Friday, December 16, 2011

NOEL



 I found this beautiful banner online, for free over at SugarTotDesigns. It turned out pretty good- here's a closeup of both the "N" and the "O". It's a lot of work, but something pretty that I can hang up in my house that will hopefully last longer than just one year if I package it right!


We've been busy filling up Santa's beard with cotton balls each day, you can download it here.  His beard is about 1/2 grown. Each day my son wakes up, he asks- "Is Santa here, yet?" No. Not yet. Soon, though- when his beard is full, he'll be here. 

I struggled this year with celebrating Santa this year at all, because that's not the real reason for the season- we celebrate Jesus' birth, that's why it's called Christmas. My son knows about Jesus and God, (His prayer before each meal is: "Thank you for our food, and thank you for Jesus and God. Amen.") and that's awesome, but it's the fact that Santa gives gifts and expects nothing in return allowed me to celebrate the 'fun' side of Christmas. Santa Claus is named after Saint Nicholas, who was a Saint in 4th Century A.D. I briefly read on Wikipedia about Saint Nicholas, it's quite interesting to see how many countries celebrate him, and how Santa Claus is loosely based on him. 
"Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, thieves, children..." 
 Our friends the Wigle's celebrate Christmas with a birthday cake for Jesus... how great is that? I know their two kids are going to grow up knowing the true meaning of Christmas!

I'm working on an Advent Calendar for next year- but I'm not sure what to put in the envelopes- they are tiny key-sized envelops. Chocolate? Bible Verse? Little representation of the story of Jesus' birth? What do you put in/on your Advent Calendars?

Merry Christmas from our family to yours,