Gingerbread Trains

I have some friends who were wondering how these turned out. They were a huge hit! The mold is from Pampered Chef, but I'm not sure they are still available new from them. (I happened on ours at a yard sale.) I used packaged gingerbread mix, which I highly recommend. It is much less expensive than making the dough from scratch and super easy....leaves you more time for the fun stuff.

Mele Kalikimaka

Please enjoy our Praise Hula performance from last night's Christmas Eve service. Merry Christmas everyone!

Mele Kalikimaka

Christmas Morning

This post is mainly for the grandparents and family that we haven't seen for awhile.  I've picked a few of my favorite pictures from Christmas morning to share.  We all have no idea what God has in store for us next year at this time, with Kat turning 20 next year and with us expecting to be back on the mainland, so we all cherished each moment during our celebration of Christmas.  Harry read from Luke chapter 2 first thing in the morning set the tone for the day and helped us to focus more on Jesus, the real reason we were celebrating.  We also added a new possible tradition:  Prime Rib for Christmas dinner!  I am hoping that's a tradition we keep as it was very yummy.  All in all, we all thoroughly enjoyed soaking up our precious family time together.  Mele Kalikimaka!

Gingerbread Houses!

Before:

After:

Nativity

We have a fun tradition in our house. When we display our Nativity Scene before Christmas, we do not put baby Jesus in the manger. Callie and I "hide" him somewhere special until Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, we rise with joyous expectation to find baby Jesus newly in his manger. Last year, we added another fun twist to our tradition. Some friends of ours here in Hawaii turn their Nativity into a living journey! During the weeks before Christmas, the wise men, Mary and Joseph "travel" through the house as they make their way toward "Jerusaleum." One day, Mary and Joseph may be in the bathroom--the next, above the kitchen sink. By the week before Christmas, they are usually located in the living room, ready to make their way to the stable on Christmas Eve. We did this last year and had so much fun that our traveling Nativity is back for it's second round this Christmas. (We even have the wise men showing up a few days later.)

Even though displaying our Nativity is lots of fun, I was giving it some thought earlier today. I was listening to the song "One True God" by Mike Harris on the radio. Here are a few of the lyrics:

I don't have a God I can put on a stand
Or a God I hold in the palm of my hand
I have a God that's holding me
And I don't have a God that I can create
In the place I live with the money I make
I have a God, He made everything
So I don't need a temporary man made deity
When I got the real thing
I got the real thing

As Christians, we've got more than a little ceramic figure hiding in a box. Yes, it is fun and it is a great way to add another piece of the story into our Christmas celebrations, but it's not the REAL THING. The Real Thing is GOD coming down to earth and giving us the best gift possible in Jesus Christ. Forgiveness of sins is bigger than any tradition we can humanly create. I am freshly convicted this season on just how I can show others this passion of God. I can do that by letting Him use me supernaturally to show the love of Jesus to my family and to those I meet over the next few days. I can make my christianity personal to those who need Jesus. Aside from all the gift giving and merry wishing, I can make our Nativity the Real Thing as I allow Jesus to make His own journey through my heart to those He wants to reach through me.

Making New Memories

I couldn't help but think of my Aunt Titter (aka Aunt Hazel) last weekend as we visited the Mission House Candlelight Museum program in Honolulu. Aunt Titter is my mom's sister and she passed away a few years ago. She LOVED Hawaii! It was on a trip to visit her and my mom (halfway between the mainland and Japan back in 1990) when I first saw the islands. She made sure we had a fabulous time as we took in all that paradise had to offer. She relished in the details: We had to sit in the rocking chairs on the front porch of the Sheraton Moana Surfrider; we stayed in as many hotels as we could (my aunt was a travel agent!), we took dinner cruises, went to Luaus, and shopped our feet off.

So last weekend, as I sat listening to the carolers at the Mission Houses Museum, taking in the twinkling Christmas lights and real candle lanterns lighting the paths, eating fresh baked gingerbread and homemade hot apple cider--all of this after strolling through the historic grounds with some wonderful friends and family...my dear Aunt was on my heart and I so wished she could have been there to experience it with us. I know she would have wanted to linger a long time, but would have been cheerfully willing to be dragged across the street by the children for the Christmas Trees and Wreaths a the Honolulu City Lights. Our family and group of friends did just as she would have done: we took our time inspecting every decorated tree and wreath and all picked our favorites. I think Aunt Titter would have picked the one that I picked, which was a palm tree fashioned and decorated with colorful origami and lights!

Aunt Titter wouldn't have minded the rain that fell intermitedly (she would have reminded us that we were in Hawaii after all.) She would have been all for the trip through Jack in the Box afterward to pick up $1 sandwiches for supper (she was always mindful of keeping the costs down!) and she would have probably fallen asleep on the way home just like A.J. did. We really did have a nice time together on that bright Hawaiian Christmas night. I'm also very grateful for the wonderful memories I have of my aunt. I miss you Aunt Titter!

1 Cor. 13

I found the following "passage" HERE based on 1 Corinthians 13. I think it is very appropriate for those of us who want things "just so" in our homes for Christmas (this mom included!) Here's a picture of us trying to put into practice the Christmas version of 1 Cor. 13!

1 Cor. 13
FIRST CORINTHIANS 13

[CHRISTMAS VERSION]

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,

strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls,

but do not show love to my family,

I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen,

baking dozens of Christmas cookies,

preparing gourmet mealsand arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime:

but do not show love to my family,

I'm just another cook.

If I work at a soup kitchen,

carol in the nursing home,

and give all that I have to charity;

but do not show love to my family,

it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes,

attend a myriad of holiday parties,

and sing in the choir's cantata,

but do not focus on Christ,

I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love does not envy another's homethat has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way,

but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love does not give only to those who are able to give in return;

but rejoices in giving to those who cannot.

Love bears all things,believes all things,hopes all things, andendures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break,

pearl necklaces will be lost,

golf clubs will rust;

but giving the gift of love will endure.

--Author unknown

The Gospel in 6 Minutes - John Piper

John Piper, desiringgod.org

Our Christmas Photo

This year, we opted not to print pictures to put into our Christmas cards. I'm really sorry about this, but hope to do better next year. For now, we are hoping this picture will do. It's a little dark, but hey-when do you ever get to see a Christmas photo where the family is at the beach IN the water at sunset? (Yes the waves are lapping at our ankles, although you can't see it in this picture-just look at the expressions of Callie and A.J.--they say it all!)
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We hope you are all enjoying your Christmas celebrations. At our house, we are trying to keep the focus on Jesus. One of the ways we are doing this is setting some time aside most evenings to read through an advent story called Tabitha's Travels. Afterwards we light our advent candles, sing a real Christmas Carol (not jingle bells) and pray together. It's nice to share this time together as a family and reflect on the greatest gift of all-Jesus Christ. If you click on his name there, you can see a 6 minute video that may help you to focus more on the real meaning of Christmas as well. It is REALLY good! (Hint: It's the same video that is just above this post, so you can just view that if you want.) Let us know what you think!