Sledding!

For Caleb's first Christmas, God gave him a white Christmas here in the north woods.  And we gave him a sled to go with it :)  Today we finally got outside to test it out.

We got him bundled in snow gear, then Eli gave him a speech about how fun it is to play in the snow.

Then Eli took him for a spin around the park behind our house.  We couldn't tell if he was confused, perturbed, completely indifferent, or something in between.

And then, after mulling it over...

it hit him...

sledding is SO MUCH FUN!

We've got a long winter ahead of us, kiddo.  It's a good thing you like your Christmas present :)

Trailing A Little Behind: A Red Flannel Christmas

My Grandma and Grandpa Clark live in Cedar Springs, Michigan, a.k.a Red Flannel Town.  Every October is the Red Flannel Festival in which they crown a Red Flannel Queen and celebrate all things red flannel.  It's a delightful tradition in a delightful little town.  And everywhere you go, there are clear indicators of the town's charming allegiance to the iconic red pajamas.

So naturally, Grandma and Grandpa and all their kids had a pair of red flannels, like most everyone else in Cedar Springs.  This photo is from 1978.

And then, when the grandkids came along, Grandma and Grandpa proudly supplied all of us with our own red flannel pajamas.  This was Christmas 1991.

So when my Grandma and Grandpa gave us Christmas money this year to buy a present for Caleb on their behalf, my first instinct was – you guessed it – red flannel pajamas!  And to top it off, I found these.  Nothing could be more perfect for our moose baby :)  Trailing a little behind indeed!



We celebrated Christmas with the Clarks yesterday and Grandma was pretty excited to see Caleb's new duds.  But I also have to tell you how excited I was for my own Christmas present from my cousin Peter.  He drew my name for Christmas and decided, quite appropriately, to go with a hobbit-themed gift for me.  I could not have been more excited!  In addition to some other amazing hobbit-related items, the jewel of my Christmas bundle was this homemade art piece he crafted of Song of the Lonely Mountain which the dwarves sing at the beginning of their adventures.  It's crazy awesome and incredibly creative.  I love love love it!  Hats off to you, Peter.  May your beard grow ever longer.

Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away ere break of day

To seek the pale enchanted gold.

....

The pines were roaring on the height,

The winds were moaning in the night.

The fire was red, it flaming spread;

The trees like torches blazed with light.





Nativities

Although we don't have a plethora of holiday decorations, it's a joy to pull our nativities out of the Christmas box.  We had the idea several years ago to try collecting a nativity from each country we visited.  These pieces are fun memorabilia from our travels as well as reminders that the Incarnation took place for all people of all nations.  As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, it's beautiful to see how believers in other cultures artistically depict the nativity.  These are some of our favorites:

Cameroon

Guatemala

Bethlehem, West Bank

"The angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths lying in a manger.'"

Luke 2:10-12

Shiner

Caleb got his first, then second, then third, bruise this week.  He's on a roll.

First he fell over while sitting in the grocery cart at the store.  It was the first time I'd tried putting him in the cart, and he was sitting quite well until I had to step aside and unload the groceries at checkout.  While I wasn't standing right beside him for ten seconds, he fell over and smashed his head against the wire cart, which left a nice mark by his eye.  In the moment of mishap he went from perfectly peachy to woefully weepy and let everyone in the store know about his troubles.

Next, he pulled himself up on a bookshelf at home, then slipped and smashed his face against the shelf as he fell to the floor.  That's what caused the beautiful shiner you see in the picture.  This happened a few days ago, so the bruise was even lovelier before.  Caleb didn't cry about this particular incident, which is ironic since it left the biggest mark.

Lastly, he pulled himself up onto another shelf this morning, and as he turned around to look at me he let go of one hand that was supporting his balance and again smashed his face against the shelf as he tumbled down.  Hence the red line underneath the previous bruise.  I'm not sure what it is about the right side of his face, but that's where all the catastrophes have happened thus far.

When I first saw the shiny shiner on Caleb's right cheek (which was truly black and blue), I swept him into my arms and emotionally held him and kissed his face and whispered sweet Mama love into his ears because it hurt my heart to know he'd been wounded in the Battle of Standing On His Own and I wanted to make it all better.

Eli watched my display of Mama love and said simply and bluntly, "Krista, he's a boy.  He's gonna get a lot more bruises."  Harumph.  I scowled at Eli, but he speaks the truth.  Sigh...

I think he looks like a pirate here.  Arrgh!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

One of the greatest joys of the Christmas season is cutting down the 'ol evergreen tree.  My family always had a real tree growing up and I will settle for no less.  We love love love having a real Christmas tree, and we especially love chopping it down ourselves, which is exactly what we did yesterday.

But not only did we chop it down - we got to hike through the northern woods of Minnesota to find it!

Here's the deal: the National Forest Service sells permits for $5 (yep, $5!) to let you cut down your own Christmas tree in the Superior National Forest.  How amazing is that???  We discovered this gem of an opportunity last year and knew we had to do it again this year with Caleb.  So we pulled out a map of the Forest, threw a saw in the trunk and journeyed even further north to find our blessed evergreen tree.

Then we hiked through a winter wonderland in the silence of the woods, watched the trees sway under the heavy snow on their branches, and listened to our son coo with excitement as he discovered his wintery surroundings.

Bliss.

And then we hauled it home, strung it with lights and ornaments, and voila!  A lovely glow and the scent of pine have enveloped our home.  And Caleb is enamored with the tree, meaning that he excitedly crawls toward it anytime he catches a glimpse of it :)

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, thy leaves are so unchanging!

And of course, as we decorated the tree, the final touch was the Afro Angel.  This was an ornament I made in Sunday School as a kid and although my sisters have made fun of it throughout the years, she has survived, and because I'm either too lazy or too nostalgic to get a real Christmas tree angel, this saintly seraph tops our tree every year.

The tree is lit, the carols are playing, and the tiny (or not so tiny) baby is cooing as we rejoice in the baby that came to save the world.  It's Christmastime, and we are eternally grateful for the true reason for the season.