Christmas Day 7: War Eagle

It wouldn't be Christmas without Bowl Season. I'll be eating, drinking, and sleeping football for the next several days. And eating my black-eyed peas tomorrow. War Eagle!!

Christmas Day 6: First Sunday in Christmas

John 1:9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Christmas Day 5: Christmas Clothes

I was ambitious with my Christmas sewing this year. Peter's church outfit is a Nelona batiste shirt with a hand-embroidered spoked collar, paired with velvet pants. (I'll pair the shirt with other pants after Christmas.) For his play outfit, I smocked Magi.

Christmas Day 4: The Christmas Pageant

The Christmas pageant is a sentimental cliche because that is what our culture has made of Christmas. Popular Christmas stories commonly present an implied theology consisting of "redemption by babyhood," or, even more frequently, "redemption by giving." The simple presence of a wondrous infant, or a single act of kindness by a previously sour and alienated character, are seen as being sufficient to transform the world. And of course there is much emotional truth in such stories, or they would not have the appeal that they do. But they are not the gospel. They are not the Christmas story... They do little to challenge children to wonder why this birth is so long awaited and so joyfully hailed.

Gretchen Wolff Pritchard, Offering the Gospel to Children, p. 81

Christmas Day 3: How to Tell a Co-Sleeper

I asked him to put Jesus in his bed. So he did. Then he put Mary in the bed, followed by Joseph.

Christmas Day 2: Tillich Immersion

"Santa is dead," my 3-year-old niece sadly said.

"No," her mother explained, "he just doesn't exist."

They've never done Santa, lest it interfere with faith in Christ. I once thought likewise. If I tell my child all about Santa, then later say it was all imaginary, will they then think all I told them about Jesus might be imaginary too?

These days, though, I think that the Great Santa Pessimism might just as easily teach Paul Tillich's closed universe: One man couldn't possibly visit every chimney in the world-- least of all know the names of every single boy and girl! He certainly couldn't be at Macy's and Belk's at the same time. And reindeer do not fly. Put your silly thoughts of hooves on the roof behind you, however much you want to believe.

As for me and my household? We're gonna stick with Santa. Learning how to believe is good practice for Christ.

Christmas Day 1: Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!

Mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth.
Risen with healing in his wings, light and life to all he brings,
hail, the Sun of Righteousness! hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!


P.S. And to think these words are sung in the finale of the Rockettes Christmas show!

Now THIS is Birth Control

I'm not talking about contraception. I'm talking about control: control over when my hoped-for next child is to be born.

If I got pregnant tomorrow, I'd be overjoyed. Conception is a miracle, and children are a blessing. Yet I'd also be panicked. Why? Well, if I got pregnant tomorrow, the baby would be due when Peter is 31 months old. It would be two months after we move to a new town. It would be due at a time when Peter might be thinking of potty training or perhaps even night weaning.

I take that back. Peter would never think of night weaning. But with a new baby on the way, I sure as heck would be. Would it be cruel to nightwean so soon after a major life-change like a move? Would we potty train so close to the birth of a baby, since everyone says that would make him revert?

I've just finished making a spreadsheet in which I charted the months to nightwean or potty train depending on various due dates. I can't decide whether it's better to just go ahead and make a bunch of huge life changes at once, getting it over in one blow, or dragging them out over a year.

Woman plans, God laughs. I know that I will laugh at myself in the morning. But I will still probably reference my spreadsheet.

Things I've Learned in the Past 3 Weeks

1) Ear infections turn your child into a sociopath.

2) Steroids make you hungry enough to finish off a plate of cheese grits, eggs, toast, and cereal before your husband can finish buttering his bread. I'm not kidding.

3) It's better to let your child chew on his father's toothbrush in the living room, out to the car, and into Wal-Mart rather than hear one more tantrum.

4) If I put in stainless steel appliances, I wouldn't do much more than break even. That's according to my realtor.

5) Because I'm a stay-at-home mom, repainting the bedroom shouldn't be hard. That's according to my realtor.