It’s been quiet around here- in this space, not in our home or in my heart.
One moment I find tears continuing to slide down my cheeks. The pain is still so heavy. The next I am wrapped up in rushing to get the Christmas cards in the mail so that at least most of the people on our list will find them in their mailbox before Christmas.
I work to finish handmade presents, knowing wrapping will get done in the midnight hours on Christmas Eve. And I weep with a friend who is hurting.
I search to find time to treasure with each of my little ones, yet I find myself feeling alone amidst the parties and the programs and the ballet recitals.
I cry big happy tears when we find an incredible anonymous pile of presents on our doorstep.
So simple. But an incredible reminder of The Truth… that God truly is with us! (Thank you, dear friends, who blessed us so greatly! Your gift made a deep impact on each of our hearts!!)
Through the darkness and the pain.
Through the busy and the lonely.
And through the joys and the smiles.
Those preciously wrapped presents remind me why we are taking the time to help our children find “Truth in the Tinsel”… so they can hear and get enthralled with the incredible story that God came as a baby to save us all.
We’ve ben covered in glue and glitter and ribbon and lace, and we’ve needed to do a few things a bit differently. I keep dropping the tree hooks, forgetting to pick up craft-sticks and clothes pins, but we’ve made it work, and each ornament has been a precious reminder that God is with us! The kids can hardly wait to see what they will get to make tomorrow! :)
Here are the first twelve days of ornaments… :)
Light… Before Jesus was born, the world was full of sin and darkness (so much like today), so God sent His Son to be a light in the darkness! (We used clear contact paper, so that our littlest one could participate as well!)
Kingdom… Many years before Jesus was born, God promised to send a King that would rule forever – Jesus!
Zechariah… And his “bubble” mouth (complete with facial hair and all- hehe) to show how he was unable to speak when he didn’t believe that he and his wife, Elizabeth, could have a baby in their old age.
Angel… Gabriel… The angel that appeared to both Zechariah and Mary. (We didn’t have enough pipe cleaners for wings, so we used some garland or ribbon and I love the way they turned out!)
Mary… The mother of Jesus. (With a popsicle stick body instead of a clothespin.)
Elizabeth… whose baby jumped for joy inside of her when Mary came to visit.
Song… Mary’s song of praise. (Gluing old music paper on the back made it look pretty from both sides.)
Sun… When baby John was born, Zechariah describes Jesus as the rising sun who would shine on those living in darkness. (We just used shiny wrapping paper, as we didn’t have any foam pieces.)
Joseph… The earthly father of Jesus. (With his popsicle stick body.)
Dream… The pillow representing when the angel came to Joseph in a dream. (We “sewed” on ribbon since I still hadn’t bought any pipe cleaners.)
Jesus’ Name… They were to give Him the name Jesus, which means “God saves!” (We didn’t have any craft sticks, so we made candy cane “J’s” to stand for “Jesus” out of felt and any fun decorations we could find.)
Census… Right before it was time for baby Jesus to be born, Mary and Joseph needed to travel to their hometown to be counted. It was crowded (just like our jars which we filled with fun Christmas-y things instead of rice). Can you find “Mary” and “Joseph”?
Didn’t they turn out so cute!? And just think, all six of our children are making an ornament every day leading up until Christmas (for even little Ariya LOVES to be in on the action!). Our house is FULL of the story of Christ displayed!!
I’ll share the next twelve soon.
How have you seen God’s Truth in your life?