Unwrapping the Christmas Story

Angie reading to the boys 3 years ago.

You guys know I'm obsessed with the 25-Wrapped-Christmas-Books tradition that I mentioned in my last post. Taking turns reading pages in books that remind us that God loves us so much that He took on human flesh, is a powerful way to spend chilly winter evenings. Some people have asked for recommendations on where to start. So, here's a quick How-To.

First, skim through all your children's books and pull out anything that looks Christmasy. Count those up and look to your local library for the remainder of the 25 books you'll need. It's also fun to add a new book or two to your collection each season though a bookstore or gift from a friend or family member. We're up to over 20 Christmas books in our house now, but we probably only had a dozen or so when we started.

Pro Tip: If you think you might want to do this again in future years, find a separate place on the bookshelf to keep all your Christmas books during the year. It will make finding them again super simple next November when you want to wrap them up, AND it will take them out of the normal reading rotation so they'll be special each December. 

Then you just wrap them, number them, and stack them. I number them so that I can mix up the kinds of books: short vs. long, funny vs. serious, and I save some of my favorites for Christmas and Christmas Eve. Pro Tip #2: if you check some out from the library, put them in the first couple weeks, so you can return them before they're due.

Here are 10 suggestions of titles to look for wherever you buy or checkout books to start off your collection:

A precious and comical depiction of bedtime that any mother can relate to, well, except maybe the manger part... 

Beautiful illustrations and the straightforward birth of Jesus story from Luke 2. 

I always save this one for our very last book. I really don't know why I love it so much, maybe the veterinarian in me can't resist all the animals, but this is a Little Golden Book classic and it's my favorite every year!

We got this one used, and the noise button was broken, a Christmas miracle!

You really can't go wrong with any Usborne book.

It's short, it rhymes, and it reminds us of the important lesson that not all gifts are found under the tree.

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This one is hilarious and brilliantly touching. Highly recommend! 

We think of these legends pretty much every time we enjoy candy canes now. 

A sweet simple story about a polar bear family and the Northern Lights.

A brand new one by an author we cannot get enough of, Matthew Paul Turner. So excited for his profound poetry set to Gillian Gamble's gorgeous artwork!

I'd love to hear your favorites too. We're always looking to grow our stash of great accounts of the birth of Jesus!

"You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” -Luke 2:12

Putting Christ in Christmas for Kids

Kids adore Christmas. What's not to love: presents, shiny breakable decorations, sugar to rival Halloween, extra family togetherness, presents, possibly snow, Santa, bright lights, surprises, did I mention presents? 

It doesn't take much effort to make Christmas time special for little ones, the world has filled the season with magic. But it does take some intentionality to make sure our kids don't get carried away in all the festivities (read: presents) and miss the true meaning of Christ's birth.

Here are 10 activities our family loves that help us focus on the true reason for this miraculous season.

1. 25 Wrapped Christmas Books

I'm starting with one of my favorites in case you don't make it all the way through this list. 3 years ago, I saw someone else post a stack of wrapped Christmas books on November 30th, and I was mesmerized. Now, every year, I wrap a collection of Christmas books (both ours and the library's) and number them in order, one for each day of December until Christmas Day. If you missed it, our kids love presents, so each night in December, they unwrap a book and we take turns reading pages together as a family. It's not flawless, there are distractions, even tantrums, but for the most part it's a cozy family time where we repeat the story of Jesus birth over and over. Here are some ideas for how to start this one if you'd like to join us.

2. The Fisher Price Little People Nativity

Like most of you, we probably have a dozen nativities. They're beautiful and meaningful, and oh so fragile. The Little People Nativity Set is amazing. It's wonderfully chewable, and not the least bit breakable or chokeable. Perfect for letting the tiny ones, and older kids, dive right into the action of the manger scene. 

3. A Star From Afar

Another sturdy and safe nativity set we love is the Star From Afar game. An alternative to Elf on a Shelf, this is a great way to talk about how the Wise Men followed the star to find Jesus. Each day parents hide the star, once the kids find the Star, they move the 3 Wise Men to where the Star was hidden, repeating until Christmas Eve. The night before Christmas, you place the Star on top of the the nativity stable and on Christmas morning the three Wise Men reach the nativity scene and find their king, baby Jesus! 

Disclaimer: that's how you're supposed to play, but we usually read through the accompanying book and just take turns hiding and seeking the star.

4. Veggietales St. Nicholas

There are about one million Christmas movies out there, but by far my favorite for explaining where the idea of Santa Clause came from and how he's related to Jesus in a child-appropriate way is St. Nicholas, a Story of Joyful Giving by Veggietales. We watch it over and over all Christmas season and the highest praise I can give any kids' movie is that I don't get the least bit tired of it. 

5. Graham Cracker Nativity

You can pretty much make anything out of graham crackers if you add frosting and candy, so why not get creative and try your hand at a gingerbread manger scene?

6. Birthday Cake for Jesus

A super simple activity to remind everyone what you're celebrating on Christmas Day is to make a birthday cake for Jesus. Because who doesn't need more calories this time of year?!

7. Caroling in a Local Nursing Home

Obviously with COVID this won't fly, but making Christmas cards for residents in a local nursing home or patients in a hospital could be a great alternative way to spread some Christmas cheer this December while we wait for times of being able to visit and sing hymns and Christmas classics to the elderly to be safe and welcomed again. 

8. To Give is Better Than to Receive

This isn't an easy lesson to teach little ones, but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying. Shopping together with your kids for folks who might not have as many presents under the tree as them is a great way to help them learn the joy of giving. Places you can often find wish lists to shop for locals are nursing homes, foster care organizations, Angel Tree Prison Fellowship, and your church. Letting the kids join you to buy clothes, toys, or Christmas meals, doesn't makes the shopping more peaceful, but it could lead to valuable conversations about serving others and create memories of giving together as a family.

9. The Greatest Gift

One of my favorite authors Ann Voskamp has 2 gorgeous versions of interactive family advent books complete with ornaments, activities, and printouts: Unwrapping the Greatest Gift - Family Christmas Celebration and The Wonder of the Greatest Gift - An Interactive Family Celebration of Advent

10. Neighborhood Christmas Open House

This one isn't explicitly about the story of Jesus' birth, but loving our neighbors is much of what Jesus came to earth to teach us, so I think I can squeeze it onto this list. Last year, we decided to invite everyone from our street, and some others from around the neighborhood, over for a Christmas celebration. Everybody brought something to share and every single person met someone new, including us! Possibly the most introverted person there declared it would be a new annual event on our street. COVID is trying to destroy this fledgling tradition before it even picks up any steam, but I'm thinking maybe we'll bundle up and have a fire pit in the middle of the cul-de-sac with socially distanced s'mores and hot cocoa...

However we do it, I'm sure we won't regret sharing the story of God's most indescribable gift of His Son, with our own sons and daughters each year.

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" - 2 Corinthians 9:15

Sweet Aphia

I used to think pregnancy would feel miraculous for 9 months, full of wonder and gentle kicks that remind you of the tiny beautiful life growing inside of you. Turns out, I am not one of those pregnant people. The only thing that made me sad at all about closing the pregnancy chapter of my life was leaving behind some of the maternity clothes I had grown to love. 

On Friday, when Aphia was 4 days old, I told Jon that I actually felt better than I had just 1 week ago; I had more energy and less pain and discomfort than I had during pregnancy and I was only a few days into recovery. This is a far cry from my post-partum pitiful self after the boys and their huge heads entered the world. Although Aphia's head is 76%, she was so much kinder to me upon entry, this is surely a sign of how delightful she will always be to me throughout her life, right?

I do love newborns! If I could just get an epidural for pregnancy and the first few weeks of nursing, we'd probably want a dozen babies. Because epidurals are truly as wonderful as people told me...

I thought everyone was out of their minds when they talked about enjoying labor and delivery, there could not be drugs that powerful. But, there are. Because we had no desire to repeat Isaiah's birth and the ensuing 4th degree tear, or the terror of Paul's dramatic delivery, we opted to plan Phia's arrival as much as God would allow. 

On the morning of February 24th, 2020, her cousin Ava's birthday, 1 month before my 40th birthday, and 1 day before her due date, we went in to the hospital to start induction. (Of course, we had gone to Bonefish for some Bang Bang Shrimp the night before, because we must keep everything fair and equal for all the kids.) After the Pitocin, the contractions weren't terrible at all for the first few hours, so Jon and the nurses actually had to convince me that they would get worse and that I'd been asking for an epidural the whole pregnancy, so I'd probably regret turning back now. Once they placed the epidural my legs started to go numb, but I could still feel the contractions. The nurses and even doctor felt horrible about this, but I was actually kind of glad because it reassured me that yes the pressure was going to turn to pain and it made me grateful for the easy access to my epidural site when the anesthetist came to give me a second drug which took care of the pain right before pushing. I was also grateful for the drugs when both my fabulous doctor and then the nursing team were otherwise occupied for about an hour after I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. Without the pain control I surely would have had the hospitalist deliver another of my kiddos. Although we didn't have an official birth plan, having the OBGYN, that I had bribed with homemade chocolate chip cookies to take me on as a patient, deliver our baby was at the top of our priority list. 

Once the epidural was effective, I must admit, the whole birthing process was basically fun. There were multiple times when I asked if those were my legs as I saw them being moved or brushed past them with my hand. It was all as surreal as the peaceful look on my face in the picture below, seconds after an 8 pound human made her way out of me. 

We are still getting to know this 8 pound darling, as she spends much of her time sleeping. But we will not be fooled, Paul was a sleepy infant as well and now, of course, he is a wild man. Being a huge fan of the author Bob Goff, I can't help but call her Sweet Aphia as he always refers to his wife as Sweet Maria. Whether she turns out to be sweet or feisty, we are thrilled to have front row seats to watch as God's plan for Aphia's personality and life unfold in front of us. 

Although we had hoped to have Aphia join our family a year earlier, I see now that God knew what He was doing as Paul can barely be contained around her now, I can only imagine how hard "gentle" would have been for him a year ago.

 

 ^"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers,^" -Philemon 1:4

Our Littlest Sunflower

Jon and I were SO elated when we opened the message telling us this last baby would be a girl, for many reasons, but one of them being that we were really over naming boys. 

You may remember that Jon likes traditional easy to spell and pronounce names and I prefer them to be off the charts unusual, but not hard to spell or understand. 

This time, Jon gave me a gift in allowing us to branch out to a very unique name. It’s probably safe to say no one else has ever had quite her combination of names.

Introducing....

Aphia Girasol Charles 🌻 

Aphia comes from the book of Philemon in the Bible. It means Increasing. She was likely Philemon’s wife and it is perfect that she was referred to as “beloved sister.” We took the liberty of removing the extra P the Bible uses (Apphia) to make it easier to spell and pronounce.

Girasol is the Spanish word for Sunflower. It literally means Turn to the Sun. It was Angie’s original name in Bolivia before she switched to Angelica (see story here.)

So Aphia Girasol means Increasingly Turn to the Sun.

I love the thought of our beloved Aphia being a ray of sunshine in this sometimes dark world. She is already a beautiful light to our family. And our goal for her life is that she would increasingly turn to the Son, Jesus. If she reflects His glorious Light I'm sure others will increasingly turn toward the Son through her little life. 

I'll leave you with this excerpt from Angie's 16th birthday post about Sunflowers:

Angie, mi Girasol, if you remember from the vast fields of sunflowers in Bolivia, they are drawn to the direction of the Sun, and when they face skyward they are in their full glory. Sweet Girl, you too, will be your most glorious, your most beautiful, exactly the perfection you were created to be, when you face heavenward, and look to the Son. Thank you for bringing so much light into our family. I know God will use you to shine into the lives of so many others for a long long time. 

Aphia, that applies to you as well now, mi Girasol.

Mis dos Girasoles 🌻 

Here is her print of the scriptures we chose for her, some from the book of Philemon and others about Increasing as her name suggests.

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." -Matthew 5:16

Jon's Mini-Me Turns 5

Isaiah is everything his little brother is not. He is careful, meticulous, articulate, sensitive, and deliberate. His vocabulary and speech impress us all sometimes. He is curious but in the genuine kind of way, not just asking "Why?" all the time because that's what kids his age do, but because he truly wants to know. He wants to know the difference between toads and frogs. He doesn't want to just memorize the history on our timeline, he wants to know about the events. He begs to do conversation starter cards with the family at dinner to start meaningful discussions. He invents intricate games and makes up songs about the Bible. He really likes chess, and we argue about how to castle!

At their 3 and 5 year check-ups there was one question I was able to easily and confidently answer the same for both boys though, "Do they show concern for others?" "Yes!" They are both sweet sweet little guys (most of the time.) 

Isaiah loves Home Depot Kids' Workshops, math, new toys, building things, and his family.  

4 has been a fun year. He's been old enough to sit still and appreciate outings. Jon took him to a monster truck rally, I took him to a Paw Patrol production, Angie and I took him to the movies, and we've been to multiple plays. He's tall enough, and now brave enough, to enjoy some big kid rides at amusement parks and even try out skiing. He started a homeschool community this fall, and he looks forward to it every week.

At Legoland, Paulie raced simple cars, we helped him put together, down the track dozens of times, while Isaiah spent half an hour with his Daddy constructing a fancy helicopter with treads (pictured below). He is rarely in a rush, which I could surely learn something from if I wasn't always trying to compensate for his unhurriedness by trying to get us out the door for crying out loud!

You guys, God decided that giving me Jon wasn't enough to refine me. Although I've had Jon demonstrating this laid back pace and calm attitude for 10 years, the Lord still saw fit to give me a mini-Jon in Isaiah. Let us pray that I am learning these lessons that God wanted to show me, about patience and appreciating other's differences, from these two and He doesn't decide to give me a third teacher on Monday in our Baby Girl!

4 is an age that comes with some awkward fake smiles, but here are some truly happy moments that I don't want to forget.

He methodically placed each peg in rows one by one...

Flying Helicopter with Treads

 

Homemade snow ice cream tasting!

His first official day of school.

My Mini-Me Turns 3

This guy has personality oozing out of every orifice! He is wild! He is stubborn, independent, challenging, persistent, strong, daring, and out of control. I have asked him on more than one occasion recently if he is 4 yet. Unfortunately, he is not, and there are no guarantees 4 will be calmer or more obedient than 2 or 3.

Thank the Lord He gives us small victories that melt me and encourage me to keep him. Tonight, after a long day of Isaiah being jealous it was Paul's birthday and me being ~1 million months pregnant, the boys were fighting over rainbow stickers. We made sure to get a package that had 2 rainbow stickers so they could each have one for their Valentine's box, but one of them was bigger than the other, so obviously they both had to have that one. We were really struggling to find a solution, Paulie even suggested the Biblical approach of cutting the beloved sticker in half, but I think Isaiah returned with offering to cut Paulie in half. Then as Isaiah fussed and spiraled further into a depression, Paul just casually gave it to him. He can be so kind. So, I'll keep him another day.

Even his Sunday School teachers who he has duped into thinking he's a fabulous helper and all around sweet kid, call him things like "The One and Only Paul." They barely even see the cheesy grin we are blessed with constantly, but something about him captures their hearts.

It is no coincidence that Paul's birthday fell on Taco Tuesday, God knows how to give His children good gifts. I heard once of a parent who had to call everything "Frosting" to get her toddler to eat it. Spaghetti Sauce is "Noodle Frosting," Ranch Dressing is "Salad Frosting," etc. We have implemented the same strategy with Paul using Tacos. One night of the week we have Tacos, another night we have Taco Noodles, another night we have Taco Soup or Taco Nachos, he's obsessed.

He is our first I-Do-It-Myself kid, although, he says "Ma" (a mix of me and I.) "Ma do it myself." "Ma got it." "Ma can do it." And he's often right, or at least you better let him prove to himself that he needs help, or you're in for a long battle. 

Someday, he will speak clearly and possibly act reasonably, and I will miss these crazy days when the word "No" means nothing to him, well maybe I won't miss that part specifically. But I do recognize that I'll long for the time when his world revolved around me. At least till Baby Sissy comes, he is still a Mama's Boy, and if you tell him you love him, he may very well answer with "Me Wuv Mama!"

Now, I think I'll go smother him in kisses while I'm feeling fondly toward him before he wakes up and starts driving me up the wall with his shenanigans again. 

One thing is pretty clear, he is going to change the world! Now to shepherd him in such a way that he does it for Christ.

Here are some of the pictures of him that I hope to remember from this year for the rest of my life: