It took me a little while to get into Christmas this year.  I was just overwhelmed with all the busy tasks of the Christmas season.  But I am happy to say I am now excited and have turned my bah-humbug spirit into a happy Christmas spirit.

One of the funnest things in our home about the month of December is our advent stockings.  My darling little sister made 25 little stockings for my children.  She labeled each stocking with a number and filled it with a treat.  Treats like paper to write letters to Santa, holiday cupcake supplies, poems and crafts.  The kids wake up every morning SO EXCITED to open their stocking.

Not only is this advent calender fun for the children, it is also fun for Mom.  It gives me a fun activity to do with my kids every day, it gives me something to threaten taking away when they are naughty and  it helps me remember the simple joys of Christmas.

Advent calenders come in many shapes and forms.  We have done the simple number board with chocolates behind each day.  I have seen boxes with gifts, wooden boxes with drawers and even wall hangings.  Each advent activity is good for tweens.  It brings so much happiness and joy to the holiday season.

I am so thrilled to be able to teach my tween the joy of Christmas.  Christmas is truly a magical time of year.  It is a time for families and a time to focus on the Savior, Jesus Christ!!

I wish you and your tween’s all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!

Like most of you, this week will be our last at school until Christmas break. We’ll have parties and movie days and on Thursday the boys will be part of the school age Christmas Concert. Each year the music teacher puts on a pre-k concert and a school age concert in the church. The BIG difference this year is that a student will be narrating the school age edition and a couple of weeks ago I found out that Sam volunteered for the role!

From what I have gathered the teacher asked who would rather talk than sing and Sam’s hand went up. I am not sure he knew exactly what he was getting into, but there is no backing out at this point. He has two full pages of narration to deliver…microphone and all. It is a good thing I am a teacher there and can steal a front row seat for support……I think he is going to need it.

Each time we talk about the concert Sam seems a little more nervous. First it was the mic that caused him concern, then he thought he had to memorize the words….each day some new part of this seems to add to his unease. I can only hope that the dress rehearsal two days before will help ease some anxiety. That and being able to stare right at me two feet away from him the day of the big show may be all  he needs.

I know he will do well and he will deliver his lines. I just want him to be able to enjoy the experience too. We’ll see…..

Has your child ever performed and experienced stage fright or did they sail right through it?

A few years ago we decided that our kids were getting older and we needed some Christmas traditions of our own.  Some of our traditions we have taken from our childhood and some we have started fresh and new.

One of my favorite traditions is our Christmas pictures.  I had a vision of this big fabulous Christmas  binder filled with drawings, scribbles and art. We started the binder in 2007. Our tween, Lincoln was four years old. We labeled the pictures with the child and the year. There were pictures of Christmas trees and pictures of lots of scribble scrabble. In 2008, my husband drew a picture of our new home we bought here in Jacksonville. That picture is sentimental. That year I drew a picture of an American flag, a picture of baby Jesus, my black and white Christmas tree and each member of our family.

We had so much fun looking through our Christmas binder this year. We smiled and laughed looking at each picture that was sweetly colored. These pictures represent Christmas; they represent tradition and most importantly, they represent our family. Hopefully our children will look back fondly on this Christmas binder and have happy memories. Not so much memories of what was under the Christmas tree or the cookies we baked, but memories of being together as a family and being HAPPY!

We have lots of old and new Christmas traditions and I hope and pray these traditions will help my tween feel the true spirit of the Christmas season and the never ending love of family.

Merry Christmas…..

What are some traditions you share with your family?

We celebrated Christmas early this year with my family in Florida.  We have found that the holidays are the holidays when we are all together, regardless of the actual date.  We will celebrate our own family Christmas here in North Carolina on the 25th.

For Christmas, Lincoln’s Grandaddy gifted him with his very first set of golf clubs.  To say Lincoln was excited was a HUGE understatement.  The gift was so thoughtful and kind.  Lincoln has spent hours upon hours swinging his clubs outside, getting a good feel for them and just smiling!!  I guess you could say it was a pretty special moment.  I’m sure someday Lincoln will learn to love golf as much as his Dad.  He will continue to practice, improve and will spend many, many hours out on the golf course with friends and family.

Those clubs will serve Lincoln until he grows out of them.  Then they will be passed down to his little cousin who will then grow out of them and pass them down again.  I am so grateful for the love of family Lincoln enjoys and is blessed with in his life.  I am grateful for his Grandaddy who takes so much time to make happy memories with him.

There truly is something so special about the love of family.  When all else fails, we will ALWAYS be supported and surrounded by family who loves us!!

To others, they may just look like a little set of golf clubs, but to me and my tween, they represent so much more…the love of FAMILY!!!

A few years ago my mom told me about a new item at Hallmark. It was called Elf on The Shelf . She explained that when she was little her mom had elves out watching her around Christmas and she thought the boys might like it (CuddleBugs blogger Brooke gives a full recap here).  We decided to give it a try. After all, any tool I could use as a mom to keep my kids in line around the holidays was welcome. Telling the boys their elf was getting Santa reports on their behavior would come in handy.

Frank

Even though the boys are now Tweens, Frank (as they named him) still arrived at our house on December 1st like he has in years past and the boys STILL rush out of their rooms each morning to see where he is. It really is amazing…they start talking about him around Thanksgiving…anticipating his arrival. That morning of the first, the only thing on their minds is finding him. They leave him treats and notes the night before. Frank kindly obliges with replies and half eaten treats

I am not sure when the magic will end. Eventually I know Jake and Sam will stop believing and Frank will become just another holiday decoration. For now, I am enjoying the fun of putting him somewhere new every night and the help he provides (the boys jump out of bed in the morning…no more whining:)). In a couple of weeks Frank will make the trip home with us to Ohio. He usually rides up on the dash…waiting there for the boys at 6AM when we pile in the car……….I sure hope there are more Elves around when the boys have their own kids….I’d like to see that

Do you have any special holiday traditions?