Such Good Intentions

Okay, Christmas, here I come down a road paved with good intentions. Last Saturday, I posted about the Advent Wreath I was putting together to begin lighting on Sunday (past). Well, the candles are ready. I found some beautiful beeswax candles in a local shop in a deep eggplant purple color. I also found the white Christ candle to go in my Waterford Millenium candle globe.

I have NOT found taper candle holders. We have NOT lit a single candle all week. We have NOT gotten a tree yet, or put a single green thing in the house during "Green the House Week."

We HAVE read a Christmas book each evening, including our Advent Storybook, by Antonie Schneider, beautifully illustrated by Maja Dusikova. Little Benjamin Bear is anxious for Christmas to come, so to help him go to sleep each night, his mother tells him part of the story of a little bear's journey to Bethlehem, following the bright star in the sky. There are 24 stories, one for each day in December leading up to Christmas. We love this book!

I HAVE spent 2 1/2 hours in my doctor's office to figure out how to treat my mind-blowing migraines AND I got a flu shot that day, so I really started feeling the effects of that last night (hence this late post!).

We HAVE decorated gingerbread cookies with some friends and we HAVE set up our fancy nativity set and the kid-friendly nativity set. The picture is from last year, when KID 1 was almost four. He would typically crowd all of the people and animals around the baby Jesus to "see." This year he's decided that they all need to wait in an orderly line for their turn to view the Little Prince! (I have no picture because KID 2 comes behind him and rearranges all the pieces...causing some strife in Bethlehem, I can assure you.)

We even polished our silver yesterday (not a huge task, since we only have 4 silver pieces: a tray, a pitcher, and two candlesticks...I just need two more!).

This year, I am loving all the traditions we're incorporating for our family. I'm enjoying everything we do. I am not stressing about the stuff we don't do. We will eventually get a tree and finish decorating with evergreen branches. We'll get the lights up on the house at some point before Christmas. It's all going to happen, but probably not on the schedule I've set for myself. That's just the way things go with two preschoolers in the house!

Enjoy all of your Christmas preparations, but don't forget to prepare your expectations!