du-funkifying...

YES...I know, I totally made up that word.  I used to make up words a lot.  So much so that I should just have a Margo dictionary. 

Anyway, I may have found the source of some of my funkiness...TRADITIONS.

Well, or maybe not being able to keep traditions is a better way to say it.  Our traditions are being threatened this year, and it has really, really got to me.  I like us to be home on Christmas morning.  Actually, the only Christmas that we weren't home in the morning was the year Nathanael was 10 months old and we went to Houston for Christmas. 

Here is how we have celebrated Christmas in the past.  On Christmas Eve, we go to our church's Christmas Eve service.  We went in Maine.  We have gone in Oklahoma.  Then, we come home and have a birthday party for Jesus.  Then, we have the "What God Wants for Christmas" nativity set that we do with the kids.  We also pick one present for the kids to open. 

Then, on Christmas morning, Santa doesn't come to our house.  Sorry guys...we don't "do Santa" in our house.  We just don't.  We wrap Christmas ALL around Jesus...no fairytales here.  I'm not anti-Santa; I have some decorations of Santa and will gladly respect your decision to "do Santa".  I just want my kids to know that God loves us unconditionally and gave us Jesus and that we love them unconditionally and have chosen to bless them with a few gifts...not because they're naughty or nice, because we LOVE them.  We are so blessed by God to have our four boys and just want to love on them. 

But back to the gifts...yes, I said a FEW gifts.  We do not go crazy at Christmas for a couple of reasons...first, we don't have a crazy amount of money to spend on gifts.  Second, we want our kids to understand that it really just isn't about getting, getting, getting.  It's really about JESUS.  And, just as I will respect your decision to "do Santa," I surely hope that you will respect our decision not to "do Santa."  (Okay...typing "do Santa" so many times has started to bug me, but I can't think of any other way to write it.)

So, on Christmas morning, the boys run into the living room to find gifts from dad and mom (and from other family members).  However, we don't just go crazy with opening the gifts.  First, Michael reads Jesus' birth story from the bible.  We pray, thank God for His Gift to us, THEN we open gifts.  

Then, usually, we eat a breakfast casserole that I have prepared the night before that has to soak overnight in the fridge...I just throw it in the oven before gift-opening and it's ready to eat after. 

Then, we play with the new toys and build Lego sets and enjoy family time.  Lunch or dinner is in there somewhere.  This year I was really excited to make a Christmas lunch "my style"...you know, with yummy, REAL foods...no partially hydrogenated somethings lurking about.

Well, this year we may not be here for Christmas Eve or Christmas day and I'm really upset.  I mean really, really upset.  This year, before knowing about the possibility of not being in our home for Christmas, we started an advent wreath devotion.  Now, I have lost all desire to even continue it.  I'm just bummed.  We more than likely will be going to a home where Santa is preferred over Jesus and where I will have no say about the menu.  I'm just bummed.