Christmas Traditions

Joy to the World! We three Bovens are so excited for Christmas! Molly is sort of understanding the holiday for the first time and it's so sweet to experience the season through her eyes. So far, she knows that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and that's the most important part. Santa, reindeer, and presents are pretty intriguing too, but a little bit confusing. The other day we were out for a walk and saw a Santa decoration up in someone's yard. I told Molly that we might get to go see Santa sometime soon. She asked, "And Jesus too?"

We're busy refining our Christmas traditions again this year. Now that Molly is aware of what's going on around her, it feels like I want all of our Christmas traditions in place and set in stone, but I'm learning to let them sort of develop and change. It feels like such a balancing act to include enough special events to make Christmas feel important and memorable, but I think everyone has experienced those years when there are too many parties and productions. So here are a few of our traditions so far, some that we've thought through and orchestrated, some that have just sort of sprouted organically...

- Advent-  We're lighting some little votive candles each Sunday of Advent at home and talking about Jesus. This year we've just been repeating the phrase, "Jesus came and he's coming again!" Molly has a chocolate advent calendar and a picture one too that help her count down the days.

- Books-  My goal for the next couple of years is to gather enough Christmas books for Molly to unwrap one each night of December- not all new ones, just lots of special ones that come out of the basement each year to experience all over again. We're building up the collection so we've just opened one each Sunday so far and starting tomorrow, we have one for each day. (Thanks Mom and Beth for finding a few extras this year!)

- Christkindlmarkt - Chicago has a great German Christmas market that reminds us of the ones we visited when we lived in Europe. We try to make it at least once each year for a tasty brat mit sauerkraut and a look at all things Deutche! This year we went with Mom Francis and had a sehr gut time!

- Christmas lights - Molly has been really excited about the lights in our neighborhood. We've taken a few walks around in the evening to gaze at the displays. And from a 2 year old's perspective, the tackier the lights, the better!

- Sinterklaas/Santa Claus - This one still needs a bit of refining. Dave was really excited to celebrate Sinterklaas day, which is celebrated on December 6. While this is not an official Boven tradition, Dave remembers putting out his shoes made of milk cartons at school and getting little gifts from his Dutch teachers. We decided to put out our shoes with apples and carrots for Sinterklaas' horses to see what would happen... we were in luck! In the morning our shoes were filled with oranges, chocolates and Speculaas cookies (windmill shapes and everything!). Now we're on to Santa Claus... and we'll hang up our stockings for round two of the big red guy. All this seems very fun, but very confusing to poor little Molly!

We got to catch up with our dear friend Suzanne Micheals, who we served with at Black Forest Academy in Germany. She still works there and is on a year long home assignment. Molly was grumpy in the two pictures taken before this one, so the waitress taking the picture said, I'll give you a doughnut if you smile. Molly is grinning and the rest of us are laughing!

Yummy treats for Sinterklaas' horse! (What happened to the cookies we usually put out for Santa?)

Our shoes all lined up by the fireplace. Next year, maybe we'll go all out and get some wooden clogs!

The next morning... Molly just realized that Sinterklaas came!

YUM! These are the speculaas cookies nestled among the chocolates and oranges.

Molly put this outfit together. I don't think she has realized what those funny socks are actually for!

Christkindlmarkt nativity!

Checking out the German toys and practicing our German!

Brats mit sauerkraut! Mom cheated and got ketchup! That should be verboten, if you ask me.

Don't let the pigeons drive the bus! Molly got a kick out of watching these guys huddle around a little eternal flame.

The bottom branches of our tree are hanging pretty low. Molly  made sure to clump all similar ornaments in families!

Reaching up to the tippy top! Thanks, Dad for the tree!

Christmas craft time!

Some sweet reading time with Auntie Beth.

This weekend we attended a neighborhood Christmas party. all the kids are watching as Santa comes in.

Thanks for the gift, Santa! I like the way the kid behind Santa looks like he's about to snatch that gift away.

Molly and Lexi, our neighbor buddy, decorating cookies.

Opening a Christmas book while we celebrate Advent.