Christmastime is Here

This year I knew Christmas would be exciting with Ava. She is starting to understand a little more and boy, she really understands presents! As parents, Adam and I want to make sure we keep the focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas. We love the fun and excitement Santa brings, and we are enjoying it while we can, but we wanted to be careful that we didn’t rank Santa above the birth of Jesus.

We decided to do the Jesse Tree/Advent devotion that many other families do and it has been one of the best decisions I think we have ever made. We started off with regular devotions, but after feeling like Ava didn’t understand half of it, I went to work and using her ‘Sweet Dreams Princess’ Devotional book redid our schedule. We still have all the stories a regular advent devotion has, they are just geared towards a princess, which of course is right up Ava’s alley! I still think they might be a little over her head, but I think she understands the importance of the devotions and I also think children tend to comprehend more than you give them credit for. This year I just printed ornaments, next year I will probably do a little more, maybe let Ava color them, and I would love to collect different ornaments with Ava as she gets older.   

Each night the devotions have been such a special time with our family. After we finish reading, Ava says a prayer and it has to be the sweetest thing I have ever heard. I have to whisper what to say in her ear and she in turn whispers the prayer- she is so sweet and cute when she does it.

I think we have watched every holiday movie ever made!!! Ava loves Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty- she can sing the songs as well :) We have watched my all time favorite holiday move- White Christmas, it doesn’t get much better than a little Bing Crosby at Christmastime. We even have a record of Bing Crosby that we play constantly this time of year. We have watched a few others, including Veggie Tales movies and “Snoopy” as Ava calls A Charlie Brown Christmas.

   

This Christmas I think we have driven to see Christmas lights almost every night since December 1st! ha! She loves to “go see” and her favorite thing to see is a big snowman and baby Jesus. If she ever comes up to you and asks you to “take me, go see Baby Jesus!” you now know what she is talking about. I’m not sure what we are going to do after everyone takes their lights down….

Ava doesn’t usually take to strangers that well and therefore I haven’t attempted to even try and take her to see Santa because I am pretty sure how it would end…a screaming little girl. I just haven’t felt the need to stand in the forever long line that would be torturous for both myself and Ava and then pay the obscene amount of money for a picture of her crying, so I didn’t take her. However, one Saturday this past month Santa rode around on a fire truck to see all the kids. We told Ava Santa was coming and she was so excited. She made her daddy wait with her at the front window so she would be sure not to miss him. I was beginning to feel like a horrible mother for not taking my child to see Santa and when the fire truck pulled into the cul-de-sac we went outside and she all of the sudden realized she was going to have to talk to him….haha! She ran back to me so fast! I held her hand and she did take a candy cane from him, but that wasn’t without a little coaxing.

After seeing how excited she was, I was a little disappointed she didn’t enjoy his visit to the full extent, but also a little relieved that I wasn’t going to win the Bad Mommy of the Year award. She has continued to talk about seeing him and apparently in her mind, Santa doesn’t have a sleigh and reindeer, he is coming to town on a fire truck!

One thing I know Ava understands for sure is that it is Baby Jesus’ Birthday. She really understands the word Birthday and that there is usually cake involved. I had promised her we would bake a birthday cake for Jesus before his birthday and she never let me forget! Adam and I both feel that you can keep the excitement that Santa brings, but still keep the focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas. It is just a simple matter of what’s more important to you and where your priority lies.

One thing I was concerned about this year was Ava getting into the presents. I didn’t want to have to wait until Christmas Eve to wrap all of the presents! Last year I didn’t put ornaments on the tree for fear of her getting into them, but this year that wasn’t an issue, this year, the concern was presents. I’m happy to report that she hasn’t hardly shown interest in them. I will say I haven’t told her that any of them are hers, I have shown her which ones are her grandparents and daddy’s but other than that we haven’t said much. I will say that wrapping presents was a challenge this year for sure! I had to wait until she was asleep to wrap hers (of course), but I would wrap others while she was awake and all she wanted to do was help and put tape all over the package. If you get a present from us and it has an abnormal amount of tape, just know it was a little extra love from Ava :)

 

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Luke 2:10-12

Merry Christmas!