Christmas is Here Again!

Christmas is Here Again! December 9, 2014

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood — Amy Scott @ 4:20 pm

December started with relief and stress. On December 1st, I called the City of Winlock and discovered that they had one court case scheduled for the month and it has been canceled. I asked what that meant for me having jury duty. I was told that I was released from that commitment. I was a little stunned and asked if that was for the week or the whole month. Of course, it was for the whole month when the once case gets canceled. I couldn’t believe my good luck. I was so grateful. I had been dreading having jury duty and had even requested to be excused from it. In good small town fashion, I never heard back from them about asking to be excused, but that is okay, because it all worked out in the long run. That was the relief part.

The other part of December 1st was spent going over my notes for my speaking engagement at MOPs the next day. During Owen’s nap time, I hunkered down in my room and practiced my message. I timed it to figure how long I was going to take. I practiced the pace and the tone I wanted to set. After practicing a few times, I went through and formatted my notes for printing. Later that evening Jeremy took Owen grocery shopping, so I printed my notes and went through my message another three times – this time practicing eye contact and not being glued to my notes. By the end of the day, I was feeling like the message was as internalized as it was ever going to be. I just had to pray that things would go well the next day.

I’m happy to report that things did go well. In fact, I think I was the calmest and most collected I’ve ever been while speaking in front of a group of adults. I’ve put certain skills aside as I’ve entered this season of stay-at-home mommyhood. I was reminded that even though it terrifies me, I do have the ability to share the gospel in a pubic way in front of adults. I loved the message that I got to share. I got to talk about extravagant love and what that means during this time of year. I got to share about the extravagant love of God and what Jesus did for us by coming to earth as a baby. It was a good message. One that I have been deeply impacted by. My life has been filled with extravagant love. The love of my God, my Savior. Also, the love of my family and friends. I am loved and blessed and humbled. I’m so grateful for how the whole day turned out. It couldn’t have been any better.

With things being busy around the church for Jeremy, Owen and I got some quality mommy/son bonding time over the last week. Jeremy joined into the Christmas festivities when he could. We got our Christmas tree in phases this year. Friday, we got the tree. Saturday, Jeremy got the tree into the house. Sunday, we decorated the tree. Now that the tree is up, it really feels like Christmas time once again. Jeremy has another big weekend at work and then he has vacation time. I’m so excited! We have some festive plans that I’m really looking forward to. I’m debating whether or not to try to get Owen’s picture with Santa. I have this sinking feeling that Owen won’t be too interested in being placed on a stranger’s lap, but part of me thinks it’s worth a try. Who knows? Maybe he’ll love Santa.

I’m doing my best to make peace with Santa. I didn’t grow up in a home where Santa was a big deal. I don’t remember getting gifts from him. In fact, my mom told me when I was really little that St. Nicholas was a good man who gave gifts to kids and died a long time ago. She wanted me to have a “historical” view of Santa. She wanted me to know that he was “real” but just not in the way that TV made him out to be. All my little mind heard was “Santa is dead”. Now you might assume that I was crushed, but no. I found this fact very interesting and worth sharing with the other kids who came in contact with me. As you can guess, that spread some Christmas cheer and made a lot of parents happy with me. All that to say, Santa is a new thing for me to incorporate into the holidays. Owen will get one present from Santa this year. It’s a nice present, but it isn’t the best present. My friend, Christa, once told me that Santa gets the credit for presents that parent’s get their kids. This really stuck with me. I want the credit for a good gift. Not Santa.

In other news, our family had a great time visiting Zoolights this last weekend and celebrating my nephew, Keegan’s, upcoming birthday. Owen loved looking at the Christmas lights. He enjoyed playing with the rope lights throughout the zoo. One of Owen’s words is “light” so this was right up his alley. Speaking of words, Owen has also learned the word “hot” and uses it to point at the stove and coffee mugs. Lots of things are “hot” these days. Owen has taken to dancing right now. He loves to dance to the “Hot Dog” song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He also likes to dance to NSYNC and “What Does the Fox Say”. He is quite the twinkle toes these days. The music moves him! It’s so fun watching his personality develop. He certainly has his likes and dislikes. He loves to take off his shoes and socks. Stuffed animals have become his buddies. He loves to destroy anything I build with his Legos. He is growing into quite an interesting and unique little human!

Well, that’s a brief snippet of December so far! I’m looking forward to all the holiday fun still yet to come. I’ll keep you posted as the month unfolds! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! Yipee!