Home on the Range: Christmas in Review

At the beginning of this Christmas season, I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish and enjoy. Here is that list:

1. Teach Ben that Christmas is about Jesus' birth.
2. Help Ben learn generosity.
3. Not worry about money.
4. Not snap at Chuck, Ben or any other innocent bystander.

I simply wanted a peaceful, worshipful, happy home for the holidays. In years past, I have been guilty of being snappy at the very people I love the most. Get out of my way! Can't you see I'm trying to do something nice for you?!?! Yeah, not what I wanted to do this year :)

I would say I accomplished those goals about 80 percent. For the last month, Ben and I have been reading children's books about Jesus' birth. Our two standbys were The Animal's Christmas Eve and The Very First Christmas. Like most two-year-olds, Ben likes to read the same books over and over again and he especially loves donkeys (which are heavily featured in Christmas stories so that helped).

Ben made all the animal sounds, pointed out the donkeys and the "GaGas" (cats). He also enjoyed pointing out the Jesus' star, kissing baby Jesus goodnight and declaring his hatred for Mary. I think he doesn't like that she's on top of the donkey or maybe it's because her eyes are closed in a lot of these pictures, but he always points to her and says, "Ick." I try to tell him, "Benny, that's Jesus' mommy, she's a nice mommy." He just looks at me and hisses. Fine - hate the virgin Mary, but seriously that makes no sense.

I've often wondered why Jesus was born in a stable and after actually delivering a baby (well, being in labor for a day and having him cut out of my belly - not sure if that's a real delivery), it makes me really sad for Mary. I can't think of anything worse than being in labor while riding on a donkey, delivering your baby without your mom and with your new husband, while out of town in a stable. But now I think maybe it's because kids love animals so much, it helps them learn about Christmas.

I'm not sure how much of this Ben really understands. Does he understand that babies grow up to be adults? Is it confusing that sometimes Jesus is a baby, then he's a man, then we pray in His name? I'm really not sure how much sinks in, but if he understands Jesus was born and animals, people and angels were happy, that's probably enough.

To help Ben learn generosity, we made pictures and ornaments for the people we were going to see on Christmas. When Ben received a gift from someone, I wanted him to have something to give them in return so he could learn that gift-giving is a two-way street.

There are little green scribbles
in the left corner. While
Ben was writing he said,
"Bean!"

This was an exercise in patience because 1.) I hate crafts - they are tedious and lame and 2.) I hate crafts with two-year-olds. If you want a mess to clean up and glue all over yourself, your cat, carpet and child, by all means, plan a craft. We made our presents on Christmas Eve and basically ended up with paper, pom poms and stars all over - Ben even had one little gold star stuck to his bottom, which I didn't remove because he looked so festive.

However, I think the sentiment was a success. Ben was super excited about opening gifts this year (finally learning that wrapped boxes mean toys) and he seemed to like giving too. Next year, we'll either do the craft earlier or put together little baskets of no-bake treats. Baking is also bad news with a toddler unless you like sweeping up flour and throwing away all the cookies with finger prints (oh, who am I kidding - eating the finger-print cookies.) I think I'll also let him make a list of people he wants to give a "gift" to.

I made my list and budget early and didn't stress about how much Christmas was costing even once. Yippee - that's a 100 percent victory. And I only snapped a Chuck once on Christmas day (that's basically 100 percent for me). I didn't even glare at the man who cut me in line at the post office while I was holding three packages and a crying two-year-old. Yes, single man mailing one envelope-sized package carrying nothing else, clearly your time is more important than mine and obviously your hands are more full. Please, go ahead of me.

For next year, I think my goals will be the same; although, Ben will be more involved and it will be more challenging with a seven-month-old baby tow. I think we'll add more books, more movies and more activities. Stickers are an okay "craft". I'll probably also spend more time reading the story from the scriptures too.

I had a list of activities I wanted to do with Ben and we actually made it to everything.

1. Winter Wonderland at the Bass Pro Shop. We went with Cole and Noah in the afternoon and had a great time. We watched a model train, rolled monster trucks, raced cars and even got in a little target practice with a Nerf cross bow. It was a really fun FREE event, but if you want to see Santa, pick up a ticket during the day and it moves you to the front of the line.

2. Jackson County Christmas in the Park. Ben loves lights and even though we spent almost two hours in the car (one of which he was out of his car seat and doing really helpful things like turning on our hazard lights) it was worth it. Ben loved it. Next year, I think we'll go earlier in the season and earlier in the day.

3. Trains at Union Station. We saw the model trains at Union Station and that was by far Ben's favorite activity. We went through two rooms of trains or "choo choo beans" as he likes to say. Ben also rode a small train and met Santa, whom he looked at with suspicion.

Christmas fun at Union Station

Don't look at me, Santa!

Lone rider on his first time around.

Hi Mama!

4. I hosted Christmas dinner for my parents and Barbra and Curtis. I made table decorations out of mason jars, left over Christmas greenery and cranberries I meant to bake into bread, but never did. We had a fun time and Ben learned his grandparents' names. He still calls my mom "Mama". But he calls my dad "Baba Jack" and Barbra "Nee Nee Ba Ba". She's lucky. I did burn the ham because I put it in the crock pot with 12 hours to cook instead of eight (math at midnight is always dangerous for me), but Chuck's perfectly fried turkey made up for it.