December was fun. I didn’t write much, read much, or run much, but we lived much and totally did Christmas much. :)
The kids and I made Christmas cookies. We read Christmas books, talked about it, wrapped presents and tried to focus on the actual Christmas meaning.
Advent Traditions:
And I loved our advent book tradition. I wrapped some books we already had, a few my mom passed on to us, and a few from the library to fill in the cracks.We opened a Christmas/winter book or two each day leading up to the holiday. I The kids thought it was great fun. :) And now I am slowly taking the books back into the Christmas hoard to be wrapped and opened next year.
Books:
Read:
- Every Little Thing by Deidra Riggs
- The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
Currently or Soon:
A Flurry of Doing:
I decorated for Christmas, made fudge and ate it, raked many bags of leaves, crocheted many Minion Hats (8 so far? still need to do a few more), taught the kids to play Uno (much coaching still needed), hustled through the last season of Parenthood (ok that was actually January) and on January 1 finally painted my desk!
Words Elsewhere:
Hurry Up and Wait by Katie Faulks:
“The waiting is hard, but the worst part about it is that while I stubbornly wait for her to just grow up a little, I hold just as tenaciously onto a desperate wish that she will always be so small.”
We Are Portals by Idelette McVicker:
“I look and I look and I leave still hungry, because what I am really looking for is a portal. Something that will transport and bring me into the Presence of the Eternal One. The Beautiful One. The Glorious King.”
“When you can’t tell the truth about yourself, you cease to exist as a person. Being “nice” kept me from doing what I was made to do. Trying to manage my “nice girl” image kept me trapped, working to control other’s opinions of me, rather than doing what I knew was right.”
Words Here:
And for #wholemama:
Shona for ‘Wait’ – Is God Enough? Can He Be? Wait.
“But God said, ‘wait’.
The thing about waiting is that you stop being in control. You are waiting for someone to act or to change or for something to happen. I wouldn’t describe waiting as passive, because it can involve plenty of squirming and complaining, writhing and irritation.”
Inez Bayardo for ‘Tradition’ – Bonded by Tradition
“What you do as a tradition doesn’t matter as much as who you do it with. Because, in the end, it’s our family – our loved ones – that really matter.
It’s not the customs themselves but the people that are bonded by them.”
Katie Faulks for ‘Still’- God is not in the Loss:
“God is still the voice that tells us we can and we must keep on moving, life does not wait, and the world has not ended.God is not in the earth giving way, or the earthquake that tumbles rocks into the sea, but the handhold we use to climb back up the cliff.”
“Christmas Joy is in all reality about the God of Grace and HIS Gift to us not ours to to anyone else.
WE are not the focus of Christmas. And somehow our focus doesn’t matter.
He still comes. He still came. He was still the gift. Christ is still ours and His, without expectation. We can give and receive freely.”
And also for ‘Receive” – My Orange Life:
“I want to receive the gift of the year, but instead of just reflecting on days gone by I want to stop and consider the gift of them.
Reflecting is just touching on the life without maybe much accepting, whereas receiving is more a leaning into how it was and where a life is going now because of it.
I can receive the gift of the year.
Hard with easy. Joyful with painful. Trying with Rest. Stubbornness and grace.”
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How was your December?
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Erika Shirk 