Christmas Mass and the Prodigal Son's Older Brother

You can find my monthly column over at CatholicMom today.  It's called "Christmas Mass and the Prodigal Son's Older Brother."  Head on over to check it out!  

The Prodigal Son, sketch by Rembrandt

December Happiness Project Resolutions

December 5th.

I am thinking about so many things today...I'm feeling so scatterbrained.  

At this time last year, I had just seen this:

  
I took that test one month to the day after we lost Therese.  What a roller coaster ride of emotions!  Rather than revisit all of that, you can read what I wrote about the roller coaster last year.

Now, we have our perfectly healthy and happy Harold Fulton!  He is such a blessing to our family.

I was making dinner last night and asked Jane to grab a toy for Harry to hold.  What did she grab?  A Barbie with a missing leg.  

I thought I'd quickly dive in to our December resolutions.

December Happiness Project Resolutions

1. Say "no" so that you can say "yes"
2. Celebrate Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas

We're taking a month off from all the rest of the resolutions so that we can really do our first resolution this month:  say "no" so that you can say "yes."  There's a popular post going around by Lora Lynn Fanning called, "To The Mamas of Littles During the Holidays."    It's about how us mamas with little ones need to choose to do less this season.  Here's my favorite part:

If baking cookies and watching your kids sling sprinkles all over the kitchen is going to make you yell today? Then no. Don’t do it. Always choose the relationship with your kids over the Advent activity that makes you scream. Always choose the Simple over the Pinnable.

Listen, the only person who expects you to accomplish All The Things on that list? Is you. You must extend to yourself the grace that others are already extending in your direction.

Her article is the inspiration for our first resolution.  We are saying "no" whenever necessary this season so that we can say "yes" to resolution #2: celebrate Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas.

We are slowly building the anticipation of Christmas this year.  Rather than get all of the decorations out the day after Thanksgiving, we are bringing them out little by little.  The only signs of Advent around our house are the Advent wreath and a few little decorations throughout the home.  There's still no Christmas tree and no lights on the house.  We are trying to emphasize to the kids (and ourselves!) that we will celebrate BIG TIME during the 12 Days of Christmas (the time spanning from Christmas to the Epiphany).  Until then, it's a time of prayer and preparation around these parts.  

Since we're doing our best to say "no," the blog will likely continue to be quieter than usual. 

"Adoration of the Shepherds" by Gerard van Honthorst, 1622

 Quiet is good.     

What a whirlwind of a week!

I'm feeling uninspired this Friday afternoon, so I thought I'd share picture highlights of the week. 

Raking leaves with Dad.  This picture epitomizes how the world must feel to a 2-year-old.  He's working soooooo hard with that little rake, and he feels like he's not making a dent.  

Jane in Philip's glasses.  I think it's a good look.

Just hangin' on the floor with the comforter and pillows while Mom and Dad make the bed.

Ahoy!

Fun with pons

Happy Harry

Matching Doc McStuffins characters.  We found this Doc McStuffins Tot Pack on  1Plus1Plus1Equals1.

Sorting poms and doodling while Mom makes dinner (Well...sorting is kind of a loose term...)

Janie, singing lullabies, and Harry, flirting right back.  Oh, that smile!

Harry's saying, "Come a little closer.  Let me grab your nose!"

"Jingle Bells!"  These cluster bells came in the mail the other day.  We're going to have every member of the family ring them when we get to the words, "REJOICE!  REJOICE!" in "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" while we're around the Advent Wreath.  I have a feeling the bells will be jingling more than that, but that's okay!  

Rapunzel in her Minnie Mouse sunglasses and post-nap hair in all its glory

Very exclusive Brother-Sister tea party in the princess tent.  "Do you want to meet Mr. Teapot?  Oh, I guess he's in the potty.  He'll be right back!"

More Doc McStuffins matching (see above for the link) 

Philip let me sleep in this morning while he got ready and kept the kids entertained.  When I woke up, I found this note on the kitchen counter.  He had "interviewed" the kids with the question, "What do you love about Mommy?" and recorded their responses.  What a guy!

We're looking forward to a weekend of family time since Philip has an entire weekend off!  Hip hip hooray!  Kindly forgive me if I ignore any form of communication from the outside world until Monday.  

Happiness Project: November Resolutions Progress Report

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read about Our Happiness Project.

Here's Our November Happiness Project Resolutions Progress Report:

October Resolutions Update

1. Exercise
• We both completely fell off the bandwagon with this resolution.  I've been battling a sore throat for a few weeks, and Philip's work schedule has been crazy.  We're hoping to find a solution and get into a habit before the Christmas season is upon us.
2. Sleep
• We are in bed and almost always have the lights out by 10:30
3. Faith
• The nightly family decade of the Rosary & nighttime prayers around the dinner table is a well-established part of our routine

November Resolutions Update

1. Couple prayer time right when we go to bed

• We are reading Day by Day With the Catechism by Peter A. Giersch.  It's a great little book with a daily excerpt from the Catechism followed by a reflection.  This book has been a great way for us to get our feet wet with couple prayer time.  After Philip reads the daily excerpt and reflection, he leads us in impromptu prayer followed by a Hail Mary or Our Father.  I follow with some impromptu prayer of my own and close with a Hail Mary or Our Father (whichever one we didn't pray after Philip's prayer).  Having this dedicated prayer time together before bed is helping us to grow in intimacy and learn more about what is on each other's hearts.

2.  "You can do anything for 15 minutes."  Work for 15 minutes daily on these 4 things

• 1 Shutterfly album
• I've had a few technological difficulties in getting our 2012 photos back on to the computer, and I've spent most of my time so far just figuring out how to work the program.  I'm slowly making my way through our 2012 pictures.  I probably won't have the album ready to order by 11/30.
• Add & edit recipes to Paprika (recipe organizing app)
• I have all of my miscellaneous computer files on Paprika, and I'm halfway through my random Excel doc of recipes.  
• Return/Draft E-mails
• I'm learning to stop letting "the perfect be the enemy of the good."  My mentality used to be that I wouldn't bother writing an e-mail if it couldn't be a real update.  Now, I'm slooooooooowly learning that a quick check-in e-mail is better than nothing.  I love having little correspondence with faraway friends and my mother-in-law throughout the week.  Seeing their sweet notes in my inbox are such a pick-me-up.
• Decide one & prepare activity to do with the kids for the next day
• We have quite the arsenal of activities, and we've been having a great time!

3.  Do at least 1 of the following activities daily with the kids, and do each at least once a week:

• Craft
• baking
• library
• outing
• play date
• enrichment/homeschool-esque activity
• write letters

Zacchaeus craft (trace hand and arm on brown paper, glue to blue paper, make leaves with thumbprints, and glue Zacchaeus in the tree).  Walt abandoned this one to play with trains.

"M" is for Mouse.  Walt also abandoned this one!

Coloring

"1, 2, buckle my shoe..."  (I put the printables into a file here)

Playing dress-up on a play date.  Walt didn't want his photo taken while he was playing with (surprise!) trains.

We've only gone to the library once this month.  We delayed that trip since we had such great books still out on loan.  Now, we have 17 great books (most of them about numbers since that's what we're working on) that we read over and over and over again!  We have done plenty of crafts and homeschool-esque activities as well as outings and play dates, but we still need to write letters and do some baking.  Perhaps some cupcakes are in our future this afternoon.

4.  Family thankfulness

• It wasn't working to record what we were thankful for at dinner since that was such a chaotic time.  Instead, we've been recording what we're thankful for on looseleaf before our family prayer time, and I store the paper in our Family Prayer Binder.  We've missed a few nights, but having it right before family prayer time helps us to remember.

5.  Budget

• Hasn't happened yet and needs to before we start holiday shopping!

6.  Will

• Also hasn't happened yet

7.  Philip's Resolutions  (I'll rewrite them here, but I won't evaluate them for him.  If I had to guess, I think he'd say that it's been a wild month at work and that he hasn't done as well as he'd like, but he's made a great effort!)

• Eat four salads a week for lunch 
• Do 10 pediatrics boards questions a day
• Put away all electronics from dinnertime to kids' bedtime (for both of us)
• Read 1-2-3 Discipline book

Sum It Up

We've completely tanked on a few resolutions this month (exercise, budget, will, letter writing), but we've done pretty well on most ("you can do anything for 15 minutes," variety of activities with the kids), and even nearly mastered some (family prayer time, sleep by 10:30, couple prayer time, and family thankfulness).  

We are still enjoying our Happiness Project.  I think it is bringing more positive structure and purpose to our days since we are trying to reach all of our resolutions.  Even though it's been a rotten month in terms of Philip's wild work schedule, the month is flying by and has been relatively peaceful.  I attribute  that to our improved prayer life and our well-structured days.  Everyone is more well-rested, we are spending more quality time together without electronics, and I am choosing family time over housework.  

I am so grateful for my devoted husband who is working doggedly at my side to make these changes for the good!  Here's to a successful end of the month to our Happiness Project! 

What We Had for Dinner: Beef and Bean Chile Verde, Skinny Cilantro Lime Rice, & Clementines

I thought I'd share our easy weeknight dinner from last night.

We had Beef and Bean Chile Verde 

over skinny cilantro lime rice (you know, like that fabulous burrito joint makes?).

We always double the rice recipe to make equal amounts of the chile & rice.

Meal planning is much more fun with adventurous eaters.  Hooray for little ones that will actually eat this kind of stuff!

The kids' plates

The Feast of St. Nicholas is almost here, so you know these have to be back in season!  

Really, what is the Feast of St. Nicholas without a clementine (and some gold coins) in your shoe?  Anyway, we feasted on some clementines as well.

What's on the menu at your house tonight?

Keeping the Christmas Season Organized

Last year, I created a Christmas Planner and shared it on my blog here.  I thought I'd share the information again in case anyone would find it helpful.  Why do all of that work if you're not going to share?!

  

My Christmas planner includes the following categories:

1. Budget 
• divided by categories: gifts, charitable giving, decorations, Christmas cards, etc.
2. Master gift list 
• recipient, where purchased, whether it has been purchased/delivered, cost, wrapped, running total
3. Stocking stuffers 
• recipient, where purchased, cost, running total - this helps to make sure things are "even" among everyone
4. Room-by-room décor 
• item, where placed, where stored
5. Menus/Recipes
• Listed here (stored on Paprika)
6. Our Holiday Traditions
• List of activities and dates we do each year 
7. Advent Wreath 
• Booklet with reflections, lyrics to songs we sing, etc.
8. Jesse Tree 
• reflections to read for each ornament
9. Ornament Journal 
• the place to write down who give us our various ornaments and what they mean to us
10. Holiday Favorites 
• books, movies, music, wish list
11. Recipes to Try
12. Craft Projects
13. Entertaining 
• buffet lay-out ideas, cocktail recipes, bar set-up, Pandora stations or playlists, Christmas Minute to Win it games, etc.
14. Christmas Card 
• archive old favorites, keep list of recipients & addresses, shopping information for cards & stationery
15. Post-Holiday Debriefing 
• Write down what went wrong, what went right, and what you want to keep the same or change for future years

If you are interested in making your own Christmas planner, feel free to download any of my files via a shared Google folder here.  

Today, I discovered on Catholic Icing that Lacy (the creator) made an ebook called "The Advent Christmas Planner."  I'm planning on buying a copy myself because it looks fantastic!  I'll let you head over to Catholic Icing to read her description.  Some of the planner looks like mine (forms for budgets and that sort of thing), but she also has a ton of great ways to celebrate the season with activities and pictures.

From Catholic Icing

If you're interested, "The Advent Christmas Planner" is on sale for $10 for two weeks (reduced from $12).  I supposed I should mention that I did not get paid or endorsing this planner!!!

As I wrote last year, I made my Christmas planner to relieve stress and keep things more organized.  I am so glad I have this information archived in one central location.  Remember to make the Christmas planner work for you and your family.  If it's becoming too much work, it might not be your style!  Remember, the goal is to reduce your stress around the Christmas season and focus on "the reason for the season."  If this binder and organizing is your sort of thing, then great!  If it's not, then fuhgettaboutit and step away from the label maker!

Impromptu Fall Photo Shoot

Our photographer for our family portraits had to cancel due to weather, and we are rescheduled for this Sunday.  It's not looking too good weather-wise, so we decided to do an impromptu photo shoot a few nights ago.  Harold was taking a snooze in his swing, so we snapped a few shots of Jane and Walt (aka "the big kids") in the backyard.

I had to include this adorable shot I snapped on the couch the other day while Jane was at preschool.  How adorable is this love between the brothers???