Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas this year. No one was sick, stress was bearable, food was great, enjoyed company with friends, and things were focused on Christ. It went so well that I am going to leave the tree and decorations up throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas.

We made our presents to our extended family. We made our own Christmas cards. We showed kindness to one another (most of the time) and earned straw in the manger for Jesus to arrive on Christmas Eve at bed time. http://www.cathye.com/xmas/xmasstraw.htm We had a Christmas Party with friends and sang Christmas carols. The girls played Santa to all of us and bought stocking stuffers. And Santa didn't steal the spotlight, because this is the first year that everyone knew the truth about Santa Clause. Yes, there were tears when they learned the truth, but they now understand that God provided the gifts for us to buy.

And now we are on day 5 of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Ever wonder what the words represents. Taken from http://www.appleseeds.org/12_days-christmas.htm You can also learn more about the history from that site. From a catholic view.

The song goes, "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…" The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn’t refer to an earthly suitor, but it refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person. i.e. the Church.

1st Day: "A partridge in a pear tree" is Christ Jesus upon the Cross. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge because she would feign injury to decoy a predator away from her nestlings. She was even willing to die for them. The tree is the symbol of the fall of the human race through the sin of Adam and Eve. It is also the symbol of its redemption by Jesus Christ on the tree of the Cross.

2nd Day: "The "two turtle doves" refers to the Old and New Testaments.

3rd Day: "The "three French hens" stand for faith, hope and love—the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (1 Corinthians 13).

4th Day: The "four calling birds" refers to the four evangelists who wrote the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—which sing the song of salvation through Jesus Christ.

5th Day: The "five golden rings" represents the first five books of the Bible, also called the Jewish Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

6th Day: The "six geese a-laying" is the six days of creation.

7th Day: The "seven swans a-swimming" refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.

8th Day: The "eight maids a milking " reminded children of the eight beatitudes listed in the Sermon on the Mount.

9th Day: The "nine ladies dancing" were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

10th Day: The "ten lords a-leaping" represents the Ten Commandments

11th Day: The "eleven pipers piping" refers to the eleven faithful apostles.

12th Day: The ‘twelve drummers drumming" were the twelve points of belief expressed in the Apostles’ Creed: belief in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, made man, crucified, died and arose on the third day, that he sits at the right hand of the father and will come again, the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.

Time to Re-evaluate

Did you ever notice how things don't go as planned? October and November I tend to re-evaluate my school schedule.

This school year I planned to do a study on the different states. Time was not allowing us to get to them like I wanted to. The kids wanted to do Flat Stanly, but if we had extra time they would rather do an easy lapbook. So we scrapped the States Notebook for now.

I also started my youngest at grade level for English in Rod and Staff. We fought and struggled daily. She was capable of doing the work, but it was frustrating for both of us. So the Principle looked the material over and made one of those Principle decisions and brought her down a grade level in English. She is finding it very easy at the moment and we are doing two lessons a day.

Now this year we did do something right. We did not sign up for any coop classes or commitments for the kids. I understand that sometimes there are things that you just can't pass up. I did sign myself up for a sewing class to learn a valuable skill. And this is 100% "me time." A time to refresh and play. Yes, Mom' s need to play as well. As Mom's we forget to play and find time to take a break from the kids and house. Our families benefit when we find these rare moments.

Planning This Years Christmas

This year Christmas will be different. It won't be the smorgasbord that we are use to from previous years, or the prime rib or duck, or the pressures to battle the shoppers and the frustration to not find the perfect gift for all of our family members that we will get to see during the holidays. To be truthful, it has been awhile since I have enjoyed the Christmas Season.

(Picture on the right is from a couple of years back, below that is our Christmas Platters)


I am looking forward to this Christmas Season. We are doing some things different that I am excited about. We are doing a home made or second hand Christmas. I have already started making some of the presents. We told the kids that they are only receiving 3 brand new presents and the rest will be home made or second hand. At first they were sad, but now they are getting into the spirit of giving through love of creative work done through their hands.

We are cutting down on our platters, which is so nice. They take a lot of time, energy and stress.

If we are hosting the family dinner, we are planning on having Turkey instead of spending extra money on prime rib or duck. We are still going to smoke it and it is so yummy.

It is funny how changing Christmas to a smaller budget would bring the true meaning of Christmas out. I am excited to put Christ first into our Christmas, instead of the busy stress pushing Him back behind the priorities that we think are so important at the time.

Last year was the first year that we tried an Advent Wreath. We found ourselves too busy to finish the readings on the second half of the month. I am looking forward to celebrating all 4 weeks of it. I am also thinking of other ways to bring Christ as the center of our Christmas season.

Gray Whale Sighting at Depot Bay

This is not my photo, but these are examples of what we saw yesterday. This is the first time that we ever spotted whales. We have seen the blow holes far out at sea, but nothing this close or fantastic.

Pat had to drive to take and do reports for a client. We went with him for the adventure and change of pace. It was a long drive that last the whole day. On our driving loop, we stopped at a park for a picnic lunch and picked some blackberries. We stopped at the Christmas Shop in Lincoln City and then our plan was to go to the beach for a half an hour and also hit the produce stand in Corvallis. But plans changed.....

As we were driving through Depot Bay going over the bridge I spotted a tail!!!!! It was awesome. I made Pat turn around and park so that everyone could see the grand event. Pat replied, "Well this means we won't have time for the beach." Who cares about the beach, we are seeing a whale! We parked on the other side of the town, got out, ran across the street into the restaurant parking lot and watched.


(Again these pictures are not our pictures, but what we saw)

From the restaurant parking lot we saw one or two whales that were blowing up water, then you would see their body role out of the water and then go under again. We seen about 5 spouts and 3 body roles. We all thought it was grand. Later I asked my youngest if she thought seeing the whale was better then going to the beach, she replied, "Yes!!!"

This was definitely the highlight of our day yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if the girls want to do another study on whales again.



I am still learning about how to add things to a blog. I really wanted to add a YouTube video to this entry, but was not successful. I added the link instead. We were not on a boat, but this is something similar to what we seen off of the shore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbNk_T0xhvo

We are......

We are a homeschool family who lives in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. It is beautiful with trees and fertile soil. It rains a lot, but in the summer it gets hot enough that we run our air conditioners or escape to the coast. Because of the great soil, one of my favorite things to do is grow a garden.

Our family is the four of us. We have two beautiful daughters named Liz and Vicky. My husband Pat and I have been married for 18 years and we all attend church regularly. We have two dogs, three cats, four hens and fish both indoors and out.

We like to take trips and go camping in our RV. When we can take advantage of turning a trip into a field trip, we are there learning. We have been to Crater Lake, Lassen State Park, and Mount Saint Helens. The kids really understand volcano's. We like to visit the Oregon Aquarium when we can. My favorit time to go is on Homeschool Days, because they have all of the touchy feely things out and the microscopes. We have visited Champoeg State Park and learned some great Oregon History and about heirloom plants and seeds. Other great trips were to The Redwoods, Fort Stevens, Fort Vancouver, Reno, and LA to Disneyland and Labra Tarpits.

We are also part of a great homeschool support group. We have regular play dates, potlucks and camp trips. The group includes support for the whole family. We love the people that are a part of it.