Decresendo

I am probably spelling that wrong, but basically its that time after the big buildup of Christmas, then the climax and now the fading to normalcy and routine . I have not done any decorating ( Ben and Gabe decorated the trees), no Christmas cards or even e mails, no gift buying, no elaborate dinners to fix, heck I didn't even try to make the house look cleaner. So I avoided some stress, ( though I do dream about the day when I can do all those things without it being stressful). we still did quite a few fun, Christmasy things. We continued some family traditions, and maybe started some new ones . Overall I have to say it was a good holiday, a good celebration of my saviour's birth. The boys went to two Christmas parties one at a church, one at a library after a Christmas parade, and a small one at the homeschool co op. We saw the lights at Coonskin park , took a trip to see the holiday decorations at the Columbus Zoo. We bought two Christmas trees, and let them decorate them. They received plenty of presents IMHO, though I am sure they would have liked more. We also acted out the Christmas story Christmas morning ( though they did sneak in some Charlie Brown quotes when it came to Josh being the sheep lol ) and we made a gingerbread village complete with one house, three cottages, one train, and five or six trees,. Not that doing any of these things in and of themselves is special really, its just doing them as a family. I want our kids to have a sense of this is who we are and what we do. Just spending quality time with them is the real gift for me, seeing them become excited and watching their eyes light up , is worth more than any physical gift I could ever receive. The best thing though was on Christmas Day just talking to them about the real meaning and having my six year old say...." but if its Jesus birthday how come he does not receive any gift?" Ah..... teachable moments... then I can explain why we do things to help others, and how the Bible says that anything we do to the least of these is like we are doing it unto him. ie giving food and clothes and to the poor is like giving food and clothes to Jesus.... I have lots of ideas for the New Year but I will save that post for another day and for some serious prayer time.