13 days

Yesterday the hardwood floor was installed.  The cabinets are all in place.  All of the light fixtures are up.  They put the hardwood landing on the stairwell.  The tile as done in the shower and the master bath...  eeeeek!!!!!!  There is still a lot to do, but Paul said there were a ton of trucks there again today.

5 work days until walk through and 13 days until we settle!!!!

I'm still having a hard time picking hardware for the kitchen... thoughts on antique bronze to match the rest of the hardware in the house or brushed nickel to contrast the dark cabinets... hmmmmm...

15 days to go

We are so close!!!  It gets harder to wait each day.  There have been five to ten work vehicles on the property every day.  Electricians and masons, flooring specialists and excavators.  They have been working well past 6pm each night so we haven't been able to get inside.

As far as we can tell, the kitchen and morning room floors are done, the cabinets are in, some of the exterior lights are on, the driveway has it's first coat, the sidewalks are in, it is painted, the molding is done....

We have our walk through on December 22nd and that is 8 days away!!!!  Then we have to wait 6 days until settlement on the 28th.  boo!!!

In any case, we are very excited!

Oh and there was a teeny rainbow in the sky today above the house!

Live Nativity 2011

On Saturday we headed to the Birdsboro Chuch of the Nazarene where I had seen a live nativity advertised.  We had an amazing time! 

Outside they had lots of animals including goats, sheep, a donkey, a llama, chickens and a dove.  There was a live band playing Christmas music, a Santa, and a children's barrel ride.  Maeve cried on the whole barrel ride after begging to get on!

Outside there was also an inkeeper running around talking about not having space in the inn.e

When we went inside there was a room with tons of cookies and hot chocolate and a craft.  After a snack  we headed into the sanctuary to see the live nativity.  I was sooo impressed!  They had a Mary and Joseph and a real baby.  There were shepherds with real sheep, wise men, and more chickens and doves ---- in the sanctuary!!!!  It was dark and reflective and all the while a video of the Nativity movie was playing with quotes about Jesus birth.  Because for as long as I can remember I have been working during Christmas, I felt like I was hearing the birth story all over again..I loved it.  After we sat for a while we decided to leave and Noah begged to stay... so sweet.

We took another look at the animals and then headed out.  Each child got several books, silly bands with nativity figures, and crayons.  I was very impressed!

We then drove around looking at the lights and enjoying all of the decorations.  It was a great Christmas evening!!!!!

Jolly Old St. Nick

While I absolutely love Christmas I have been hung up on Santa for many years (dating well back into my teenage years).  I have always felt that the two stories were in conflict... not historically but because of the consumerism of season and because most people don't focus on Jesus during Christmas.  I cringe when I hear parents bribe their children with the naughty list and threaten that their presents will be taken away.  Noah asks me a lot of questions now and I was dreading my conversations with him.  I really don't want to lie to him and yet I want him to have his own sense of imagination.  Last year we told him Santa was imaginary and he was so crushed that I felt terrible.

I had a friend once who believed in Santa longer than all of his friends.  One day on the bus everyone surrounded him and told him Santa wasn't real.  He still believed.  He ran home in tears and begged his mom to tell him the truth.  She told him and he was so utterly disappointed in her.  Over the next few days he came to believe that Jesus wasn't real either because all he had to go on were stories and didn't have proof.  This was a pivotal moment in his faith.

I have also have friends that have gone to great lengths and continued gigantic lies to their kids to keep Santa real...  One mom made up a series of lies that she had to keep tripping over.

And another friend's daughter is convinced that children on the Angel tree are naughty because they don't get their presents from Santa.  Ugh.

So, this year of course Noah is asking again.  And as the season approached I cringed.  I just didn't know what to say to him.

So, finally when he asked me one day I told him what I believed.

I told him that a long time ago there was someone named St. Nicholas and he gave presents to boys and girls that didn't have presents because he was kind and good.  He had a real sleigh that he drove around in the snow to get to people's houses.  Everything that he gave he gave in secret because he loved to help people.  He gave gifts because he loved Jesus and believed that God wanted him to share his wealth with others.

Noah got very serious and asked why St. Nick would never come to our house.  I looked at him confused and asked him why he would say that.  He replied that we already have a lot of toys so St. Nick wouldn't come to us.   He asked if St. Nick was still alive today.

I told him that St. Nick died a long time ago but his spirit lives on and the Santa that we see everywhere is the magical spirit of St. Nick that is only alive if you believe in it.  That sometimes people stop wanting to do good for others like St. Nick did and sometimes people get greedy and don't want to share or help. But if you always remember that the real "santa" wanted to help because of Jesus then the magic spirit of Santa will always be alive.  And that sometimes as you grow up people stop believing in the magic spirit. But always to remember that St. Nick gave because he believed in Jesus.  

He looked at me very seriously and said:  I will always believe in the magic spirit of Santa, mommy!

So, now it has been really fun.  When he saw a few Santas this weekend he said, I know they aren't real mommy but I want to go and sit on their laps!  We went to a craft fair on Saturday and there was a giant old fireplace.  He ran right into it and looked up the chimney for Santa.  He seems to know that Santa is real for him and loves being caught up in the fun of it all.  It really truly makes me happy to see his joy, to not squelch his enthusiasm, and also to be able to promote something positive, faithful, and sweet.

Family Fun Night, November 2011

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we were hanging around and the kids were going stir crazy.  We decided on a rare whim to use a coupon for Chuck Cheese for 200 tokens for $10.  It was wonderful.  It's not really my kind of place and Maeve is really too small for all of the games, but they ran around for hours and played and played.  I thought Noah and Paul looked like they were in a band here... so cute!

After we left we were driving around.  I showed Noah and Maeve my childhood home in Reading, my elementary school, and other places where I grew up.  We took them up to the pagoda which they loved.  Except... they kept calling it Kai-lan's house (a popular TV show for children about a girl who is from China!).

It was such a fun night and I love sharing bits of my childhood with my kids!

Maeve's Christmas Pagaent

This past Sunday, we visited a friend's church.  The church was having all the children do a Christmas show for the service, and our friend's daughter was singing in part of it.  We though we would put Maeve into the nursery during the service, but found that the nursery children were part of the show as well.  They asked if we wanted Maeve to be part of it, and upon asking her, her response was Yes!  We didn't think she would actually go through with it, but she did!  No screaming, no crying ...