It has been a few weeks since I posted on my blog. And it is now December. Christmas time. Christmas is only 12 days away at this moment, and I haven't posted anything this month; none of my regular weekly posts, nor anything "Christmas-y." I have thought about posts to write, I have a few drafts sitting there, waiting to be finished, and I have several topics in my head that I think might be worth writing something about. But, I haven't done it this month. Not just because life is a bit more hectic right now, but because I'm trying to take some time for a few other things.
I'm trying to take some time for things like Christmas. I like Christmas. It is one of my favorite times of year. I like the music (well....most of it), I like the decorations, I like cold, snowy, crisp weather (if and when we get it), I like the lights, I like special Christmas Eve services at church, I like giving gifts....I just like most everything about Christmas. Last year, I was a bit of a Scrooge, to be honest, and did not fully enjoy Christmas as I usually do. This year, though, I am wanting to enjoy the season again. And this year, I think, I am enjoying it a bit more because Little Pumpkin is more aware, interactive, and interested in seeing all these Christmas things.
Seeing and hearing Little Pumpkin participate in the excitement of Christmas has made me want to try and do more Christmas-y things. I've known people that have special traditions, such as baking Christmas cookies, or going and seeing Christmas lights, or making special recipes for Christmas, or using certain decor that has a special meaning. Besides getting a live Christmas tree and decorating it with Jason's ornament collection (superheroes, Star Wars, and Disney!), we don't really have any special Christmas things that we do. (And, the live tree thing just started last year!) This year, though, I am trying to take the time to just "do" more things to make this Christmas season special.
I can't say that I've been super successful with the Christmas activities, but the one thing we did recently was make cut-out cookies.
I think it was a Sunday evening that she helped me mix up a recipe of Vanilla Wafers, and all three of us cut out cookies: Jason, Little Pumpkin, and I. She absolutely loved it! And, she did quite well pressing the cookie cutters into her dough and not over-lapping, until the dough was filled with cut-outs - then she started cutting out over top what was already cut-out! Jason also had a lot of fun, and we all enjoyed the time spent together doing something out of our norm.
Other Christmas-y things we have tried to do included going to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops. I've never been into the Santa thing, didn't grow up with it, and don't really see why we should make a big deal out of it. But, Jason really wanted to do it, so we went. Little Pumpkin wanted nothing to do with the guy playing Santa and refused to sit on his lap, or be anywhere near him, pretty much. We then participated in a few of the kids activities they had set up in the Christmas "village," such as coloring a picture, writing a letter to Santa and putting it in the little mailbox, and looking at the decorations.
We wanted to go get our live Christmas tree as a family outing, but with our work schedules, it just wasn't going to happen anytime soon. So Jason and Little Pumpkin went and got the tree - Jason said she picked it out in that the first tree that she reached out and touched was the tree they got. As it turns out, she picked a very crooked tree! We had to put a board under one side of the tree stand to keep the tree from falling over. A few days after they brought the tree home, we managed to decorate it all together. Little Pumpkin quite enjoyed helping to hang the decorations, and has learned that they are not meant to come on and off, on and off, on and off all the time.
One other Christmas area I am taking some time for is in finding gifts for all the people we are gifting this year. It is taking some brain power, time searching, and effort to gather it all together, but giving gifts is something that I do enjoy. And being able to find a gift that I think will bring joy and excitement to the receiver makes giving gifts more fun. It takes time, though, to be intentional with your gift searching and choices, and that is something that I don't always take the time to do. This year, though, I am trying to take that time and enjoy it, too.
Another area in which I am trying take a little time is in being intentional in having Little Pumpkin participate in things that I am doing. Lately, it has been cooking and baking. She is almost always involved whenever I am making food, but usually because she sees or hears me doing it and drags a chair over to "help." She absolutely LOVES to stir, measure ingredients, and pour things into the bowl. "I help" is her repeated phrase whenever I start to make something. Lately, I have been trying to purposely ask her to help me make things, and to not worry or stress over it taking ten times longer, or making a much larger mess than normal. One of the things I asked her to help with was making a cake for our anniversary this month.
To say that she enjoyed licking the beater would be an understatement. And for the sake of full disclosure, she also decided that the cake batter was a good body lotion! Crazily enough, after that event I had her help me make a large batch of bread on another day.
If you notice the healthy coating of flour on the counter-top, it is from her measuring and pouring in almost all of the flour for the bread. She helped grease the bread pans,
...she helped shape the loaves,
....and when we discovered we didn't even have enough bread pans to make as many loaves as we had dough for, she helped portion dough for tiny rolls. Very tiny rolls. Once again, she absolutely loved helping, and because I was intentional in asking her to help, having the "help" was something I was semi-prepared to manage.
There are a few other things this month that I am hoping to take some time for, such as: Finishing the book that I started for December; Making some cookies and treats to give to our neighbors for Christmas, as well as my co-workers. Finding some sort of Christmas book to read with Little Pumpkin about the Christmas story. (I haven't found one yet, so I'll take suggestions on that!) Cleaning my house (it is a royal disaster, I'm telling you!).
I am hoping that by taking some time to be intentional about a few things, I will slow down a bit and actually enjoy that time. And so far, I feel like it has helped; not just in enjoying this Christmas season, but in enjoying life: my family, my time, and what I am doing. What things are you taking the time for as we come to the end of this year?
