What Santa is bringing you
I was just talking to Oliver (3) about what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas. He said cars...of course.
Then I said, " What do you think he will bring me? "
He said " Santa, not bring you presents, just me!"
" Well now I think Santa will just bring you coal or sticks and rocks for Christmas" I said to tease him back.
"No, he bring you coal!" he told me.
So then I asked him what he thought Santa would bring each member of our family and each time he would say in his cutest 3 year old voice, " Sticks and Rocks!" until I was laughing aloud.
Then I said, " What do you think he will bring me? "
He said " Santa, not bring you presents, just me!"
" Well now I think Santa will just bring you coal or sticks and rocks for Christmas" I said to tease him back.
"No, he bring you coal!" he told me.
So then I asked him what he thought Santa would bring each member of our family and each time he would say in his cutest 3 year old voice, " Sticks and Rocks!" until I was laughing aloud.
Two stories of Christmas
I was reading last Sundays paper and I read these two articles, I cut them out and had Josef read them too and give me a narration on them. They are about the two meanings of Christmas we have in the US. I had him retell them to me in his own words. You can view the actual articles here:
Man dies from trampling at Wal-mart sale-
Secret Santas article
" A guy died at Walmart in New York. His name was Damour . He died because of the opening of Walmart during a big sale. When he barely opened the doors the Moms started pushing on the door, he used it as a shield but the glass shattered. And then he was lying on the ground being trampled. The people almost knocked down the soda machines, and Pop Pop an older Walmart worker, ran over to save the soda machines from falling. He was looking for Damour-but could not see him. After all the people cleared out he saw him laying on the ground. He was dead the police marked it as a crime scene and the Paramedics took the body away. Then the Walmart workers built an altar, with candles and a picture where his body had lain. Then the next morning the people ran in again and ignored the altar. One witness said "He was killed over a $100 TV deal"
" In the next story, there is a girl with a family, who has no gas for heat, they were poor. Her sister is dieing of cancer in the hospital. She was shopping at Good-will for decorations for her sister hospital room. As she is leaving the store a person hands her a $100 bill stamped Secret Santa and runs off. She was overjoyed."
"The first story is crazy, those people really wanted those deals-so bad that they didn't even care about others they might hurt. Those people were so concerned with getting a good deal on gifts to give, they missed out on giving the gift of kindness."
"The second story was nice, cause that lady got a $100 by a strange person she didn't even know so she could turn her gas back on. This story was what Christmas means."
~Josef Mitchell age 11
I was truly outraged by the story of the crazy NY Walmart shoppers, are we truly so obsessed with 'things' as a country that common kindness is out the window if the price tag is right. What a huge tragedy, I am so sorry for that mans family.
On the other hand, the story of the Secret Santa's shows we have truly kind people out there spreading the true meaning of Christmas. I hope that this season we will all step back from our purchasing and try to reach out to others in the true meaning of Christmas.
Man dies from trampling at Wal-mart sale-
Secret Santas article
" A guy died at Walmart in New York. His name was Damour . He died because of the opening of Walmart during a big sale. When he barely opened the doors the Moms started pushing on the door, he used it as a shield but the glass shattered. And then he was lying on the ground being trampled. The people almost knocked down the soda machines, and Pop Pop an older Walmart worker, ran over to save the soda machines from falling. He was looking for Damour-but could not see him. After all the people cleared out he saw him laying on the ground. He was dead the police marked it as a crime scene and the Paramedics took the body away. Then the Walmart workers built an altar, with candles and a picture where his body had lain. Then the next morning the people ran in again and ignored the altar. One witness said "He was killed over a $100 TV deal"
" In the next story, there is a girl with a family, who has no gas for heat, they were poor. Her sister is dieing of cancer in the hospital. She was shopping at Good-will for decorations for her sister hospital room. As she is leaving the store a person hands her a $100 bill stamped Secret Santa and runs off. She was overjoyed."
"The first story is crazy, those people really wanted those deals-so bad that they didn't even care about others they might hurt. Those people were so concerned with getting a good deal on gifts to give, they missed out on giving the gift of kindness."
"The second story was nice, cause that lady got a $100 by a strange person she didn't even know so she could turn her gas back on. This story was what Christmas means."
~Josef Mitchell age 11
I was truly outraged by the story of the crazy NY Walmart shoppers, are we truly so obsessed with 'things' as a country that common kindness is out the window if the price tag is right. What a huge tragedy, I am so sorry for that mans family.
On the other hand, the story of the Secret Santa's shows we have truly kind people out there spreading the true meaning of Christmas. I hope that this season we will all step back from our purchasing and try to reach out to others in the true meaning of Christmas.
Cuddling Kitty
Oliver found Chubs napping on my bed peacefully. He proceeded to make Chubs more comforable during his nap, by surronding him in blankets and pillows. Chubs was so tired he didn't even care.
Size Doesn't Matter
So another homeschool mom asked all of us other blogging homeschool moms to post some of our Christmas decorations. Here are a few of mine.
We decided to spend Christmas in Meridian, at Levi's parents house, so we are closer and can see everyone, without driving in on Christmas Day. We are staying over and waking up there on Christmas morning. They have a big tree, so I didn't see the sense in getting our own,real tree, like we do every year. If we won't even be using it, what is the sense? I am if nothing else, practical. My MIL informed me that not having some sort of Christmas tree was simply Un-American. So here is our tree, its not much of one, but it is a Christmas tree. The boys just put some of our favorite ornaments on. We thing it is very cute, and it looks very festive on our hall table. So you see - size does not matter with Christmas trees.
I bought this Christmas card hanger about 7 years ago...I have not been able to find another like it since. It is just a cord with red and green plastic clips. The clips are awesome for holding the cards. I save the prettiest cards each year to display later. As we receive new ones I take some down, but it is nice to have the old ones up to fill up the cord, it makes a nice display.
I love these snowflake ornaments we made 3 years ago. We made tons of them. We gave them as gifts that year to neighbors, friends, and family. We still had about 20 left over, so I love to use them around the house to decorate for Christmas and hang on the tree.
This is my Christmas centerpiece. I really like it. I wanted to take a picture of it now, because I am not sure how many more years it will last. The kids keep picking the Little fake berries off of it and exposing the white foam underneath. I would love it if they could create a kid friendly floral arrangement, that was virtually indestructible...I'd buy it!!
This is our Nativity Set, it was generously given to me by an old neighbor who didn't want it anymore. It was hand made by her SIL. I reluctantly took it. It is beautiful and a large sized Nativity, so it is a nice display for the true meaning of Christmas. We love it and hope to one day find a stable big enough for it.
These are just a few of the special things we decorate with for the holidays. I love to take the boxes of Christmas stuff out of storage, dust of the tops and revisit all the little treasures each year.
We decided to spend Christmas in Meridian, at Levi's parents house, so we are closer and can see everyone, without driving in on Christmas Day. We are staying over and waking up there on Christmas morning. They have a big tree, so I didn't see the sense in getting our own,real tree, like we do every year. If we won't even be using it, what is the sense? I am if nothing else, practical. My MIL informed me that not having some sort of Christmas tree was simply Un-American. So here is our tree, its not much of one, but it is a Christmas tree. The boys just put some of our favorite ornaments on. We thing it is very cute, and it looks very festive on our hall table. So you see - size does not matter with Christmas trees.
I bought this Christmas card hanger about 7 years ago...I have not been able to find another like it since. It is just a cord with red and green plastic clips. The clips are awesome for holding the cards. I save the prettiest cards each year to display later. As we receive new ones I take some down, but it is nice to have the old ones up to fill up the cord, it makes a nice display.
I love these snowflake ornaments we made 3 years ago. We made tons of them. We gave them as gifts that year to neighbors, friends, and family. We still had about 20 left over, so I love to use them around the house to decorate for Christmas and hang on the tree.
This is my Christmas centerpiece. I really like it. I wanted to take a picture of it now, because I am not sure how many more years it will last. The kids keep picking the Little fake berries off of it and exposing the white foam underneath. I would love it if they could create a kid friendly floral arrangement, that was virtually indestructible...I'd buy it!!
This is our Nativity Set, it was generously given to me by an old neighbor who didn't want it anymore. It was hand made by her SIL. I reluctantly took it. It is beautiful and a large sized Nativity, so it is a nice display for the true meaning of Christmas. We love it and hope to one day find a stable big enough for it.
These are just a few of the special things we decorate with for the holidays. I love to take the boxes of Christmas stuff out of storage, dust of the tops and revisit all the little treasures each year.
