Blessing through Music and Books (and one movie)

This is the part of a series of posts 

on having a joy-filled Christmas. 

Access the rest of the posts here.

One of the ways we can be present and enjoy the season is by reading books and listening to lovely music together. Compared to DOING things, these are generally restful, focused, family activities. And best of all, mess and stress free!

Music

I favor Christmas carols over more modern music, which grates on my nerves rather quickly. To me, there is nothing lovelier then choir or traditional singing of old Christmas Hymns. It just seems to breath life and peace into our days. Here are some lovely versions on YouTube:
Oh, Come all ye Faithful
Oh, Come Oh, Come Emmanuel
Oh Holy Night
Do You Hear what I Hear
Silent Night
Beautiful Star of Bethlehem
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
What Child is This (Greensleeves)
Handel’s Messiah (Full Version)
Handel’s Messiah (Christmas portion)
For Unto Us
Hallelujah Chorus 

Books

  A Christmas Carol
The classic holiday book. A Christmas Carol is short, fun, and just a tiny bit spooky. Acceptable for older elementary aged children, and great as a family read-aloud. Don’t fall for any gimmicky adaptations, the original is the one you want. Younger children probably won’t be frightened by the story, but the language might be a bit above them, even as a read-aloud. Dickens himself wrote a shorter adaptation for children, I haven’t read it but it might be worth a look. This book is in the public domain, and is available free in the following places.
Kindle version
Free Online and E-Book
Free Audio Book

Becky’s Christmas, Tasha Tudor

Like many Tudor books, this is pricy. It is out of print. But it was one of my favorite books as a child and I read it every year, even as a teenager. It was lost for many years after my marriage and I searched for an affordable copy because I desperately wanted to share it with my own little ones. Last year, I discovered my own original copy, on my mother’s book shelves!
Becky’s Christmas is an old-fashioned Christmas story. It is full of obscure and lost traditions, accompanied by Tudor’s famous illustrations. All the members of the family are engaged in making Christmas gifts for each other, including a big surprise in the barn for Becky. On Christmas Eve, the best gift of all is waiting for Becky . If you want to spend a bit extra on a book that is completely worth it, or just keep your eye out at garage sales, this is a treasure to watch for.

  One Wintry Night
A picture book for the whole family, One Wintry Night is the story of a boy stranded in the neighbor’s house during a blizzard. She starts telling him a story, and the real adventure begins. Beginning with creation, the book moves through the Bible, paving the way for Christmas. Beautiful illustrations.









 Jan Brett
The favored illustrator has several Christmas books. I recommend the classics, The Twelve Days of Christmas and The Night Before Christmas. We always enjoy searching the margins she decorates on each page. I enjoy finding classics every child should know, and Brett’s illustrations are some of the best.

Video Reading of The Night Before Christmas

Apple Tree Christmas, Trinka Noble
A charming Christmas story about a pioneer family living in a barn. During an ice storm their beloved apple tree is killed. When Christmas arrives, Katrina is given a very special gift from the ruins of the tree. The inspiration for this story comes from the author's father, who built her very first drawing board.







 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost
This poem is perfect for a child’s picture book. The classic is given beautiful pencil illustrations in this version I recommend by Susan Jeffers. You can also read it free at the following links.
Online version
Video Reading

One Movie

  The Birth of Jesus
This is a video created for children from the Visual Bible series. The movie is in the ‘story within the story’ style. The children’s uncle (Kirk Cameron) visits to read the Christmas story and the story comes to life. With words taken directly from the Bible, this is a movie of the nativity that doesn’t add to the story. Beautiful filming of the Christmas story, although some of the acting in the family scenes is not quite as high-quality. Because I am hesitant to offer my children Bible stories in movie form because they so often change the story, I am happy to see this available on DVD.
YouTube

The Joy-Filled Christmas: Clutter-Free Christmas

This is the part of a series of posts 

on having a joy-filled Christmas. 

Access the rest of the posts here.

One of the biggest things that steals the joy from the holidays, at least around here, is clutter. When clutter happens, mom starts getting stressed and frustrated, and that is never good news for anyone. So how to keep the Christmas season clutter-free? With gift wrapping, decorations, baking and crafts, it seems like the month of December was made for clutter and messiness.

I don’t have all the answers. In all honesty, this blog series is for me as much as anyone. I love holidays with children. But I really struggle being at peace when I am surrounded by clutter, even ‘good’ clutter like cookie baking or crafting mess. But I don’t want to avoid all those fun activities, either. Now that we are back in a pretty small house with no extra room for hiding a mess, it is even more difficult for me to deal with. So I am going to attempt to simplify by focusing on what really matters to us as a family.

I plan to ask the kids what is more important to them, and focus on that. I am guessing they will want to do some crafting, baking and frosting cut-out cookies, and go sledding. They will also want to use our traditional count-down calendar with activities to do. That part is a little tricky this year, since they will be spending Christmas and a couple of weeks at their father’s house.

Here are some really basic organization principles I am going to try to keep in mind during the upcoming season.

Clean it Up. We have all heard it before. When you move on to something else, clean up your mess. Even if you aren’t finished with it. This is a hard one for me, especially when I am “going to get right back to it”. Inevitably, it is much longer then I expect before I am working at it again, and the mess frustration starts to build. Even just stashing the mess in a basket or drawer keeps it out of eyesight and helps with the messiness.

Keep it Simple. I really don’t have to bake 25 dozen cookies at once. Or decorate the house, tree, and hang lights all in one afternoon. Smaller projects sometimes mean splitting it up into several sessions, but if is means I can finish and clean up before I get burnt out, it’s worth it.

Keep up with the Routine. This is a hard one for me. I love having a routine. But I always want to just let it go when fun things are happening. I end up regretting it later when my counters are covered with dishes, there is nothing for supper, and the laundry pile is threatening an avalanche.

Don’t go to Bed with a Dirty Kitchen. Yeah. This one really doesn’t happen here. I am still trying, I see the point, I love it when it happens. But… Yeah. When I am tired, I want to sleep. Not clean.

Limit Projects. The kids (especially the girls) love to DO things. They get a ton of enjoyment from baking, crafting, and projects. I really have to keep them focused on finishing one before they start another, keeping them small (no cookie marathons!) and cleaning up after every. single. time.

The Joy-filled Christmas: Pretty Wrappings

I love wrapping gifts. I’m not very good at it, but I love doing it. When I wrap presents they typically have crooked rough edges and the corners aren’t matching. They sometimes have patches where the paper didn’t quite fit. I hardly ever use bows, and when I do they are just the cheap stick-on kind.

On the other hand, I have seen some really lovely gifts. They are just stunning. Edges folded neatly under. No tape showing. Huge hand-made bows and everything perfectly centered and creased. You don’t even want to open them. I love gifts like that.

But if I handed a present like that to my children, they would rip all that loveliness into shreds because they know that something better waits inside. Something intended to show all the love the giver holds for that child. No time is wasted looking at the outside when the real treasure is waiting underneath.

That is the kind of Christmas I want to give to my children. I don’t want it to be about wrappings and bows, and doing all the right things. I don’t want it to be about the best cookies, prettiest gifts, most festive decorations, or perfectly hosted parties. I don’t want to worry about how clean the house is in our Christmas pictures. I don’t want to think about how perfectly the children are cutting out the cookie dough or how well their Christmas dresses match. I don’t want to try and make our wrappings perfect. Because the real treasure isn’t found there.

But I really want our season to be about beauty, family, celebration, joy.  I want to enjoy every second because that second will never come again. I want to treasure the look on the toddler’s face as he watches the tree lights come on the first time. I want to enjoy every flour-filled minute of cookie messiness. I want to go sledding and not care how cold I am. I want to spend the evenings listening to Christmas hymns and not caring how much we DID that day, because what we ARE is where the treasure is found.



I want the quiet to ponder, as I do every year, the girl who sacrificed everything to birth the Savior of the world. I want to watch the falling snow and remember the family who struggled through the long miles to Bethlehem. I want to remember the incredible gift of the Creator wrapping himself in frail humanity and walking among wretchedness.  I want to sing the songs and pray the prayers and live and love.

This Christmas let’s forget the wrappings and enjoy the treasure.

This is the first in a series of posts 

on having a joy-filled Christmas. 

Access the rest of the posts here.

The Joy-filled Christmas

Christmas can be a stressful time, especially for mothers. As we try to make the season full of perfect moments for our children we often forget that what they want most of all is a happy mom.  I pray that this short series on keeping the joy and peace in Christmas will bless your family this season.  It will have gift ideas, reading suggestions, traditional things to do, and a focus on keeping the season relaxing and fun for everyone- including Mom!

Pretty Wrappings 

Less Clutter, More Peace

Keeping your Joy

Holiday Traditions

Blessings through Music and Books

Keeping Away the Gimmes 

Twaddle-Free Gifts for Littles

Twaddle-Free Gifts for Girls

Twaddle-Free Gifts for Boys

Make-over Complete

After a couple of weeks and a lot of trial and error, our blog has a brand new look. We even re-named it and created a Facebook page! If you haven’t already, please go ‘like’ us so you can get all the new posts on your Facebook wall. You can also add your e-mail for updates that way, if you prefer.

I mentioned that there would be something exciting coming in December (exciting to me anyway!) and I am ready to announce it. I am going to write a short series called A Peace-Filled Christmas. It will have gift ideas, reading suggestions, traditional things to do, and a focus on keeping the season relaxing and fun for everyone- including Mom! I will be posting the first in the series soon, so keep an eye out and don’t forget to follow A Thoughtful Spot!

Under Construction

We are going to be changing, updating, and generally making-over this blog during the next few weeks, so please forgive our messiness! Also, after our updates are all finished, look for a fun surprise in December!