Holiday Stress and Amazing Grace

Holidays bring a lot of different things along with the happiness and joy that should come with the time of the year. Celebrating our Savior’s birth brings along numerous events, activities, practices, performances and more.  Last week, we had play practice for our Christmas program at church, band rehearsal for our Homeschool Band concert on Thursday and then the actual band performance Saturday night.  Along with the concert itself, which my middle two children, myself, and my husband played in the band, I had to help coordinate the food for the reception afterward.  Afterall, if we wanted people to attend our concert, the moms felt the people should be fed afterward. All of this brings a certain amount of stress.

But, then something happens to remind us of the joy of the season.  As all the moms entered the church, a remarkable thing happened.  All of the moms and especially the five moms who were playing in the band showed up wearing red tops and black bottoms.  Prior to the event, none of us communicated with each other.  So it was truly divine intervention.  Then some levity also happens, such as us all agreeing on what the color combination should be for the spring concert.  Or when everyone who attended the concert said how much they enjoyed the concert.

Now this week, we had play practice this evening, dress-rehearsal Saturday morning and then the actual performance during the Christmas Eve evening service.  Y’all, we have six, count them, I said six members participating in the program.  This means four children plus the two parents, who need not only costumes but also to learn line positions and more.  Our youngest son is playing a Christmas cookie, our other three children are playing Christmas carolers while my husband and I are playing Mary and Joseph.  By the time Christmas morning gets here, I think we will all be glad to sit back and enjoy the quiet Christmas Day we have planned.

But this is the things Christmas memories are made of and I know next year we will look back fondly on them.  It does not matter if everything is perfect.  It matters that we spent time as a family, participated and remembered that Jesus Christ was born, lived and died to save us all from our sins.

So how does your family handle stress at the holidays?  I would love to hear from you.  If you would like to read more posts from other members of the Homeschool Review Crew, click here or on the graphic below.

 

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A New Year and a New Blog Challenge

So another year has passed and yesterday, we said our fond farewells to 2016.  Today, a brand new year began – full of possibilities and opportunities.  One of those opportunities for me is participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge again.  I love participating in these challenges because it causes me to focus more on my blogging.  I love sharing different things that are going on with our family and in our lives.

This time last year, we were still living in Pennsylvania preparing for a move to Texas.  Shortly into 2016, we finally received notification we had orders.  If you are joining from the Ultimate Blog Challenge, let me tell you a little about our family.  I have been married to my husband for 24 years.  We have four children ages 20 – 14.  The older three are all boys.  The youngest is our only girl.  Since our oldest was in fifth grade, we have homeschooled our children.

My husband is an ordained Primitive Baptist preacher and currently serves in the United States Army Reserves full-time.  I enjoy reading, blogging, Bible study and spending time with my family.

This was our first Christmas in Texas and I really enjoyed the quiet nature of our holiday.  Time and distance did not allow us to go home to my husband’s family for Christmas.  So we spent the time with just the seven of us.  Oh yes, I forgot to mention that my mom lives with us.  She has for several years now.  It leads to interesting experiences and excitement.

Today we enjoyed a traditional southern New Years Day feast – including black-eyed peas, collard greens, ham and deviled eggs.  We also enjoyed beets, olives, pickles, and cornbread.  I was blessed by my husband preparing our meal today.  He enjoys cooking sometimes and I enjoy eating his food.

So what is going on with you today?  How did you spend your holidays?  I would love to hear from you.

 

Another Christmas Gone

So another Christmas is over, and this is what our tree ended up looking like.  My oldest two sons assembled the tree.  Then the oldest son put the lights on it.  Then the younger three and my mom put the ornaments on it.  My youngest son began putting the ribbon on, but it did not completely work.  So my husband made some minor adjustments and this is what it looked like after it was deemed to be complete.

We went to a candlelight Christmas Eve service that included singing, drama, Scripture readings and candles.  It was a fairly good service.  Christmas morning we planned on getting up and attending church, but our plans were changed.  Our daughter woke up not feeling good, so we decided it was best to all stay home rather than split up the family.

My three sons helped keep their sister entertained.  We had a quiet day and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  We had a pot roast, rice, green beans and corn along with my husband’s homemade biscuits.

We watched some movies as a family along with playing a rousing game of Yahtzee, which our oldest won.  Then we fixed a buffet including tuna fish salad, shrimp salad, boiled shrimp with cocktail sauce, carrot sticks, crackers, cheese, olives, pickles and other items.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Now it is time to start preparing for the start of a new year.  How did your Christmas go?  I would love to hear from you.

#Christmasmemories  #Holidays