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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Maybe This Tiny Tree Will Grow Next Year

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We have the tiniest of trees this year. It took us all of five minutes to decorate. We didn’t have to move furniture to fit it in the living room or drag it through the house spilling pine needles everywhere. It was just pulled out of a box. Despite its height doesn’t seem to tower for the crèche beside it?

Why such a tiny tree? We actually don’t have space for a large tree. Well, we could have put it in front of the fireplace, but if we had a tree in front of the fireplace where would we hang the Christmas stockings. My mom suggested that we move some of the furniture out of the living room to make room for a tree. I am not sure where we would put the displaced furniture in our house. We have furniture everywhere. It flanks every wall of every room. Yes, it may mean we probably have too much furniture or maybe it means our Cape Cod house is really small and doesn’t hold a lot of furniture. We combined two homes when we got married four years ago and I gave away a lot, but maybe not enough for our house to hold.

Next year JDaniel will be three and half and he will probably want a full size tree. Until then this little tree will be our special Christmas tree and we love it.

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The Shepherds are on the Move

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One of the ladies in my mom’s group at church shared this wonderful activity that she did with her children when they were little. She would set up her nativity scene minus the shepherds. The shepherds would start their journey to the stable far away from the nativity scene somewhere else in the house. Each day the shepherds would appear in a new location in her home closer to the nativity scene. They would move closer and closer until they appeared in the nativity on Christmas Eve.

This activity could be started at any point leading up to Christmas. It won’t be to late start it this week. I am going to try it with JDaniel. It will be fun to search the house and look for the shepherds.

Birthday Promise to Jesus-Last Minute Christmas Idea

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My friend Elaine’s family writes birthday promises to Jesus every year. She places a box like the one above under their Christmas tree. In the box are birthday cards to Jesus and a set of pens. The first present they open Christmas morning is this special box. Each member of her family given their card to write a promise to Jesus they would like to keep for the year. They have been writing in their cards for years. Each person can look at the promises they have made over time as they write their new promise. The members of her family take a few minutes to reflect on their prior promises and pray for the promise they are making. Then each person places their card back in the box. No one needs to know what the others have promised in their cards. This is a special promise they each make to Jesus alone.

This year we are going to start this tradition too. My mom and dad along with a friend of my husband’s will be with us for Christmas this year. I am hoping they will all enjoy participating in this birthday promise to Jesus activity.

Holiday House Decorating- Pressure and Envy

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JDaniel and I went shopping for some Christmas decorations for the outside of our house yesterday. I was really feeling the need to keep up with the other people with in the neighborhood. Really not to keep up with them just to do something more than we did last year. We usually hang a wreath on the door, put lights on one tree, and place ribbons on our railing. It looks nice. With the expectation of the house next store that has a lot of lights the other five around us have wreaths with red bows on all the lower windows, garlands under windows, and some lights. It is all tastefully done. With the bad weather , lateness my husband gets home, and my inability to climb a ladder to decorate with a toddler our house doesn’t even have up what we had last year. The plan is to work on it this weekend so; JDaniel and I got four wreaths with ribbons yesterday at A.C. Moore. They were a great deal. All four wreaths were $21. Now I just have to hope the weather stays nice!

Do you have the only undecorated house on your block? Do you deal with house envy?

Tree Ornament Collection for Your Child’s Future Tree

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My friend Caroline started a Christmas ornament collection for each of her children when they were born. Each year she gave them an ornament that represented them, a place they had visited, or was something they really liked. Her plan is to give each child their collection when they grow up and start their own homes. I remember her saying that they wouldn’t have an empty tree for their first Christmas. Each of her children would have a tree that was filled with memories of their childhood and they could build on it .

I started this tradition for each of my sisters’ children . Each year I send an ornament to them along with their gift. I like to give the Hallmark ornaments. (I buy them the day after Christmas for the next year at 40 % off.) I don’t know if my sister’s will put them together in a collection for them when they are grown up or not. I hope they do.

JDaniel will have two ornaments of his own this year. I think I am going to keep a list of the ornaments for his “Future Tree” in the ornament box so I will remember which ones they are.

Right now lots of stores have ornaments 40-50% off!

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