A Pause in Advent - Joy

joy / joi/ • n. a feeling of great pleasure and happiness: tears of joy the joy of being alive. ∎  a thing that causes joy: the joys of Manhattan. • v. [intr.] poetic/lit. rejoice: I felt shame that I had ever joyed in his discomfiture or pain.  2009 has brought me lots of joy, I have shed the above tears and I have a family that brings me joy every day.

 In the bible joy is more than an emotion it combines a sence of happiness with a state of blessedness.

 

For me this advent has been a time of biblical joy.  I have found the time to find happiness in the everyday, in the small things and rather than just in the build up to the 25th December.

 

In fact MadDad and I commented that we have enjoyed advent for its own this year, we have taken the time to sit and rejoyed in our lifes and teach our children imporatant aspects of the advent story and they both see christmas day as the day we celebrate Jesus' birth.  

 

Yes for them presents also play a role in their joy, but the giving in so much as the receiving.  They have learned the joy in giving their freinds cookies instead of cards, giving small personalised Christmas Stockings to their best friends.

 

By giving each day a task we have lived in the present day and took time to enjoy each one rather than just spending the time waiting for the 25th to arrive.

 

This is the best lesson that I have learnt this advent to enjoy each day for its own merits, to live for the now and what you have rather than what you might be getting.

 

For this and my family I truly rejoice.

 

Thank you Floss for allowing me this platform and this excuse to sit down and contemplate the meaning of advent and of this very special time of year.  

 

Merry Christmas One and All 

A Pause in Advent

Well my pause for Advent this week has to be on the whole Nativity play in primary schools.

MaxiMad is in Reception and his play Woops a Daisy Angel tool place on Wednesday and you can read all about it here.
MiniMad is in Preschool (nursery), he is in the afternoon group, which are the youngest children in the school.  We went to his production on Friday afternoon and it was more than a joy to behold.  Unlike Maxi, he had been practicing his songs aloud for about 2 weeks and they were along a pretty traditional line, away in a manger, jingle bells etc.

The most wonderful thing was that all the children were pretty well behaved and it was so fun watching them wave to their family in the crowds and on more than one occasion communicate with them and ask if they were enjoying it.

I am ever so grateful that the boys go to a school, which hasn't killed off the traditional nativity for a non-denominational holiday concert and that the nativity forms the central part of the story.

Both boys are enjoying learning about Baby Jesus, the shepherds and the wise men and even the Christmas Star.

I dont quite know why, but the nativity has always held a special place in my heart, possibly due to the fact that every year in my primary school our concerts were held in the church for our parents to visit and it was one of the main things that when I was terribly unwell I clung too.  In fact MadDad reminded me that I was shouting at the doctors that I would come back and haunt them if I died and didn't get to see MiniMads first nativity.

I am finding it such a joy to sit and talk about all of this with the boys at Dinner time each day, it has opened such a line of questioning, it is with such innocence and humor that they thing about things.

Some of the comments we have had this week:

Jesus only wears pants and and swish cloth in his manger - Mini

Isn't Jesus lucky he had two dads, Joseph and God - Maxi

One of the wise men was called Frank Sence - Mini

How did the camels make a clip clop sound if they were stood on sand? - Maxi

Julias Cesar lived in Rome - Mini
Did Mary and Joseph have to go through Eygpt?

How great that they are thinking about it all and have not once asked about presents or advent chocolates.  

They have been keeping me busy baking, decorating and crafting though. 

Decorating on a Budget

I'm just a boy who helps around

The workshop and I can be found

Sawing for Joseph or shaping wood

Helping a master who's kind and good

And now I'm here to wave goodbye

To watch them go and know that I

Am trusted to finish the table and stools

And take proper care of the carpenters tools

I have had a lot of of wonderful compliments on the Christmas Decorations here at TheMadHouse, so here are some tips for decorating on a budget.

MadDad and I have been lucky enough to build up our collection since we were married nearly 14 years ago.  We decided pretty immediately that we wanted a traditional look and would go down the mainly red, green and gold colour scheme and have stuck to it.  That is the key for me.  We have a small tree in the dinning room which the children call their tree and we put all their decorations on or around it.  They like it better this was.  The tree was our first ever tree from Agros 12 years ago in the sale!

Great places for shopping for decorations:

Ikea

Great value, Scandinavian style and a little bit different.  This year I have bought a few garlands to drape over the twig lights, they are wired and only 99p each.  They look so much better in real life than the photographs.

 

Straw decorations  - I strung some that we purchased a couple of years ago on cotton and hung from the curtain rail.

Ikea also do great candle-bridges which are super for adding atmosphere to a room.

John Lewis

We have bought quite a lot of items from John Lewis, they tend to reduce items before Christmas. 

These santa dolls are reduced to £2.85 

Poundland 

 

You have to look, but they often have great basics such a baubles for a pound.  I fill up vases with them, to make our standard decorations look even better.  They also have gold and silver spray that you can use to decorate pine cones etc with.

Friends and Family

Often parents and grandparents have lots and lots of decorations, many more than they use, why not ask if you can look through the boxes that they havnt used this year.

This Father Christmas came from my mum, she hadn't used it for years as it was part of a double set and it is older than me!!

Home Made

The older I get, the more sentimental I get nad I love to see the children make their own decorations, but homemade decorations do not always have to look childish.

I made our advent stockings and our personalized stocking too.

Charity Shops

I always keep an eye out on the charity shops on the lead up to Christmas as they often get some super retro decorations in.

Many, many places know down the cost of their decorations after Christmas, that is how we got our tree (Homebase for £10 in the sale 5 years ago).  So it pays to scope out and look for inspiration in these places sometimes and add them on your January hit list.  Marks and Spencer have some lovely decorations in this year, so if cash allows I will be taking a look in January.

So my basic tips are:

Still to a simple colour scheme year on year (do not follow trends)
Buy in the Sales
Ask family and freinds if they have any spare decorations they do not want
Try the supermarket for basics
Never throw any of it away
Always store it correctly in the loft or garage
Make your own - popcorn on bakers string looks fantastic
Look for pieces that will last

Lastly do not try and do it all at once or it will look overly forced.  Our decorations grow with us each year, we have ones we have purchased on our holidays to Boston, South Africa, Paris and Amsterdam.  My mum even brought us Disney ones back from her trip to the US last year.  Putting the tree up is as much fun for me reminicing about where, who and what ornemants we bought, as it is talking to the boys about them.  The tree holds a lot of precious memories, like the boys first baubles

 

Pine cone door decoration

Mary I've packed the oil

And I've packed the grain,

The water is ready

Now listen again -

Here are the blankets and covers

And your mattress there,

So please, my sweet friend,

Keep warm and take care

Today I have a very easy Pine Cone decoration, which I totally pinched from Sweet Paul.

It is very easy for an older child to do on their own, MaxiMad and I did this together.  We also made one for my mum with red ribbon and golden sprayed cones, but forgot to take any photo's of it before we gave it to her yesterday.

I couldn't find my glue gun (my mother had it), so used Bostik All Purpose Glue to stick the end of the lengths of ribbon to pine cones. 

I am starting to really enter in to the advent spirit and we are all enjoying our time together with a task each day.  Tonight we are off to "Carols on the Green" in the pouring rain, but I have waterproofs out for the boys so at least they will remain dry.

Oh and the marble run has gone back to Father Christmas (grandma's house), where MaxiMad will get it on Boxing day as a thank you for checking it worked OK for Father Christmas!

Egg Box Jingle Bells and Advent Poem

"Mary, I too saw an angel,

And now we can marry with joy,

I'll care for you both, just as he said,

And together we'll bring up God's boy".

The boys task for last night was anther craft, which I have seen out on the blog circuit, but can not for the life of me remember where, so I am sorry for not linking to it.  This is another really easy and inexpensive craft.

Materials

Egg Box

paint

Glitter

String or ribbon

Little bells (I bought a wreath full of the from Poundland)

I cut up the egg cartons and the boys the little sections and then covered them in glitter.

We then set them aside to dry, whilst I pulled the wreath apart.

We then threaded the ribbon through the bell and made a hole in the top of the egg box cutout and threaded the ribbon ends through and tie at the top.

I then strung a number of them together to make a jingling sound!!

So another super easy, super simple and all inclusive advent craft. enjoy.

Day 3 and Pipe Cleaner Crystal Decorations

"Joseph, an angel has told me

That though it is you I shall marry.

I have been chosen to bear the Messiah

And it will be God's child I carry"

Now this is a blast from my past, something that I remember doing at my Playgroup before I started school, but you can not get Borax now, so need to use Borax substitute (I got mine from the chemist).

Materials

Pipe cleaners

Borax alternative

Water

Blue food colouring

All you need to do is shape some decorations out of the pipe cleaners.  We did snowflakes, hearts, trees and spirals (wrapped round pencils).

Then mix your borax solution with boiling water and add blue food colouring.  I used about 6 tablespoons to approximately one pint, but I just poured it in (I am not an exact type of person).

Once all the borax substitute is dissolved submerge your pipe cleaners and leave overnight.  The next morning remove and allow to dry and then you will have sparking, crystallised decorations.

Both my boys were amazed at the transformation and now MaxiMad wants to know ll the science bit!!

Now you could always do this salt I suppose, but it would take quite a while I would imagine.

MiniMad and MaxiMad have taken their decorations to school for the Christmas Tree decorating competition.  It is only 20p to enter and they really enjoyed doing this, plus for once no glitter to tidy away!

Don't they look great, MaxiMad was so excited that the first thing he did was show his daddy this morning!!!

Second day of Advent and Letters to Father Christmas

An angel came to Nazareth

A long time ago

With a message from God in Heaven above

To Mary on earth below

"God sent me here to tell you"

Said the glorious one

"That you will bear a boy child

And that child will be his son"

The first task on the advent calender was to write a letter to Father Christmas.  Both boys took this very seriously, but only want the same things.  A box of Maltesers and a marble run!!

MaxiMad decided to draw what he wanted

I wrote MiniMads letter for him - he basically dictated it to me and then he put lots of stickers on it.

Then we wrote out the envelopes.  Royal Mail will respond to as many letter as possible.

Last year I also did the Portable North Pole personalised video message for both the boys and will be doing it again this year.  Tara from Sticky Fingers posted about it yesterday and reminded me.  MaxiMad was open mouthed at it last year, I only hope that he and MiniMad enjoy it as much this year.

Spiritual Sunday

Advent for a Reluctant Worshiper

Yep that is me, I dont really fit in to a box when it comes to religion, I was raised C of E, in a church school.  I went to Sunday school, my younger brother was a choir boy, who became a Mormon.  I married an Atheist (in a church) and when my dad died, I became much more agnostic.

When MaxiMad was born, I went back to church, we went to a church toddlers group and also a children in church group.  Then I fell pregnant with MiniMad and visiting a church with two babies, well that wasn't going to happen.

As the boys have got older, I just havent found the right church for us, one that encourages children, has an active creche/Sunday school and also I just dont feel comfortable at the moment in a church environment.

So I class myself as spiritual, but also as a reluctant worshipper!!

So what is Advent for me and the children, well it is a time to talk through what Christmas means, what is stands for and to build traditions.  It is a time of hope, anticipation and preparation.  It gives me the opportunity of introducing a time of family devotion and discussion at meal times.

We have made our advent wreath, on which we will light a candle each Sunday, in addition to this we also have a candle to light each evening. 

Instead of a traditional chocolate calender we have a calender that I won in Sunday school as a child, which discusses the story of the nativity each day.  This gives me the opportunity to teach the children the significance of the time and remind myself too.

MadDad also agrees that it is important that the boys learn about what Christmas means rather than just the commercial aspect of it.  We feel that it is not too soon to teach compassion or understanding.

So advent for me is exciting, in fact more so that Christmas Day itself.  It is a real family time.  A time to reinforce our family values.

To read more of what advent means to other bloggers then visit Floss' "A Pause in Advent" over at Troc, Broc and Recup.