Christmas Thoughts ... Part 2

Hi Friends,

As promised, here's the second part of my Christmas interview. Enjoy! And may this Christmas be one of wonder and beauty for you and yours.

Q: It’s Christmas Eve… Describe your day and evening.

A: We’ll get together with my husband’s family – parents, brothers, their wives, exchange gifts, eat soup (it’s always soup!), and enjoy. Hopefully, we’ll get to go our church’s Christmas eve service, then come home for hot cocoa, cookies, and the opening of gifts. I’m really looking forward to it!

But the best part should be the new babies in the group. With baby Jayden, there will be three new little ones enjoying their very first Christmas. What a blessing!

Q: Confession time. Shop on line or at the mall?

A: Three words: Five. Little. Kids. So, as you can imagine, a trip to the mall spells n-i-g-h-t-m-a-r-e. I shop online as much as possible, or even better, have my hubby shop on line.

Q: It’s Christmas day… what’s for dinner? Do you make cookies or other traditional foods?

A: The most important thing, of course, is the Christmas sugar cookies. That’s the big tradition at our house. Every year, all of us (yes, even the littlest ones), make and decorate Christmas cookies, from scratch. We have cookies cutters in the shape of trees and fat Santas, stars and crosses, bells and gingermen. It’s so fun to see the kids, their tongues sticking from the sides of their mouths as they work on frosting Santa’s tummy.

Other than that, we like ham, bread, glorified rice (Bryan’s mom makes that), corn . . . and more cookies.

Q: What are you plans for this season?

A: Ah, a simple Christmas this year, of enjoying the family, singing Christmas carols, having fun, and trying to get some chapters written for my next book (I’m waaaay behind! Ack!) . . . hmmm, something here doesn’t sound very Christmas-y. Let’s go back to the cookies.

Q: Any final thoughts on Christmas?

A: This year, I find I’m thinking a lot about the memories I’m making now - for my kids, for my hubby, for me. And I’m thinkin’ that I don’t want those memories to be ones of a Mom who’s running around with too much to do and too little time to do it. I don’t want them to be of hustle, bustle, shopping, wrapping, cooking, cards, and gifts thrown under the tree. I don’t even want them to be of the microscope sets that my girls will unwrap on Christmas morning. Or the Narnia DVD for my oldest, or the new Wall-E for Joelle.

Because toys break, get old, get lost, or they outgrow them. But they don’t outgrow the happy memories of family times together. The memories of decorating Christmas cookies with laughter and joking – those don’t get old. The times we make a gingerbread house together, or sit down and watch the Grinch – those don’t break. The simple things make the best memories. Times when we’re together as a family, having fun, enjoying the traditions we’re building together.

So, that’s my goal this Christmas, to weave memories of peace, love, togetherness, because that’s the best gift I can think of to celebrate Jesus’ birth -- Memories that bring a smile to the face of children . . . and to the face of the King.