Christmas advent

I have a confession: I have never believed in Santa Claus. Never. Why, you ask? Because when my mom was a young girl, she felt like the biggest fool on the block when she found out Santa wasn't real. She thought the whole world was laughing at her for believing. And she didn't want to do that to her children because she loves us. Now that I am a mother, I have found that I can't lie to my children. I understand that a lot of really good parents can have their children believe in a very magical and wonderful Santa tradition. I'm not saying it's not okay; I'm just saying it's not what we do. And now you know why.

At our annual Rawlins Family Christmas Party with all my cousins, we always enjoyed a visit from Santa Claus. We knew he wasn't really Santa, because there is no such thing. But we greatly enjoyed his visits. He came in and sang carols with us and told jokes. He had us each sit on his lap, but it wasn't, "What do you want for Christmas, little girl?" It was, "Now last year, I remember you set out cookies for me but you forgot the carrots for the reindeer." Or, "I know you keep your room pretty clean, but under your bed WHOOAH! HO! HO! HO!" He always seemed to know just what to tease us about. How he knew our personal habits is beyond me. But I think he knew kids and teenagers well enough to guess. When an adult woman would go up for her turn (We all HAD to have a turn. Grandma's rules!), Santa would give her a hard time for hanging up a nylon stocking instead of a regular Christmas stocking. "You start filling those things and they just stretch and stretch and can never get full!"

Whenever a new person joined our family (boyfriends, fiances, etc.) the initiation was to wear reindeer antlers and dance around while everyone sang Jingle Bells. We had so much fun with our Santa. I can't really describe it here. Apparently, when my grandma died, Santa came to the funeral in his civies. (I was on my mission and missed the funeral.) He knew all the cousins, but they didn't know him.

Are you getting my point here? The same Santa came to our Christmas parties every year from the late 1970's until 2002. Yes, I remember the last party we had with our Santa. Let me tell you that story.

My daughter, Sarah, was born in October of 2002. I loved Sarah. She was an easy baby. But her delivery left me with a very painful recovery. A combination of not feeling well (lots of pain!) and taking some painkillers that had emotional side effects and postpartum depression left me pretty down. It technically wasn't a proper postpartum depression, it was what they call "baby blues." But the point is, I was down. I couldn't get into Christmas that year. I was just down. Then I went to our Rawlins Family Party. Santa was there. It was his last Christmas with us, as he and his wife were planning to leave on a mission. It was a sentimental time for our whole family. Santa stayed a very long time. He took photos with all of us. We asked him how long he had been coming and he sat and reminisced about Christmases past. And then we presented him with a little Santa doll--you know, one for display. We had a badge on the Santa that said "Future Missionary." It was a great party.

And I can't really explain what happened. But Santa snapped me out of my depression. The baby blues were just gone. Gone. He instilled in me the Christmas spirit. I was able to go home from that party and pull together a good Christmas for my little family. I even sent out Christmas cards and Christmas letters. They were late...but I sent them!

Our Santa left on his mission a couple of months later. He wasn't able to serve for very long. He passed away before the next Christmas. It may seem like a silly job to be a Santa, but this is a man (whose real name is still a mystery to me) who brought a little light and fun to our family. It is a true service. Maybe I do believe in Santa.

Most of my photos are in storage, but I found this one (not a great photo) of the last Christmas party.

Christmas advent

Have you heard of the Christmas Truce that took place in 1914? You probably have. It's a very popular story, but a good one. I will summarize the story very simply. For a more detailed description of what happened read here.

British and German troops were facing each other in trenches during World War I. On December 24, 1914, the Germans began small celebrations of Christmas. They lit candles and held up little Christmas trees. They began singing Christmas carols. As the story goes, they sang Stille Nacht, which was easily recognizable to the British. The beautiful carol Silent Night was sung by soldiers on both sides. Against the orders of the commanding officers, the soldiers on both sides were enacting a spontaneous truce. They held up signs saying "Merry Christmas" or other greetings. A couple of soldiers left the trench without their weapons and with their hands in the air. Others from the opposing side did the same. They met in the middle and shook hands. Soon, soldiers from British and German armies met in no-man's land and exchanged small gifts: chocolate, tobacco, canned meat. There was even a little football (soccer) played. The truce lasted for a little over a day, but in some areas, it lasted past the new year.

Christmas is a time when the Spirit of the Lord is felt in great abundance. I believe people are more receptive to a Lord who is always knocking. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20). The story of the Christmas Truce demonstrates men in the worst of circumstances who responded to the Prince of Peace. It is a story that brings me hope.

Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace; Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night! Holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight!
Glories stream from heaven afar;
Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Savior, is born! Christ, the Savior, is born!

Silent night! Holy night! Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth; Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

(text by Joseph Mohr, music by Franz Gruber)

Christmas advent

The celebration of Christ's birth began before He was born. Prophets had testified of His coming from the beginning. One of my favorite prophecies is from Isaiah chapter 9:

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: ...

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.

Messes and cleaning...

First, there's the messes. While I am teaching Ammon, Sarah, and Nathan school everyday, Beth is very patient. Sometimes she sits at the table and colors. Sometimes she sits on my lap. She rarely interrupts. Her favorite activity is to play with "school toys." This includes file-folder games, math manipulatives, and phonics tiles. Sometimes she even adds the challenging game Blokus to the mix. Let me show you how she plays with them:

So this is what I get to clean up everyday after school. It is the price I pay for a peaceful schooltime. Being me, every single phonics tile has to be placed in alphabetical order and all of the math manipulatives have to be separated into their proper bags with matching parts, etc. (There are at least 8 different sets of manipulatives.) That's not because I am OCD, it is because when I need to use the "school toys" to teach school, they better be where I can access them. One day, Beth dumped out all the separate bags and stirred them with her hand singing quietly, "I making a mess." She's delightful.

And then there's the cleaning. The boys (you know the ones: Ammon and Nathan) organized Grandma's toy room. Grandma has lots of old Cabbage Patch Kids from the 80's. Well, I'll just show the picture.

(They usually have clothes on and faces.) I apologize for the vulgarity.

Christmas advent

Go ahead and scroll down, turn off my Christmas playlist, then watch this video. You'll like it.