It's that time of year! It's Christmas! I know I've already posted a little about Christmas in my last post, but let's be real, friends, Christmas deserves more than one post! heeheehee!
So, when 'ol Sister Sass here was a kiddo, we didn't really do the whole Santa Claus thing. At all. I mean, we thought of Old Saint Nick as a character, like Rudolph or Frosty. We didn't talk about him a whole lot, that I can remember. We had photos taken at the mall with him and we watched all the Christmas shows with him in it, but we never thought we had to be good for Santa so we could get presents. Or we never believed that he came to our house or that gifts came from him. We knew (and by we, I'm speaking of my brother and me) our parents got us gifts. We had to be good year 'round because that was honoring God. That makes Jesus happy! But now that I have a child, I kind of wanted to do the whole Santa thing! So I am. And it's fun.
Now don't get me wrong, I make certain that The Little Boy knows the meaning of Christmas. I make sure he knows that he needs to be good and listen to Mommy and Daddy because that honors God. But it's been fun to talk about 'HoHo' coming and dropping off a gift for him. I really want to incorporate the Elf on the Shelf, but I've not gotten one yet. Maybe next year.
A few traditions we did start this year have been good ones. One has been a Nativity Set TLB can play with. Let me tell you, he is all about hearing that Jesus was 'born in a barn' as he says. If you know TLB, you know he is 100% Country Boy, knowing that our Savior was born among animals in a barn is enough to make him a believer for life! (I pray he's a believer for life!) He enjoys playing with the people in the Nativity and he pretty well knows who is who. It's been a nice thing to have!
Another tradition has been our Family Advent Calendar. Friends, do this with your family, no matter their age! It's been fun! I have to admit, I don't remember a lot about Advent growing up. Maybe just the lighting of the wreath at church, but no calendar or anything like we're doing. And being completely honest, I had to research Advent this year. I didn't want to teach TLB something that I didn't know all about myself. It's all about anticipation. We're anticipating the Christ Child at Christmas. So with this calendar, there is scripture to read, a prayer and an activity. They've been anywhere from making cookies as a family to driving around looking at Christmas lights. We missed out on some due to illness, but the ones we've done have been great. And as TLB gets older, I think they'll make some good memories.
This past weekend, I had a speaking part in church. Oh friends, if you were there, you know the gory details. Our church is a pretty big church in our area. We have three services and a satellite church. It's the best church ev-ah and we're so blessed to be part of it. Way back in November, our senior pastor called to ask if I'd be interested in doing a monologue at one of the services leading up to Christmas. If you know me, and I know you do, I love to talk (shocker, huh!) and it's never really bothered me to talk in front of people. Till Saturday night's service. The first of my four services I have to speak at. I got the script in November, and no one at the Saturday night service would believe me, but I have practiced that thing and memorized it and said it and read it and practiced it and wrote it out and you get the picture. I mean, I've done it so much, The Deuce knows it by heart, as well. I am portraying Mary. I'm giving my story, from my perspective. It's an awesome monologue. It's powerful. And on Saturday night, I choked. Big time. HUMILIATION. Oh my, little lambs, it was horrific. I get a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I think of it. I disappointed myself and my pastors, I was afraid.
Now, I've had to speak to large crowds before. I did plays in school, I've spoken in front of a church congregation before, shoot, I had to speak before 300 people when I was running for the REMC board...every time, I did just fine! So, I get up to speak Saturday and I went blank. I got out maybe the first three paragraphs and I forgot my lines. OH! I repeated my last line and tried to move on. I did, but I left out like two pages of script. Ugh! I tried to pull it back together, and if you want me to be honest, I don't remember all I said. I just said my last line, walked off the pulpit and went to the foyer and cried. And cried. My sweet Aunt JJ and Uncle J came to encourage me and I'm so thankful. Then, my parents came out and did the same. I appreciate all of them. But I hate that I blew it. I felt bad that the pastors trusted me to do this, and I blew it. But you know, they were so sweet, so nice and they talked with me after the service and gave me encouragement and support. I love my pastors. Thankfully, Sunday, things went SO much better. *sigh* I've got one more service to go, at our satellite church this Sunday. Say a little prayer that goes well for me!
You know, in that Mary monologue, it isn't real traditional, as in, she doesn't talk a lot about what we think of when we hear the Christmas story. She talks about how nothing is impossible for God. She speaks of her son (Jesus) being risen from the dead. Nothing is impossible for God. He keeps His promises. She talks about all of us being invited to an 'all or nothing' kind of faith. And what's really stuck with me this week, she speaks about how we need to trust him fully, or we've never really trusted him at all. As we all have really questioned things in the past week with the horrific tragedy in Connecticut, I want to assure you that you can trust God. I'm not even going to try to explain why what happened happened, I mean, I can't even wrap my head around it. And even though TLB isn't in school yet, the thought of sending him ANYWHERE without me makes me sick. But what I want to tell you is that we can find comfort in Christ and his promises. If you don't have a relationship with Christ, I encourage you to seek Him. What a better time than now...the CHRISTmas season! It doesn't mean that bad things still won't happen or that your life will be perfect, but it will mean that you can find peace and comfort during those times. And you can cling to the promises of our Savior.
I hope, my dear friends, that you have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by your loved ones! I love y'all and I'm so thankful for ya!
Until next time...
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