Let It Shine

Lord, help us to be lights in this world for you. May our lights shine in 2015.

Above are a few of the displays at the Fantasy of Lights this year. Brutus was really cool but we didn't get a great picture from our angle.

A Christmas Special

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time." ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Christmas Future

During Advent devotions the kids were asked if they remembered Jesus' mother's name. Zane quickly answered "Mary!"

My only hope for Christmas is for my kids to understand the true meaning -- that they can verbalize why we celebrate. It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and with buying, giving and accepting gifts. I pray my kids can always understand that our reason for giving gifts is to try and emulate God blessing us with THE gift.

"God looks at the heart, not the hand; the giver, not the gift." ~Unknown

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~ William A. Ward

"If I were given the opportunity to present a gift to the next generation, it would be the ability for each individual to learn to laugh at himself." ~Charles Shultz

"The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention."
~Richard Moss

Christmas Past and Present

 I just wanted a cute picture or two from Christmas tree shopping.:-)

Daddy grew up with live trees. He wouldn't trade that tradition for the world. It also has to be a Fraser Fir. Grandpa and Daddy know the best for holding ornaments.  But yes, the soft and fine texture of a Scotch Pine is pretty cool. Since we were going for a live tree, we were a little later than normal getting our tree -- going into the second week of December. 

 Zane had to watch for dogs families brought with them. :-)

It's still fun to play between the rows of precut trees. We didn't knock one down this year. Yay! And I'm so glad we stopped to check out the tree not quite set up for display. It is perfect.

 It was also very fat. We probably should have offered assistance pulling it through the netting machine. :-)

 Zane tried to do his own cutting with the chainsaw Grandpa and Grandma gifted him last year.

Other than replacing the ornaments that sometimes fall off, Daddy and the kids had the tree decorated before I had a chance to help. No more waiting!

An Evening Without Vanesse

Vanessa made starlights for her gals and movie night. Zane doesn't always need Vanessa. He hangs with his friends he's spent the last couple of years getting to know. We met up with some of them at the Hilliard Library Polar Express.

Zane made a snowman luminary. He was funny to pick the activity stations no one else was at or going to.

Beaded candy cane? No way. Let's make it a Z.

He didn't want to play instruments with the lady playing music, but he danced away in his own space.

We drank hot chocolate while watching Santa from a safe distance.

We made wreaths and iced sugar cookies.

We bowled snowman pins over.

Then we watched Santa from another discreet angle.

We sang and danced with Miss Amy and friend Abby.

And Vanessa had another one of her own great times!

Power and Point

Vanessa worked on a PowerPoint a couple of months ago with a fellow classmate in her enrichment class. She and Elyse created one on Marie Curie. Last week she started an independent one. It's not meant to be homework but she can access it at home via Google Drive. Shortly before her Girl Scout meeting on Tuesday, she insisted she show me what she's created so far. She had about 8 slides describing the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was interesting to watch her get sucked back into it --  suddenly I saw her eyes fix to a blank slide, and then next thing I knew, her giving me a glimpse turned into creating. I told her to wrap it up so we could squeeze in silent reading before Girl Scouts, but it was as if my demands were unheard and she kept right on working, talking through some of the steps aloud.

I admit that I stretched out time even further just so I could watch her process for searching the perfect Google image and her way for extracting information to cite. The point for her showing me changed to demonstrating the new power she's been granted. I see her point and it tickles me.

Birthday Delight

Look and Smile

The camera came out and it turned into a gigglefest. Out of the 20 or so pictures, these are the ones that captured the multiple layers of the moment. First it was serious and then how Zane said Joseph was too funny.  It went back to Vanessa sharing the story while egging on Zane's silly naming and identification.  The very last picture I took made it to the header of this blog.

Bling

In the last couple of weeks Zane has pulled out more of his bling. Although still somewhat bashful, he's showing more of his wild side to others now.

First, one afternoon we were in the store and as I was checking out, Zane walked out in front of strangers to high five them. What?? Cashier raved at his friendly spirit. I replied that I was concerned because never had he done that before. I kind of like the shy Zane -- feels more protected that way. :-)

At another time when we shouldn't have been grocery shopping, Zane kept asking me to buy various things. And although I allowed him to help make choices for the things we did intend to buy, I turned down a huge percentage of his requests with a firm no, not this time. After a while Zane snapped and said to me in a very loud voice, and of course after much other whining,  "Mom, you keep saying no! It's just not fair. God didn't make it that way!"

When leaving the store another day, some of the cashiers and store workers shared Happy Holiday wishes. Zane yelled back in a very sarcastic tone and with hands spread out to the sides, eyes rolling and with a concluding slap to the forehead, "You mean Merry Christmas?!' Or "It's Christmas, not holidays!" Believe it or not I did not teach him that. It seemed innate. Love it. I also didn't object to his professing, although I did point out that he could say it in a nicer voice so they will hear him.

Laughing Cousins

Is that guy hilarious or what?! :-) Thanks for playing along Cousin Jacob.