WRAD Memories

Over the past month or so, I've been sort of trying to figure out how to embrace Christmas in a more reflective way- to get beyond the secular to the sacred. I'm not sure it happened. Now that I'm on the other side of Christmas for another year, I find myself reflecting once again on just what exactly is the point of all of it? I did pretty much all the things that I thought would help us reflect on the WHY of Christmas as well as spend time together as a family making memories: baking, advent readings, Christmas concerts/plays, skipping school for snow days, etc. And I wonder, did I even manage to plant a seed in my childrens' subconscious minds about WHY I was having them do any of this stuff? To focus on the WHY (Jesus needing to come and die for our sins) instead of the STUFF. Somehow I can't seem to shake the feeling that somehow we (read- they) STILL missed it. Sort of like the people did when Jesus first came- they were looking for a revolutionary

Okay, I'm just going to say it- Christmas really isn't my favourite time of the year! It probably has a lot to do with the fact that my husband intensely dislikes this time of the year. He doesn't have very fond memories of Christmas from his childhood and so it's really poisoned his attitude. As a result, most years Christmas is merely a blip on the calendar, and then we keep plowing through- basically ignoring the whole thing insofar as we can. Having said that, I decided that this year I wanted to do things differently. To slow down and put some thought into WHY we even do this in the first place. I started by getting an Advent book and candles- so that we'd have a daily reading to do. The story is quite interesting (and very gruesome at times), but as we're working our way through it- I'm realizing it's the right book to help us learn and remember. Then, I decided that we'd scale back the school work (which wasn't too difficult beca

I knew it had been a while since my last post- but I didn't think it had been THAT long. Two months is too long. It's not that there hasn't been anything to say or write about, because there has. I just haven't had the mental energy to do it. Instead I have: - bailed on my 90 days through the Bible (after 120+ days and only getting the Old Testament done) - done 2 x 80+ page digital scrapbooks - completed 3 x 24 page mini albums - started volunteering with my son's cadet squadron - got my first term portfolios together (such as they were) - re-arranged rooms - got rid of the dog - spent an insane amount of hours on the internet collecting digital freebies of whatever kind (scrap-booking/home schooling/eBooks/etc.)- if it's free I've been getting it - started decorating/baking for Christmas - been fighting off a cold for a few weeks now - and somewhere in there, I've tried to keep the house in some measure of cleanliness, kids fed and al