An Advent Update and thoughts on pondering

Liam and TJ braving the cold

Although I am really enjoying celebrating Advent with our little experiment, I am finding it hard to fit time into my day to blog about everything that happens.  Life in the McGibbon Zoo is really never dull but around Christmas it seems that there is always something happening.  Daniel put it best this past week when he said, "I thought we were suppose to be trying to have a low key Christmas?"  I really had no answer and all I could do was laugh.

It seems that no matter how hard we try to make life simple the scheduling and responsibilities of a six person family can become complicated really quickly.  So to be honest although I wanted our Advent experiment to be the focus of each day, it has seemed that we have been trying to fit it in around life this past week.  In reflection, I am not sure that this is a bad thing just different from what I thought it would be like.

I have enjoyed spending at least some point in our day focused on trying to figure out how Jesus would have celebrated.  Our advent reading every morning with our Jessie Tree Ornaments have been a special time and one that I am looking forward to each day.  Today's reading was on the Lord is My Shepherd.

Daniel cutting down our perfect tree

If you follow Jason's blog you will already know that Tuesday we made our annual trip to Rina's to cut down our Christmas Tree.  This has become a favourite tradition at our house.  The trip went as it often does each year with the whole family tramping through the field looking for that perfect tree.  I always pick one that is perfect but maybe just a little too big for our house.  This year was no different and our tree is beautiful and quite large around the middle.  My husband is a sweet heart and worked hard to fit it into our family room and it is perfect.

Our Yearly Sleigh Photo

The other tradition that we continued this year was to take a photo of the kids in the Christmas sleigh that is at the tree farm.  I do this every year and it is fun to look back and see how they have grown.  At 6 ft Daniel almost doesn't fit in the sleigh with his brother and sisters so he was a good sport in letting me take this shot.  Lots of fun happens each year on our trip to pick out our tree and it is a tradition that has us spending time with one and other as family.

  Later in the week we decorated our tree.  My tree might not be a designer tree but each ornament has a story.  Each year as we gather together to decorate, all the stories are retold again by the kids.  They love to hang each ornament and the centre of our tree is always the place where we hang our Nativity ornament set.  Many of my favourite Christmas memories have happened as we have hung our nativity scene on our tree.  We talk about what it must have been like that first Christmas night.  My mind wanders as I look at the kids and I wonder what Mary must have felt all those many years ago.  A first time young mother and her baby is the Son of God.  What must she have thought as dusty shepherds were straggling in to see her son?  I wonder if she felt guilty about not being able to give Him a proper place to enter this world?  Scripture says In Luke Chapter 2 that after she witnessed all of this that she pondered these things in her heart.  As I was watching my kids decorating, I was pondering.  I was pondering this journey that we are trying to walk with God and I was pondering how I have seen God intervene in my life and in the lives of my husband and children.  I wonder what my life would look like if I took more time to ponder?