The Bible tells us that in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, there was nothing but darkness and God said: "Let there be light." And there was light.
Many years ago, the prophet Isaiah lived in a dark time for his country. The wise king of Judah had died, and powerful enemies threatened to destroy his tiny land. But Isaiah believed God's promise that the people who were living in darkness would someday see a great light.
This Christmas I have been thinking a lot about light and darkness, knowledge and uncertainty, faith and doubt. For me, this Christmas has been about strengthening my trust in God and believing in His promise that someday, the light will return. At a time when my future feels dark and uncertain, this season of faith has been exactly what I needed. I'm relying on the light within, rather than without, and it is ultimately a light that comes from beyond.
Here's how we tried to kindle that light in our family this holiday season:
* We held of decorating until after Soren's and Scott's birthdays but there were lots of Christmas stories and books all throughout the month of December. My favorite is this beautiful picture book, which begins with the passage at the start of this blog post. In addition to the Christmas books, our Kindergarten featured 3 Christmas stories: one about St. Nicholas, one about Christ's birth, and one about Epiphany.* A kind stranger blessed our family this Christmas with a beautiful nativity. He or she brought us one piece every day leading up to Christmas until we had the whole set. I am certain that they were inspired in selecting our family because I am not sure than any other gift could have helped me better to feel God's love. This is why: for several years, I have been looking for the "perfect" nativity set for our family. Last year, I decided I would stop being so picky and just buy one. But I wanted to get one on sale, after Christmas. I didn't realize that there is no such thing as a nativity sale. Come January, I couldn't find one. So I was waiting (again) to get one this Christmas. Instead, someone got one for me. And it really was perfect, better than anything I was looking at.
* For our pre-holiday FHE, Scott told about the Annunciation to Mary by the angel Gabriel. Then we made a calendar, detailing the preparations we would make in the next week. These calendars are becoming a favorite holiday tradition in our family.
*We kicked off our celebrations with a Yule dinner on December 21st, the longest night of the year. I made a Yule log, which didn't look very pretty much tasted spectacular. We also turned out all the electric lights in our house and ate by candlelight. I worried that this was a silly idea but it made a big impression on the kids (as well as on me). The whole atmosphere of our home changed when we gathered around those small lights. The darkness of the seasons became obvious and the gift of light all the more precious to us. Sometimes I think the simplest traditions can be the most meaningful.
* As part of our Yule celebration, Scott told the boys about Odin riding Sleipnir across the sky on the Winter Solstice, bringing gifts to the children and hope to the people in the frozen North. Because, yeah, we're Christians but we are also excited about our Viking heritage.
* Our kids met Santa Claus for the first time this year at the Shriners' Party. Although in the past, Santa Claus has been militantly excluded from our Christmas celebrations, this year I decided that the kids could choose to play that game if they wanted to. I prepared them for the possibility by telling a story of St. Nicholas in Kindergarten. It was amusing to see the way the reacted to him at the party: Soren tried to pretend like he wasn't there and told me that the real Santa Claus was dead. Carl, however, was eager to meet him. When I asked him what they talked about he said, "Santa told me to be good or I wouldn't get any toys for Christmas. Then I told him what I wanted: new pajamas." I thought it would be amusing to get a picture of Sven crying in Santa's lap but apparently the jolly man wasn't at all intimidating to him. Plus, he had such delightfully noisy bells!* Christmas Eve, we took the boys sledding. The snow was very icy and so the hill was difficult to climb and too slick for good sledding. But we all took a couple of turns before heading home. It was just lovely to be outside with my family.
* As a follow-up to the Santa Claus event, I did get some pajamas for Carl. They were under the tree on Christmas morning with a label that read, "To: Carl / From: Santa Claus". But Scott got up before me on Christmas morning and put his own label on top. It was written in Norse runes and read "To CARL from ODIN". The kids thought that was hilarious.
* Other fun gifts this year: I got some wooden animals for the kids and put them in their stockings. I also bought some beautiful play silks that they are enjoying. My parents really outdid themselves with toys and winter gear for all the family members. I think Carl liked his new boots the very best and Soren has really been enjoying the snap circuits kit. I made two treasure baskets for Sven: one full of wooden doo-dahs and the other full of shiny doo-dahs, both of which have been a big hit. And there were new art supplies in the stockings, which is always greeted with enthusiasm in our family.
* I made lots of Christmas cookies this year and didn't give any away. I put out a big platter of them on Christmas morning and then for every morning after until they were all gone. The boys went first for the sugar cookies. My favorites were the 7-layer bars. Scott likes the peanut butter blossoms best.
* Our neighbors, the Jacksons, came over for Christmas dinner. I made my mom's delicious company chicken and mandarin orange salad. I also made twice-baked potatoes and some rolls, neither of which were very great. The kids were grateful for the addition of dinosaur chicken nuggets to the menu.
* We extended our Christmas celebration through all 12 days by continuing our Christmas stories in Kindergarten, eating lots of Christmas cookies, and occasionally doing Christmas-related activities. One of the fun things we did was go see the lights on temple square. It was really sweet to see Sven looking around at all the green and red twinkles. He was obviously delighted.
* We had fondue for New Year's Eve, lucky saur kraut for New Year's Day, and a King Cake for Epiphany. Our Epiphany celebration was worthy of particular note: on that day we formalized our goals for the new year and gave them as gifts to the baby Jesus, just like the wise men. Then when shared the King Cake, which had a little plastic baby hidden inside. The person who finds the baby gets to be king for the next day! (And make the cake the next year.) I found the baby last year; this year it was Soren! So on January 7th, we let Soren choose everything and he really enjoyed that. He is also excited to make the cake next year!
* In keeping with my thoughts about light this season, my goal for the New Year is to re-vamp my personal mission statement and use it as a tool for making weekly goals. The theme of light features heavily in the working draft of my personal mission statement. I want to kindle the light inside of me and then shine bright as a beacon for the Lord. So this is a line of thinking that I will be carrying with me throughout the year.
Comments