Our first tradition, which started when my grandchildren were babies, is to have a birthday cake (candles too) and celebrate Jesus' birthday. This is part of our Christmas Eve family get together and would not be complete without the cake and music.
The second tradition(last year was the first) is to go to the Life Care Center in No. Billerica and sing Christmas Carols in the Alzheimer's Unit on Christmas morning. This included friends and family (two of my grandchildren are 10 and 11). The grandchildren made small gifts for each of the patients which they personally gave to each patient. The Alzheimer's patients, some of whom never talk, could remember the words. Music is such a great thing to bring out the happiness and joy hidden in people. The last song we sang was the 12 Days of Christmas. We did fine until we got to the 12th day and no one could remember. We just stopped at 11 and no one knew the difference.
Both these traditions are such a rewarding experience and have given my family the real spirit of Christmas.
Blessings,
Deb Willard
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Focusing on Christ
I don't know about the rest of you but seasons of business tend to threaten my time with God. At Advent many of us can find time to read and do daily devotionals with our kids. In an effort to consolidate tasks, I found myself tempted to "count" that as my own devotional time. While family devotions are really important, I've learned that I shouldn't let it replace my own prayer time. I am convinced that the most important thing for me to do during Christmas is to continue my one-on-one time with God- regardless of how many other things are on my plate. While I love praying with my kids (and I'm sure God does too), I don't tend to sit still in God's presence for long enough or open my heart as much when I'm worried about their needs.
On those days when I don't cast my cares upon Him, the wonderful and fun things on my "to do" list become overly important - all out of perspective.
So that's my suggestion- in addition to reading about Advent as a family, preserve and enjoy your time sitting quietly with your Heavenly Father.
Rachael
On those days when I don't cast my cares upon Him, the wonderful and fun things on my "to do" list become overly important - all out of perspective.
So that's my suggestion- in addition to reading about Advent as a family, preserve and enjoy your time sitting quietly with your Heavenly Father.
Rachael
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
A New Tradition of Giving
Here's a tradition we recently began that I'd like everyone to consider.
Stop giving to people who already have more than they need and start giving to people who don't have basic necessities of life.
There are many ways to do this:
Contact Servants for Haiti (info@servantsforhaiti.org), an organization based right here at GCC. In a loved one's name, you can donate a bag of rice, medical care for an orphan, an education for a child, or other needed gifts.
Buy something from the World Vision gift catalog: http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10389 . Who wouldn't want to receive a goat, some ducks, or a chicken for Christmas, knowing that it will change a family's life? The catalog has dozens of ideas in all price ranges.
Or give the gift of water: http://www.water.cc/ . Lack of access to clean drinking water is one of the major causes of death around the world. Americans will spend $450 billion this Christmas. It would only take $10 billion to give every human in the world clean water. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K14c4NGuhDI )
I don't want to stand before my Savior at His throne (Mt 25) and explain why I spent the money He blessed me with to buy Zhu Zhu Pets for rich kids when children in other parts of the world are dying for lack of clean water to drink.
I wish we'd discovered the Advent Conspiracy years and years ago, but it's never too late. Repenting of my past extravagance means changing my present and my presents.
I want to celebrate Jesus's birth the way He would.
The Conti's
Stop giving to people who already have more than they need and start giving to people who don't have basic necessities of life.
There are many ways to do this:
Contact Servants for Haiti (info@servantsforhaiti.org), an organization based right here at GCC. In a loved one's name, you can donate a bag of rice, medical care for an orphan, an education for a child, or other needed gifts.
Buy something from the World Vision gift catalog: http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10389 . Who wouldn't want to receive a goat, some ducks, or a chicken for Christmas, knowing that it will change a family's life? The catalog has dozens of ideas in all price ranges.
Or give the gift of water: http://www.water.cc/ . Lack of access to clean drinking water is one of the major causes of death around the world. Americans will spend $450 billion this Christmas. It would only take $10 billion to give every human in the world clean water. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K14c4NGuhDI )
I don't want to stand before my Savior at His throne (Mt 25) and explain why I spent the money He blessed me with to buy Zhu Zhu Pets for rich kids when children in other parts of the world are dying for lack of clean water to drink.
I wish we'd discovered the Advent Conspiracy years and years ago, but it's never too late. Repenting of my past extravagance means changing my present and my presents.
I want to celebrate Jesus's birth the way He would.
The Conti's
The Tradition of Family
When Rob gave us the little push on Sunday to be brave and speak about a story, he was describing me when he suggested "maybe you think 'my story isn't special'". I thought the purpose of the Advent blog was to detail how selfless acts were done during the holidays, or to highlight a noble act done as a family. I'm not saying my family are savages, but I also don't have a memory of surrendering our day to help in a soup kitchen (though I wish we would have and I think it's a phenomenal idea!) But my family does have traditions. And I value them, and the time. So...if these submissions really don't have to be spectacular...here goes.
Christmas Eve has gone the same since I could form memories. (well, we don't put out milk and cookies for Santa anymore, but you get the idea.) We, as a family, open one gift on Christmas Eve, and they are always pajamas. I can't give you an explanation as to why. Perhaps it was for a new feeling of comfort and relaxation each year. Or maybe it was just for fun pictures the next day, because once we opened the present, we wore the pjs to bed, and opened all gifts and stockings still in them the next morning. After we each got new sleepwear (believe or not, we are always excited about the upcoming pjs. We even request the kinds we might like on our "lists".) my father reads the Christmas Story. The four of us (my mom, my sister, my father and I) sit close together while he reads from Luke 2:1-16. For a while, when my sister and I were young, and even sometimes during high school if my memory serves me correctly, my mother would proceed my father's reading by reading The Night Before Christmas. We had the golden book version and loved seeing the pictures and hearing the words. (Then my father would tell the true story by reading from Luke.)
Christmas day, we usually wake and begin by opening our stockings first (I sometimes argue that this is the best part, digging for the little surprises, each of us taking turns watching the other, to see what they will find). Then we watch each other open presents; it was never a free for all, ripping in unison. We took joy in seeing the response for whatever we could afford for presents that year. Even the small things were appreciated. And as we all get older into our adult lives, we know that it never was about those presents. I vividly remember, two years ago, sitting with my family in Missouri with my nephew there smiling. He who had just survived major, heart-valve reconstructive surgery that we were never promised he'd survive from. It was my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother-in-law, my miraculous nephew, and me -- watching traditions continue. I shed tears, silently while overcome with the joy of being together. I don't even remember what anyone got that day or what anyone asked for. I was filled with such love, it just overflowed. This year, my mom has been worried, because traditions are falling to the wayside with the lack of finances. We couldn't do annual ornaments (another tradition for each family member), and the pjs probably won't come this year. But while on the phone with her as she revealed these likelihoods, I never blinked. I immediately assured her, that who cared about that? At all? We get to be together (as corny, but completely true as it is) and even if we only do the $1 filled stockings, we'll have a great time. Last year we didn't all get to celebrate together, the year before that our little Gabe was given back to us, this year we'll have a newborn with us again as my 2nd nephew (Gabe's little brother) will be introduced to the world 3 days before the holiday. There isn't much more we could want or ask for, is there? So worrying about wrapped presents or keeping up traditions is moot. That will be how we give more, how we love all in the miracle of life and of family. It is the quintessential way to worship fully -- by realizing all blessings bestowed on us this year.
Leigh Kay
Christmas Eve has gone the same since I could form memories. (well, we don't put out milk and cookies for Santa anymore, but you get the idea.) We, as a family, open one gift on Christmas Eve, and they are always pajamas. I can't give you an explanation as to why. Perhaps it was for a new feeling of comfort and relaxation each year. Or maybe it was just for fun pictures the next day, because once we opened the present, we wore the pjs to bed, and opened all gifts and stockings still in them the next morning. After we each got new sleepwear (believe or not, we are always excited about the upcoming pjs. We even request the kinds we might like on our "lists".) my father reads the Christmas Story. The four of us (my mom, my sister, my father and I) sit close together while he reads from Luke 2:1-16. For a while, when my sister and I were young, and even sometimes during high school if my memory serves me correctly, my mother would proceed my father's reading by reading The Night Before Christmas. We had the golden book version and loved seeing the pictures and hearing the words. (Then my father would tell the true story by reading from Luke.)
Christmas day, we usually wake and begin by opening our stockings first (I sometimes argue that this is the best part, digging for the little surprises, each of us taking turns watching the other, to see what they will find). Then we watch each other open presents; it was never a free for all, ripping in unison. We took joy in seeing the response for whatever we could afford for presents that year. Even the small things were appreciated. And as we all get older into our adult lives, we know that it never was about those presents. I vividly remember, two years ago, sitting with my family in Missouri with my nephew there smiling. He who had just survived major, heart-valve reconstructive surgery that we were never promised he'd survive from. It was my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother-in-law, my miraculous nephew, and me -- watching traditions continue. I shed tears, silently while overcome with the joy of being together. I don't even remember what anyone got that day or what anyone asked for. I was filled with such love, it just overflowed. This year, my mom has been worried, because traditions are falling to the wayside with the lack of finances. We couldn't do annual ornaments (another tradition for each family member), and the pjs probably won't come this year. But while on the phone with her as she revealed these likelihoods, I never blinked. I immediately assured her, that who cared about that? At all? We get to be together (as corny, but completely true as it is) and even if we only do the $1 filled stockings, we'll have a great time. Last year we didn't all get to celebrate together, the year before that our little Gabe was given back to us, this year we'll have a newborn with us again as my 2nd nephew (Gabe's little brother) will be introduced to the world 3 days before the holiday. There isn't much more we could want or ask for, is there? So worrying about wrapped presents or keeping up traditions is moot. That will be how we give more, how we love all in the miracle of life and of family. It is the quintessential way to worship fully -- by realizing all blessings bestowed on us this year.
Leigh Kay
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
A Tradition Touched by Grace
This past weekend my family and I made our annual pilgrimage to buy our Christmas tree. On the brief ride to “Jones Farm” we tried to remember if we had ever bought our tree anywhere else – oh, maybe once we had gone with a few other families and actually cut down a tree, but that was such a long time ago… “this” was our tradition. And as our tradition dictated, once again we laughed as our daughter was drawn to the largest tree on the lot … and once again we laughed as our son decided that tying Christmas trees to the roof of a car would not be a very “fun” job… again we reminisced about the day we bought our tree in a snow storm and had to let it dry in the garage… and we laughed as we remembered how every year we turn a ten minute car ride home into a twenty minute car ride because we worry that the tree will fall off the roof of our car… this year was no different!
As soon as we were home and the tree was wrestled into it’s stand, the decorating began. As my children untangled and tested the tree lights, I took an opportunity to log onto Facebook. My friend Diane had posted her status. She wrote, “Decorating our Christmas tree by myself again…” I laughed as I read her words, I could just picture that!…. I then rejoined my family as we strung the lights and the wooden cranberry strands, around and around the tree. “Why do we put these cranberries on our tree when they look so bad?”, “Because Dad and I bought those for our first tree”… and so it goes. .. stories told, and memories shared, year after year after year. Each ornament a story unto itself…. each with a history that we never seem to tire of hearing or telling… Ornaments bought on every family vacation… ornaments representing every sport our children have played, ornaments given to us from beloved family members. We have our “ugliest” ornament and our “tackiest” ornament. And then there’s the ornament that resembles a cookie…It was hand made by our daughter in a preschool class so many years ago and as it rested on the kitchen counter way back when - wouldn’t you know that dad tried to eat it…!
Later that evening, when the tree was all trimmed, I began thinking about my friend’s Facebook posting… It saddened me now as I thought of her trimming her tree all alone… And then I realized, how blind could I have been?? What had seemed to be just another typical Christmas tradition – and clearly one I had taken for granted – was actually a tremendous gift! A gift of spending time with my beloved family.
Oh but how quickly my feelings of gratitude started to blur as I took my eyes off God and His blessing and placed them sinfully on myself… I began wondering, “Oh my goodness, what if next Christmas I am the mom posting my dismay of having to decorate the Christmas tree all by myself?… what if my two teenagers decide that this is no longer their tradition??” Hadn’t I already noticed some distance growing between us? Hadn’t I noticed how much time they now spend behind closed doors in the their bedrooms and how our conversations are often reduced to “sound bites”??? These thoughts were flooding my mind with fear….
Thankfully our Lord and Savior did not leave me there…. God’s grace “stepped in” and reminded me of His Word that He shared with me only days before, “Don’t worry about missing out… Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (Matthew 6 – The Message).
This blessed Christmas season may we spend less time worrying and being fearful about tomorrow. May we give more time to God and the people He has blessed us with. May we love with the love God gives us and be more grateful. And, may we worship fully the One Who makes all things possible.
Hilary Langille
As soon as we were home and the tree was wrestled into it’s stand, the decorating began. As my children untangled and tested the tree lights, I took an opportunity to log onto Facebook. My friend Diane had posted her status. She wrote, “Decorating our Christmas tree by myself again…” I laughed as I read her words, I could just picture that!…. I then rejoined my family as we strung the lights and the wooden cranberry strands, around and around the tree. “Why do we put these cranberries on our tree when they look so bad?”, “Because Dad and I bought those for our first tree”… and so it goes. .. stories told, and memories shared, year after year after year. Each ornament a story unto itself…. each with a history that we never seem to tire of hearing or telling… Ornaments bought on every family vacation… ornaments representing every sport our children have played, ornaments given to us from beloved family members. We have our “ugliest” ornament and our “tackiest” ornament. And then there’s the ornament that resembles a cookie…It was hand made by our daughter in a preschool class so many years ago and as it rested on the kitchen counter way back when - wouldn’t you know that dad tried to eat it…!
Later that evening, when the tree was all trimmed, I began thinking about my friend’s Facebook posting… It saddened me now as I thought of her trimming her tree all alone… And then I realized, how blind could I have been?? What had seemed to be just another typical Christmas tradition – and clearly one I had taken for granted – was actually a tremendous gift! A gift of spending time with my beloved family.
Oh but how quickly my feelings of gratitude started to blur as I took my eyes off God and His blessing and placed them sinfully on myself… I began wondering, “Oh my goodness, what if next Christmas I am the mom posting my dismay of having to decorate the Christmas tree all by myself?… what if my two teenagers decide that this is no longer their tradition??” Hadn’t I already noticed some distance growing between us? Hadn’t I noticed how much time they now spend behind closed doors in the their bedrooms and how our conversations are often reduced to “sound bites”??? These thoughts were flooding my mind with fear….
Thankfully our Lord and Savior did not leave me there…. God’s grace “stepped in” and reminded me of His Word that He shared with me only days before, “Don’t worry about missing out… Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (Matthew 6 – The Message).
This blessed Christmas season may we spend less time worrying and being fearful about tomorrow. May we give more time to God and the people He has blessed us with. May we love with the love God gives us and be more grateful. And, may we worship fully the One Who makes all things possible.
Hilary Langille
Monday, December 7, 2009
Straight to Luke on Christmas Morning
We have one tradition that is inviolable. The first thing we do on Christmas morning, still yawning and cleaning sleep from our eyes, is read the Christmas story from Luke. As simple as it sounds, it centers our hearts on the center of the celebration. God became man. He humbled himself to be born in poverty, in the muck and stench of a stable, before He humbled Himself on a cross. Just as He set the tone for His life on that first day, His Story sets the tone for our day.
The Conti's
The Conti's
Advent every morning
"We're enjoying a very long, slow season of anticipation as we wait for the coming of the infant Jesus. Every morning we light our candles, open a devotion book, read God's Word, open a door in our Advent book, sing a carol, and pray. This liturgy gets our day going and our hearts pointed in the right direction."
(from a relative of a Grace Community attendee)
(from a relative of a Grace Community attendee)
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