and I had it cued up on the dvr to show her when she got up. So, we once again had breakfast on the tv trays in the living room while having our watch party for Orion.

In response to being woken up and told the rocket had, in fact, successfully launched and we were going to get to go watch it: “Oh wow! Mommy they aren’t going to Mars today. They’re gonna go around and around the Earth. But I’m gonna go on ‘Rion to Mars. I am. Let’s go see!”

So she sat there through the countdown, anxiously awaiting, and I got this video of her watching. (Turn your volume up so you can hear the tv narrator.) Her comment is epic… and the expression on her face is priceless.

View the YouTube Video Here

“It’s going!”

“They counted!”

She sat and watched with rapt attention through the first 5 or so minutes of the flight, as each stage successfully broke away. We had to leave to go to an appointment, and haven’t had a chance yet to watch the splash down, but it’s saved on the dvr and we’ll watch it soon.

The next morning, after having had some friends babysit for us that night, she showed me a rocket she had built in her room out of Duplo flowers – all stacked high, and sitting on top of a “launch pad” of Duplo bricks. She told me she made ‘Rion but it breaks apart. Proceeded to run over, grab her rocket, and fly it through the air, breaking off flowers and dropping them “into orbit” before leaving just a final set of two flowers. “THIS is ‘Rion, Mommy! It flies around WAY out in space and splashes in the water and becomes an airplane!” (yup, still has that 2 1/2 year old imagination! HA!)

I love her fascination with space, and I want to encourage her in every way I possibly can. The struggle always is to remember that it’s totally ok if she doesn’t become an astronaut for real. Because her interests will change, and her skills may excel elsewhere. And that’s ok. But for now, she’s my little astronaut-in-dreams and it’s super fun to call her my own little space cadet. Her daddy and I are so proud of her and so amazed every day by the things she comes up with. Her brain is beyond our understanding, and we pray we are always exactly the parents she needs us to be.

Some Orion photos for you:

Christmas Tree Busy Bag

This is probably one of the most basic projects, with the most open-ended results, and tons of fun!

What you’ll need:
Felt in lots of colors, mainly scraps – but one large green piece.
A Ziploc bag for storage

Simply cut out a tree shape, and then cut your scraps in random other shapes to make the ornaments for the tree… sit back, and let your child decorate! It’s really that simple! I made this bag last year as a craft at our MOPS group, and was so excited to pull it out of the Christmas box for Becca this year – she is LOVING it!