The Year Where I Accidentally Discovered the Secret to a Stress-Free Christmas

It's Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas!

But this picture wasn't taken today. Or even this weekend. It was actually taken in the beginning of December.

Originally, the idea of choosing to celebrate Christmas several weeks early due to Daddy's military obligations was kind of a bummer.

I mean, it would have been "better" to have Christmas on, y'know, Christmas, right?

But this Christmas season turned out to have a million little hidden benefits accidentally twisted in. And I wouldn't trade the lessons I learned for the world.

You see, knowing that we were going to celebrate Christmas early, meant that everything else had to be done ahead, too.

Throughout the fall, we purchased the boys' Christmas gifts here and there. A little something one day and a little something another, as we were doing our regular day-to-day shopping. In the end, all of their gifts were all bought and wrapped by mid November.

No rush, no stress, and coincidentally, no big hit on our budget since it was spread out and gradual.

After Thanksgiving, when the actual Christmas celebrations started rolling out, we kept it simple.

No stressing out about perfection. Just enjoying our family, together.

And then, "our family Christmas" was over. But that's when the magic started happening.

For the rest of the world, they chaos called December began. Stressing. Worrying. About the lines at the stores. The crazy drivers. The money. The late night gift-wrapping marathons. The question of what to get who. Forgetting something followed by hectic last-minute store runs. So much to do in so little time.

And do you know what we did? We watched.

We watched everyone worrying and hurrying and stressing and fretting and... We drank hot chocolate and watched Christmas movies.

We played board games under the Christmas tree.

We built graham cracker houses and painted ornaments and took pictures with Santa.

We read books, and sang songs, and really thought about the reason for the season.

And it was incredible.

It wasn't perfect, of course. We missed Daddy, and that was hard.

But the accidental gift of having to have every obligation done early, was priceless.

Christmas was peaceful. Christmas was stress-free. Christmas was everything it was supposed to be.

The secret, one that I already knew, was one simple thing. Early. Ahead.

I've known that little trick for a long time. But never got to experience its magic until now.

So next year, when we will hopefully be exchanging sweet gifts and commencing festivities on the 25th, and maybe even enjoying it with extended family, I hope that I will always remember the magic that was this year.

And have everything ready before December rolls around. So I can once again enjoy the peacefulness that Christmas is supposed to be.

Merry Christmas!

May your celebrations be filled with peace, whenever and wherever they occur!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." 

Isaiah 9:6

Thank you for your comments!

Hunter is 6 years, 9 months old

Damien is 6 months, 3 weeks old

Of Three-Month-Old Babies, Object Permanence, Memory, and Deployment

How much can a three- to four-month-old really comprehend about deployment?

Daddy is here. Every day. Playing with me, talking to me, taking care of me.

Then he's not.

He disappears for a quarter of my post-womb life.

I wasn't sure how Damien would handle this separation. After all, aren't babies this young supposed to think that if something is out of sight, then it no longer exists? (aka object permanence)

Do three-month-olds even remember someone or something they haven't seen for a month?

Well, Daddy came home this week.

It wasn't a true deployment - he was gone a month. He left not too long after Damien turned three months old.

The homecoming was beautiful.

Damien had just woken up from a brief nap. Slightly dazed, we waited under a tree while a sea of people in blue digital uniforms flooded past us out of the terminal.

When Damien saw his Daddy come kneel down in front of us to say hello, first a huge, shy smile covered his face.

Then he laughed. He laughed nearly every time he looked at him for the next half hour.

Finally, we got home. Daddy went to say hello some more, and Damien reached out towards him with both hands. He put a hand on each of Daddy's cheeks. Then he pulled his head towards himself and started kissing (er, licking) Daddy's face.

It was perfect.

And, babies are amazing.

"To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant" 

Luke 1:72

Damien is 4 months, 1 week old [19 weeks]

No Comment: I Love You

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children" 

Ephesians 5:1

Hunter is 5 years, 8 months old

Speed of Sound... Or Faster

You know what is a fun science phenomena we get to experience every day here on a military installation?

Sound [obviously] and its speed.

Jets fill the airspace in our neighborhood. Occasionally it will be loud enough to rattle the windows. Or make it so you have to pause while ordering from the drive thru at McDonalds. Or produce crying babies and flustered employees from hitting a sonic boom over the Exchange.

But one of the coolest things is how, as we watch a jet (or six) gliding across the horizon in the California sky, the sound of the jet is always a good, well, not sure of the exact length, but always a good distance behind the jet. You hear the jet in one place, but see it in another.

This has resulted in many impromptu discussions on the speed of sound (and light, for that matter, because they somehow tend to go together). 

Mom is not usually all that fancy in planning crafty science experiments but, in short, we've just observed this frequent phenomena, talked about how sound is a wave and has a speed, talked about how sound is actually just vibration (using our own mouths making an "ahhh" note to illustrate) and how our brain interprets the different vibrations and recognizes them as different sounds.

We've also used the whole talking-through-a-paper-towel-tube thing to learn about sound's behavior more.

But who needs paper towel tubes when you've got F/A-18's?

"And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice."  

Exodus 19:19

Hunter is 5 years, 4 months old

Nothing Makes Me Prouder

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing makes me prouder.

In honor of my amazing husband and all who went before and after him, who selflessly give their time and all too often their life for freedom's sake, we solute you.

And today we are thankful for those brave and noble souls who have died so we could be free. Never forget that the freedom we take for granted is certainly not free.

"All we have of freedom, all we use or know -
This our fathers bought for us long and long ago."

Rudyard Kipling

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:13

Hunter is 5 years, 2 months old

Month of the Military Child: The Strength of Our Nation

Month of the Military Child: Sacrifice

April is the Month of the Military Child, sponsored by the Department of Defense's Military Community and Family Policy. It has been celebrated annually since former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger established the commemoration in 1986.

The purpose of the Month of the Military Child is to take the time to remember, recognize, and honor the children of our nation's military, the "unsung heroes" who are serving right along with their parents.

As we are reminded so often, freedom is not free, and all of us (either military-supporting or not) benefit from sacrifices our military men and women make. But what we often don't recognize is the sacrifice that military children make which, is in turn, a sacrifice made for our country.

So I wanted to take a bit of time this month to write a few things about the wonderful men, women, and children that serve our country, both through active and reserve duty as well as the families who support them from home. More coming soon.

"But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them..."

Psalm 5:11

The News

I had a lot on my mind this morning. Last night I had to make the heart-wrenching trip to the airport to send my husband back to California - without us. I had no idea when we would see each other again: if we were lucky, it could be a few weeks. Yet in all likelihood, it could easily be a few months. I hoped for the former but had no guarantees either way.

This morning I was dragging my feet, trying to overcome this perpetual sadness, and, attempting to at least, scheming out how to best use the limited time I had left in the Midwest.

I had been planning in my head everything that needed to be done - from cataloging library books of my mom's to borrow, to cleaning out the basement, updating information on credit cards, selling things on ebay to earn some extra cash, writing dozens of thank-you notes, spending time with friends one last time, and much, much more. The many odds and ends, plus the big things (still don't have a detailed plan of this year's curriculum and still have to finish packing) could easily take six months or more.

Then I got a call around lunchtime that the paperwork had been turned in, and the expected waiting period was four months (on-base military housing is based on availability). The scheming still was going on in my head and sat down at my computer to write a "back to school" post telling of all the activities we were going to be back at again - finally, after all these weeks of sporadic, non-routine. The apple orchard. The field museum (ancient history). The planetarium. Lots of fun science and art activities. Reading and math plans. And a dozen other things I had in mind to do. Plus all the organizing, cleaning, planning. I wasn't looking forward to the weeks that lay ahead (the separation part at least) but, knew that there were a lot of things that needed to be put in order between now and then.

Two hours later, however, I got another call. The house will be ready as of this weekend. This weekend.

That was the happiest, most exciting, scary, best and worst news I had ever heard!

I was overwhelmingly excited and overjoyed but at the same time, a little scared. How was I going to get everything done? What about all the people that I had planned to say goodbye to? It wasn't like I was going on vacation and could take care of it when I got back. This was - more or less - forever.

In coming to terms with this new reality I was forced to realize that, even in my attempt to elaborately plan, organize, and manage every detail of life, anything can happen. And as saith the proverb, "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps."

As is our life now. You never know what the next day will bring. Is it scary? Yes. But at the same time, peaceful, relieving, and freeing. I have no clue how I am going to get everything done but, there is peace in knowing that everything will end up working out. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ... But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself..."

Matthew 6:25-34

Hunter is 4 years, 5 months old

Fun at the Arcade

Tonight was Brandon's last night before he has to go back to California. We went to a pizza place and played the arcade. Hunter did really good at the Nickelodeon racing game (partially because you can't fall off the edges in this one) and played a shooting game, too.

He loves the shooting games, of course. They weren't too graphic which is always a plus. He doesn't usually get to play games like this so this was a fun little evening for him.

We are going to both miss Brandon a lot while we wait for housing (still don't have any idea how long it will take) but we are excited and know that we will be seeing him again soon.

"And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark."

1 Samuel 20:20

Hunter is 4 years, 5 months old

Bahrain

Hunter's letter to Brandon:

Brandon, I colored this flag
of Bahrain for you. It looks like
the flag of Qatar. I colored a map
too. The sand is yellow. I am glad
you are home now. Love, Hunter

Bahrain is a little island of the coast of Saudi Arabia. While we were printing out geography coloring pages for the next two years (flags and maps) we printed out this of Bahrain, too, where Brandon was for about a year and a half. We have been learning about it and reading about it. He was very careful to color the map a brownish-yellow, because "there's sand there". When we were finding the flag of Bahrain on his geography wall, he was careful to point out that it looked a lot like the flag of Qatar.

He did really good at coloring, he was especially careful with the map, with all the little crevices around the islands. It's so fun now that he's old enough to write letters, is getting better at talking on the phone, etc. It'll really be an asset for staying in touch with friends and family, even from the other side of the country.

"For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven"

Job 28:24

Hunter is 4 years, 4 months old

Looking at Air Force display at the library

Looking at Air Force display at the library (mobile blogging)

Hunter is 4 years, 3 months old