I'm not sure how many years Lona has been playing the piano but we have enjoyed taking lessons from Sue Gault. She's strict and makes Lona work hard but she's also kind and patient. She has a heart for kids and music. I have seen Lona flourish in piano with Sue. Every year we have a piano recital and I mark down music that other kids play that I like. This year Lona did the same thing and I'm hoping she is able to learn those pieces of music. 
"Yes"
"Have you done this before?"
"No."
Then I go through where to find the supplies and what to do. More people come in and again, I go through the spiel. Slowly they start to talk and there is a hum of voices and the
I told the kids that we were not doing stockings this year but I did anyway. A box of gum from Costco, some chocolate from France that I was saving, a pair of socks each, and a small personal gift. I see stockings as a way to sleep in. It gives them something to do when I'm not ready to get up yet or while I have my first cup of coffee. After Thanksgiving this year, I pushed to paint my living room. What does that have to do with Christmas? Everything. I wanted a lighter color than the red brick in there. I liked the red but needed a change and was tired of everyone having a red tint to their faces whenever I took photos in there. It especially lighted things up on Christmas morning when the kids were opening their presents and it was still dark outside. After presents were opened and I popped the cinnamon croissant rolls in the oven for breakfast. This is definitely going to become tradition. It is a four day process and it takes a little longer each day to do something with it but well worth it. It is flaky and crusty like a croissant but cinnamony and gooey like a cinnamon roll. Can you see the layers on them? That is layers of dough and butter. Oh so good.
A mother of a player on Job's soccer team was telling me that her family looks forward to a box of treats from another family member each year. This woman spends 12 days baking 12+ dozen cookies. Each day is a different type of cookie. At the end she has 12 types of cookies to package up and send out to family and friends. I know that is too ambitious for me but I can bake for my family a little. "What comes to mind when you think of Christmas cookies?"is the question that I asked my kids. This year I wanted to bake things that they liked and represented their idea of Christmas. I've rushed to bake cookies in the past because it was part of advent but I really didn't have time to really make anything and it ended up being a rushed not fun activity. Not one of my children really had a specific cookie in mind so I went through my recipe books and looked over pinterest to come up with some kind of special treat. Some of my favorites are pinwheel cookies. I love the orange and chocolate taste together. Sometimes I keep rolls in the freezer to pull out but didn't have any this year so I made up a batch to stick in the refrigerator for a day I could bake. Then I did the same with gingerbread. All that needed to be done was to have it rolled out, cut and baked to be decorated on a different day. Then there wer the buckeyes. I first tasted buckeyes at MSU. My roommate received a package in the mail with buckeyes and they were so delicious, better than a Receses cup. I've had cravings for those ever since. Thanks to pinterest I finally have a recipe for them. Then there are the Palmiers. These are so very simple to make. Puffed pastry and sugar, that's it. You can buy boxes of these cookies in France for everyday but they are oh so elegant and very easy.
Hope.
I look down the row of parked cars, my eyes scanning each side looking for a parking space. I turn down another row again looking for a place to park. After 10 minutes of circling the parking lot I finally find an empty spot. I squeeze out of the car, since I can't open the door very wide. The parking spots are meant fort mini coopers and not a van. The skies are grey and the clouds hang as one giant blanket blocking the sun from my face. I open the back and grab the grocery bags happy that I've remembered them. I walk into the store with a throng of other people. None of us smiling but the bustle and hustle is present. Christmas music is playing overhead but the children aren't laughing. I'm on an errand in between activities and time is quickly slipping by until I need to get the next child to the next activity. I need to be quick. The morning was filled with teaching and cleaning and cooking. The afternoon is filled with errands and more activities. The evening is filled with homework and more activities and more errands. December somehow adds on even more demands than a normal month. Quick I feel the time slipping through my fingers as if I'm trying to scoop a gallon of water with my hands. No time to pause and slow down to look and enjoy the displays. No time to feel the excitement just the pressure to make it perfect. That has been the status quo for the last I don't know how many years. I could sum up December with one word: overwhelming. This year though I have a new word: HOPE. I don't want to make it perfect. I don't want it to be exciting. I don't want it to be hyped up and then forgotten. I made a decision back in October to be calm during the month of December. I want to enjoy it with the kids not make it enjoyable for them. I am taking the month off to focus on the correct things during the month. I love youth group but I am spending time with my husband. My mornings are slower. I ordered a devotional from naptimediaries.com. Advent is the title. and I read from the Bible each morning and then the corresponding devotional. Love it. I also read the devotional from Shereadstruth.com. They are two different devotionals but they both speak about Hope. Hope as in a guaranteed expectation of things to come; healing for the broken hearted, comfort for those who are sad, rest for the weary. By the time Christmas has actually come I am beyond weary but this year I have Hope. I don't have to do everything, I can say no. I don't have to be everywhere, I can stay home. I am purposing to take time in the stores, to smile, to admire the hard work with the displays and to have Hope that this year is different.
