~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! Ginny's blog
Hello All!
Another Wednesday is upon us! Reading and knitting-- love those 2 things and put together always starts my day of peacefully! Thanks Ginny for hosting this! Each week Ginny unfailingly host this- I am so grateful! I am still reading Inconceivable. And we are still reading harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. What a great choice! I have figured out I am a terrible reader when I read out loud. I stumble and bumble along and sometimes read quietly to myself-- it is not pretty! But we are enjoying meeting Harry Potter. I managed to finish Cooper's hat! As soon as I finished the ribbing it was really flew off my needles! The mark above Little Man's eye is a Harry Potter scar he drew himself- we were having a Harry Potter Marathon this weekend! We all had scars!
Hello All!
Another Wednesday is upon us! Reading and knitting-- love those 2 things and put together always starts my day of peacefully! Thanks Ginny for hosting this! Each week Ginny unfailingly host this- I am so grateful! I am still reading Inconceivable. And we are still reading harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. What a great choice! I have figured out I am a terrible reader when I read out loud. I stumble and bumble along and sometimes read quietly to myself-- it is not pretty! But we are enjoying meeting Harry Potter. I managed to finish Cooper's hat! As soon as I finished the ribbing it was really flew off my needles! The mark above Little Man's eye is a Harry Potter scar he drew himself- we were having a Harry Potter Marathon this weekend! We all had scars!
I started a pair of handspun(not by me) mitts for myself! A guilty pleasure, knitting for me but a joy! The wool is mohair/wool mix and the coloring is just beautiful! Sorry for the confusion in the photo-- I am magic looping and knitting both at the same time so I don't experience second sock syndrome(or 2nd mitt syndrome-as the case may be). Also some legwarmers my daugher asked me knit her-- secret holiday knitting is tough to do and to accomplish!
Maybe any readers can help me and offer words of wisdom. I am struggling this year with Christmas. I have so many mixed feeling. My great joy is that we will be rejoicing in Christ's birth- for the first time ever we will all rejoice is Jesus and we will do it loundly and with my love for God's Son. He is the reason for the season- I keep nagging telling my children. But how do I incorporate Santa? The more I become a disciple of God the more I struggle with issues such as this-- don't get me started on the Easter Bunny! I hate lying to my children so these holidays are always stressful for me. I hate lying! And I am struggling with the amount of gifts that, in reality, my children don't need. We do not need the extra clutter that toys bring. And the stress of cleaning up that always is the result of above mentioned gifts. We are having a bit of celebrating Advent each day. Eating a piece of chocolate and reading in our books but there is a knot in my belly. A knot because I know reading a page each day brings us one day closer to the "Big Day". I am so unprepared this year. I want a simple Christmas- one of wonder and rejoicing in Jesus. But my children do not want the same and they shouldn't. At least that is what I tell myself- they are only children, after all, and want the lots of presents-A living room full! But I know that a room full of presents is what they don't need. It is just the way the way of children. My children. I feel like a failure. I am struggling with finding the joy this year. And that saddens me.
Oh, how I understand you...I agree with you in the Santa issues. It's Christ's birth we're celebrating after all. I was brought up knowing that there was no Santa. So, it was easy for me, and thankfully my husband doesn't mind not doing that... So, we read books that may have Santa in them and know it's like a fairy tale. I do like reading about Saint Nicholas the bishop, however, but that's completely different, he never lived on the North Pole and doesn't give out gifts to children (I don't like the naughty and nice stuff). This is great: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Nicholas.htm
ReplyDeleteI like to tell my children the truth. And same goes with tooth fairy and Easter bunny...we don't do them.
And no one needs tons of gifts or candy. We have enough.
Ok! First of all your knitting is fabulous! Second, I know what you mean about getting those secret gifts made with lots of kids...I have 8 and they are always in my business lol. We had to deal with the Santa business a few years ago. Our older children did not want us to lie to their siblings and so we had meeting and decided to break it to the little ones. I expected them to fall apart and Christmas to be ruined but all they wanted to know was "do we still get our gifts?" and then they were on to the next thing. They still love watching movies with Santa in it but they know that Santa is a figure that came from Saint Nicholas and they are just fine with it. They asked us a few years ago if they could only receive 3 gifts each because the child Jesus only received 3 and that was when I realized that we were giving too much. Hoping you will find the joy and enjoy your family these holidays.
ReplyDeleteWe also treat Santa like a fairy tale. He isn’t forbidden, but the kids know he isn’t real, and he isn’t a focus. Christmas Eve is our family’s special time. We turn out all of the lights in the house (except the Christmas lights) and read the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2. We have a cheap-o candle for each character in the story and as they are mentioned our children take turns lighting a candle (which is soooo exciting). We have one really BIG white candle for Jesus. Slowly the room is lit up with candlelight. After all of the candles are lit and the story is finished, we sing Christ honoring Christmas carols. Then we finish it off by singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blow out the candles. It is really simple, but it is everyone’s favorite part of Christmas. This is terrible, but we have learned that it is really difficult for us to show proper honor to Christ on the actual day of Christmas. So making Christmas Eve a time of worship is precious for us!
ReplyDeleteI love that hat!! You are on a roll... My list is beginning to overwhelm me!
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Debbie