Hey! Unto You A Child Is Born!

Pandemonium
Two (and a half!)  Christmas cookies for C. today was "one too many" according to Dad as a flash of limbs blurs by us.  "Careful!" I say more than (insert large number here) times, sometimes before the crash, sometimes after.
Balance.  Rhythm.  Priorities.
These themes surface more and more now that I am of "advanced maternal age".    And yet, Pandemonium reigns.  Well maybe it doesn't reign, but it sure rains down upon us often enough.
Advent and preparing for Christmas has always been a special, favorite time for me.  Advent wreath lighting, advent calendars (sometimes hand wrapped messages from mom), watering a real tree in our home, setting up the Nativity scene, decorating sugar cookies, even circling rock tumblers and easy bake ovens in the JC Penney catalog... what's not to like?
Now that I have children of my own, I realize that what made it into our lives and traditions must have in fact been very deliberate.  The amount expected to be crammed into this season is hectic and overwhelming, and even pandemonium inducing.  Without some sense of balance and priorities you are likely to be run over by a reindeer.
As toddler L. sings "Dudo" the red nose reindeer, I realize that although animated reindeer are not on top of our holiday priority list, music is.  Although I favor some of the more religious, heart wrenching tunes (What Child Is This, O Holy Night), little C. would be happy to keep "Albert" and the Chipmunks on repeat.  Watching my kids dance along with records just as we did, gives a very warm feeling indeed. 
Tripping along is how we are doing in regard to the rest of our traditions.
St. Nicholas did come!  Luckily we forgot to check our stockings in the morning as they weren't actually filled until a bit later.
The tree was decorated... not a real one... not white lights... But pleasantly weighted down with 3-4 ornaments per branch by toddler L.
We do have an Advent calendar on the wall and remember to read it... at least every day or two.
The Nativity scene is up, but C. made our stable out of a Melissa and Doug frog, singing tea kettle and lavender pillow (so the angel could look down where he lay)  :) There may also be a chip in baby Jesus, but I am not exactly sure when this occurred. 
We light a candle at dinner, but only tonight (on the second Sunday of Advent) do I realize it's C.'s Thanksgiving candle and maybe we should have moved on to Advent candles by now...
No decorating of sugar cookies (thanks Mom!, that must have been a lot of work!!), but we did mix up some Puppy Chow and Krispy Treats.
We have no art project's involving  a child's hand or footprint yet (we need Erica to help us with those anyway), but we did make some potpourri and wreaths!  Wreaths were possibly my favorite activity with C. this year because they were made with Daddy's old 45 records on a day that was exceptionally warm.  They were absolutely free to make and they turned out cute!  C. wanted to stay out cutting branches (from our bushes) all day!
Priorities?  Time together.  Treats.  Traditions.  Music.  Making. 
Balance?  Involving the senses of smell, taste, sight, touch, sound.  And as my children remind me, movement! 
Rhythm?  Well, maybe next year!
Happy Holidays to you and yours!!