The Eighth Post of Christmas: Lights!

One of the most beautiful sights of the Christmas season is the lights--from the soft glow of candles to twinkling tree lights to amazing outdoor displays. All of the lights serve as a reminder of the true Light--the light that forever shatters the darkness. While there are a few light displays in Brazil at Christmas, we really took advantage of being in the United States this year and drove around quite a bit, both in Wheaton and Baytown, to soak in the lights.

Traditionally, there is one neighborhood in Baytown that goes all out on Christmas decorations, so we started our tour there and took pictures of a few of our favorites. Unfortunately, pictures at night from a car with a small digital camera and an inexperienced photographer don't do the actual scenes justice. However, you can get a feel for some of the decorations that moved us most. While there were other houses that were decked out even more than these, it was the simplicity and truth that called out to us.


Once back home at my Dad's house, we enjoyed a few more beautiful lights--inside. My Dad always does Christmas big time, so we were thrilled to see his house in all its Christmas splendor--three trees, garland everywhere, a whole Christmas village along the windows in the breakfast nook. It was impressive. Here's a picture of my favorite part of his house at Christmas . . .
But my favorite lights of the season were the ones we gathered around morning and night to still and slow and read about the coming of True Light.

The Seventh Post of Christmas: Fun Stuff

I had originally intended to write the 12 Posts of Christmas before Christmas Day, but I only managed to get halfway there. So, I'll just wrap up the series during the actual 12 days of Christmas from now to Epiphany--hopefully. We've been having so much fun this Christmas season, and I'm so far behind in writing about it that I'll have to back up a few weeks to share some of the highlights. It hasn't even been two weeks since we left the snowy climes of Chicago to enjoy a green Christmas here in Houston. It seems like ages since we had to bundle up to hit the road, but before we left Chicago, we had two very special and unusual outings.

My sister-in-law Margie (seasonal fun and gaiety coordinator) invited us to join the kids and her on an evening trip to the Brookfield Zoo. The zoo normally closes at 5, but for several weekends in December, they stay open into the evening for crowds to enjoy Christmas at the zoo. The entire zoo is lit up with Christmas lights--even lights timed to music. Walkways are lined with Christmas tree after Christmas tree, decorated by various organizations--school groups, businesses, charities. It was very impressive and beautiful and FREEZING!

While not all the animal exhibits were open, some were available for the public. Seeing the animals at a different time of day from the usual was very special. Two young bison were frolicking in the snow, and the wolves were out and active (something I've never witnessed in many summer trips there). Since the zoo was less crowded than in the summer, we were able to take our time and view the animals much longer and much closer. We ventured into the bear exhibit where the polar bear was pacing back and forth around his pool. As the kids were standing nose to the glass that contained the pool, the bear took a flying leap toward the glass and landed, splash, right in front of their faces. They ducked and flinched as the giant form came flying toward them. Then, he swam back and forth right in front of the glass--almost as if performing. It was the most incredible thing I've seen at any zoo. Simply amazing!

We traveled around the zoo while enjoying the sights and staying warm by ducking into indoor exhibits along the way. We even came upon some magnificent icicles that the children used as swords the rest of the way through the zoo. It was a great and memorable outing!

The second memorable event was a marionette show titled, Christmas Around the World and was offered by a local library. We shared this experience with Margie and kids as well, and I don't think we'll forget it for a long time. The show, which lasted about 20 minutes, was truly enjoyable on a whole different level--especially the part in which Elvis came out to sing and dance. Yes, Elvis. Can you really have Christmas without Elvis? Jesus was mysteriously missing, but they had Elvis.

The Sixth Post of Christmas: On Christmas Eve

It's four o'clock on Christmas Eve, and I'm sitting down for the first time today to catch a few moments of quiet and stillness. We'll leave for the Christmas Eve service in just a bit. It's been a busy day of last minute preparations--cooking, running to the store for forgotten ingredients, keeping little hands occupied, cleaning, more cooking, and another run to the store for still more missing ingredients. This day has been all about preparing for the big family gathering tonight.

But the preparations for this celebration really began thousands of years ago when a man and woman chose to sin. And God began preparing to gather His family--His children--together again by sending His son, Emmanuel, to be God with us. The baby that would grow to be a man, wholly God and wholly man, who would buy us back with His blood. On this eve of Christmas, the only preparation that really need be done is the turning of hearts back to Him. A simple prayer breathed out, in a few quiet moments before we leave, "Thank you, God, for preparing a way, the Way, for us to get back to You, our true home. Come, Lord Jesus, come!"

The Fifth Post of Christmas: Girls Night Out Holiday Style

One of the joys of the Christmas season is celebrating. From the day after Thanksgiving to New Year's, there's one party after another. Friends, families, coworkers gather to share special times of celebration together. At the center of all these festivities is . . . food (yes, I know, Jesus is the reason for the season, but we'll use any excuse to eat!). Almost every family has food traditions that go along with Christmas. I've already shared my family's obsession with Velveeta, but our Christmas Eve buffet has gone unaltered for decades: dad's chicken wings, bacon-wrapped smoky links, cheese dreams (bread slathered in Old English cheese and butter, then broiled), deli sandwiches, summer sausage, chips and dip, and sweets of all sorts. It's a heart attack on a plate, but we love it!

This year my sister-in-law treated me to a girls' night out holiday cooking class the week after Thanksgiving. The class topic was holiday appetizers. We all sat in a beautiful kitchen, sipped beverages, and watched as the chef demonstrated how to make 10 different appetizers and two cocktails including a variation of a classic Brazilian, the Caipirinha.

Even better than the demonstration was the sampling. At the end, we sat around with our plates full of these delicious hors d'oeuvres and critiqued them. The recipes included: endive with blue cheese, cranberries, and walnuts; smoked salmon spread on cucumber rounds; capri stuffed cherry tomatoes; filo spinach and cheese logs; red pepper hummus; green olive tapenade; sweet and sour vegetable dip; mushroom tarts; white chocolate popcorn; and my personal favorite, hot chicken enchilada dip (which, of course, is a variation of Velveeta cheese dip).

I learned several things from the class including the role of garnishes as a clue to what's inside the dish and the importance of using full-fat mayonnaise. (I already had a gut level feeling about this, but the class confirmed it=). The most amazing discovery I made was the tart tamper. This is a little wooden dowel rod used to press pastry dough into mini-muffin cups to create small pastry cups. I could have used that little thingy when I was preparing mini pastry cups by the hundreds during the week of my wedding!

It was a fun, festive, and kid-free evening. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of these recipes find their way into our Christmas and New Year's buffet this year.

The Fourth Post of Christmas: Home for the Holidays

It's midnight, and in just six hours we'll be pulling out of our driveway to start a two-day journey from the frigid Midwest to the sunny South. We'll spend 20 hours in the car as we go from Chicago to Houston, but we are prepared. We've borrowed audio books and dvds from cousins, and added hundreds of Christmas songs to the MP3. In true Fawcett fashion, we've packed way too much stuff for one little Scion, but we'll make it fit somehow. We even hope to have room for the Christmas wreath that hangs in our front window, but have given up on fitting in our little tree. He'll get left behind, but we've packed the ornaments and Advent wreath to continue our Jesse Tree journey at Grandpa's.

Our kids have been excellent travelers, and we've made this trip as a family several times in the last few years. We enjoy the car time together--talking, laughing, listening to audio books and music, and watching a movie as the day gets long. We stop for breakfast a few hours into the trip, but eat a packed lunch on the go to cut down on stoppage time. For me, the trip this year is even more special as I head home for the holidays. This will be my first Christmas back home in nine years, and oh, how I've anticipated this celebration! As the song says, "There's no place like home for the holidays."

Here's a brief list of some of the unique things that being home for Christmas means:

Christmas Eve buffet which includes my personal favorite and very gourmet dish--Rotel Cheese Dip (yes, this is made up primarily of Velveeta processed cheese product which some people, like my husband, haven't acquired finely tuned tastes to appreciate)

Random and bizarre gifts from Dad that seem suspiciously like give-aways from companies or mail-in rebates

Stockings filled with toiletries (Hey, there's nothing wrong with receiving a lifetime's supply of shampoo in your stocking.)

A Christmas movie, usually chosen by Dad (until he was demoted after the year of Ma and Pa Kettle Go to the Ozarks) and watched together after all the festivities are over and everyone is practically falling asleep

A homemade Christmas program in which each family member must perform something and those more dramatic, show-stealing family members perform several things

Mom's Christmas Caramel Pecan Rolls

The Carpenters

The Christmas village underneath the tree with my Dad's childhood toy train puffing smoke as it chugs along

And, lots and lots of laughter!

Over the past nine years, we've started new traditions in our own little family--some taken from Nathanael's heritage and some that have evolved on their own. We've mixed them and matched them and added them to a few traditions from my childhood and in the process, we have created a new kind of Christmas--one I hope my boys will long to race home to when they're miles and even continents away someday.

The Second Post of Christmas: The Journey Begins

Last year we started a tradition that I hope is here to stay--the Jesse Tree. The concept of the Jesse tree is based on the scripture in Isaiah 11, "Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot--yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root." Beginning the first Sunday of Advent, we read one scripture passage a day and hang a corresponding ornament on our tree. The scriptures trace the story of redemption from Creation to Incarnation with every story foreshadowing Christ's coming and God's glorious rescue plan for you and for me.

This year as I prepared for Advent with Nathanael and the kids, I was thrilled to find that one of my favorite bloggers, Ann Voskamp of A Holy Experience, was offering a free, downloadable book of Jesse Tree readings, devotions, and ornaments. All the more special because I had used my birthday money earlier this year to purchase an Advent-to-Lent-to-Ascension Wreath handmade by her son Caleb.

I've been waiting months to place this beautiful creation on my table and begin the journey. . . a journey that spirals out beyond the Incarnation to the Cross. Bethlehem is but one incredible stop along the way as we follow the Light. It is at the Cross that God "rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13).

And so we begin, with lighting and listening and looking for Him.

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus!

For more information and directions for obtaining A Jesus Advent Celebration by Ann Voskamp and Nancy Rodden, click here.

The First Post of Christmas: Christmas Trees

I have limited experience with real Christmas trees, I'm afraid. Growing up, we used an artificial tree except for the year of the flocked blue spruce wrapped in blue lights and bedecked in blue glass ball ornaments in the new family room with blue couch and armchair. It gave new meaning to the song, "I'll have a blue Christmas . . . ." The first year Nathanael and I were married, we bought a real tree on our limited budget and decorated with ornaments that barely survived the move to Brazil a year and a half later. And our first year in Brazil, we bought a tabletop juniper bush that blew over every time the wind came gusting through our ninth floor apartment windows. There went a few more ornaments! After that, it was all artificial for us. Last year, Nathanael inaugurated and celebrated the ultimate in artificial trees--a towering pre-lit tree given to us by my dad in Texas and hauled all the way back to Brazil.

This year, with our precious pre-lit packed away in Brazil, we were invited to join our family here in Illinois for the ultimate Christmas tree expedition. We loaded into three cars and drove an hour and a half to a Christmas tree farm. It was a frigid late afternoon, so we bundled up and huddled onto the horse-drawn wagon for a ride out to the field where we would scout out our very own tree.

Since Nathanael and I were in the market for a Charlie Brown tree, we didn't cut down our tree, but bought it on the lot near the entrance. However, we did participate in the search and sawing ceremony for the other two trees. When the final choice was made, the children, led by the Christmas tree elf (who looks a lot like my brother-in-law Stewart), skipped and danced around the tree before taking turns using the saw. We trudged back to the entrance where the trees were netted and loaded up since it was getting dark, and the farm was shutting down.

At home, we decorated our tree with lights, red ribbon, and paper snowflakes leaving plenty of room for our homemade Jesse Tree ornaments to be added day by day until Christmas. The tree is small and simple, humble and handmade--a good reminder that God came unto the least and not the greatest. He came to lift the sagging branches of even the most Charlie Browniest of us all . . . the ones sinking beneath the weight of the world, the sins of others, and especially their very own sin. And He did it by lifting Himself up onto a very different, very real tree. The Cross is, ultimately, at the heart of Christmas. The Cross is why He came.

The Last of Autumn

My thoughts and heart have turned toward Advent and Christmas, but my blog remains stubbornly in the past. The trees are bare at last, and it's gently snowing outside. The rich colors of autumn are giving way to winter's white.

One final post to celebrate the last of fall blessings . . .

We had a neighborhood work day to rake up all the leaves early in November. The boys both enjoyed helping to rake and gather. Throughout the fall, the boys had fun playing in the piles of leaves.

Cousin Ellison celebrated his 11th birthday this November and hosted an amazing party, complete with treasure hunt and an epic battle in which two Celtic clans fought against each other to capture the treasure. It was a party to remember! Our friend Luciana made the cake--a very woodsy and realistic forest floor. Ethan went dressed to "kill" in Celtic garb (probably too many clothes on to actually be an authentic Celt=); Nathanael, a clan leader, even got to dress up.



We had a family movie and make-your-own-pizza night. The boys helped with all the preparations, and we watched one of my favorite musicals, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. They loved it!






We spent Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law Margie's beautifully decorated house. It was a completely relaxing and fun afternoon. We all chipped in to make the meal and do the clean up. The cousins played dress up most of the afternoon, and we managed to fit in a family game of football before the meal. At dinner we counted our blessings together--each sharing something for which we are thankful. It was a very special day, and we are thankful to have spent it together with family.

And now . . . on to December!