Today, I would like to pause for a moment to wish you and yours a safe and Merry Christmas. I would also like to thank the men and women that are serving overseas and protecting our freedoms this Christmas day as well.
Merry Christmas
Today/Tonight is Christmas Eve. A night that is holy for those that are believers that Jesus was born on Christmas day. But, it is also something more than that. It is the day that kids look forward to all year, in hopes that they have been good enough for Santa to come for a visit.
This year for Christmas Eve, we are doing something a little different. We will be staying at home and starting our own family traditions. In the past, we’ve stayed at my Father in law’s house, but this year, we wanted the boys to wake up in their own bed. My wife and I have spent a lot of time talking about traditions that we each had growing up as children and things that we wanted to start doing with the boys and I think. After church, we’ll head back to the house and have dinner, put on new Christmas PJs and watch a few Christmas movies.
For my wife and I, we are getting to witness for the first time that joy and excitement in our boys faces when they see Santa on TV. I don’t know that I can even put into words how excited I are to see what Santa is bringing the boys, but if I had to guess, there will be a lot of trains appearing Christmas morning. But just seeing the boys faces light up for the first time after Santa comes, I don’t know that I will be able to put into words how excited I am going to be.
I’ve been asked a lot lately from my wife what I wanted for Christmas and I give her the same answer, every time, which is nothing. I don’t know if she is just not able to wrap her head around the fact that I have everything that I need. I have my family. I have my friends. I have two amazing little boys. What more do I need?
There are certain Christmas movies that I love watching every year and the Charlie Brown Christmas is one of them. And I dare say, I could probably recite a good portion of the movie if asked. But there is one part in the movie where Charlie Brown asks if anyone knows what Christmas is all about? And Linus sums it up pretty darn nicely.
I have been blessed beyond words. I have more than I will ever need. I have more things, things that do not matter. But there are people that are really struggling this year. Whether they do not have a home or heat for their home or enough food for their family. And then there are those that do not have enough money this year to provide gifts for their kids. Those are the ones that need things. They need the essentials of everyday life. They need food. They need a roof of their heads. They are the ones that we should be asking, what do you want for Christmas this year?
I have challenged my family to do 1 simple thing, help someone else out with the money that they were going to spend on me. Did my wife and I over do it for the kids this year? Maybe? Did my wife and I over do it for each other, not as bad as last year. But the real question is this, did my family help others and the answer is heck yeah we did. We have given more this year to charity to help those less fortunate than every before. And when the boys are older, and old enough to understand, I fully plan on taking them to a homeless shelter to serve those that are less fortunate. Because I want them to see and understand what Christmas is really all about.
I happen to catch The Bible series last night on the History channel and towards the end of the movie, they showed Thomas and how he doubted that Jesus had returned and it got me thinking if I was a Doubting Thomas.
John 20:24-29
New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Do you find yourself questioning things, especially as it pertains to God? I have. And there might be times that I still do? But, I know that I doubt less than I did. I think that it is part of growing older and dealing with life situations and how my faith has increased.
But I am challenging myself to be less of a Doubting Thomas and more of a believer, and not just for myself, but more importantly for my kids. I want them to look at me as they grow older and see how I respond and how I have faith. Faith is a hard thing, and like Thomas, it takes seeing to believe and there are times in life, that you can not always see things to know that they are real or that they will come to be.
So in this time of the Christmas season, a time where little children show us that they have faith in Santa Claus and the birth of Jesus, I hope to cast aside my doubts and believe more and take more leaps of faith.
Everyone has a bad day. Everyone is allowed to have a bad day. But what isn’t allowed or should not be allowed, is taking out your day on your kids. And I think that there is fine line that people walk, some can recognize that moment that they need a breather and those that do not.
For the first time as a father, I saw that line, but was able to recognize in the moment, that I needed to walk away. What happened? Nothing really. I mean, I had been awake for over 18 hours, I was home with the boys alone all day due and due to the weather was not able to make it into work. My wife was called out for work and was gone. The boys had played hard all day and we had had a great day. I had cooked and cleaned the house. But for whatever reason, Baby A was up at 1:30 am that morning, and when I went to put him down, he was fussy. He would not go sleep, even after rocking for almost an hour. I was tired, I was hungry and I really wanted to goto bed.
As I was rocking him and asking him questions to see if there was anything wrong, he looked up and said “I love you daddy”. And in the moment right there, being awake for 18+ hours, being alone all day with the boys, being tired, being hungry and everything else, just made it all worth it.
Growing up, the Friday after Thanksgiving, my family would venture out to a Christmas Tree farm and cut down our Christmas Tree. It is just something that we did, don’t know why? But it was our tradition.
You see, I don’t have a lot of great memories from growing up because of issues between my parents, but the memories that I do have pertaining to going to cut down a Christmas Tree are some of my favorites. I remember that my sister and I would pill into the back of our station wagon, yes, I just outdated myself, and we would go and cut down a Virginia Pine. My sister and I would each pick out a tree and then our parents would decide which tree we cut down and took home. I sometimes don’t remember what I ate for lunch today, but I can remember running around the farm finding a tree just like it was yesterday.
As I have gotten older and even when I moved to Texas, I continued that tradition of going to cut down my tree after Thanksgiving. But, when I got married, I got married to someone that grew up having an artificial tree. I don’t ask for a lot and I’m pretty accommodating, but I draw the line at artificial trees for Christmas and out of the 8 years that we’ve been together, we have a form of a live tree 7 of the 8 years. And I say somewhat of a live tree because, for 5 years, we’ve purchased table top live Fraizer Fur trees.
But this year, this year was different and it was my wife’s idea. One day before Thanksgiving, she mentioned about us going to a Christmas Tree farm to cut down a tree for the boys. She thought that they were old enough and big enough, to not take down the tree. So, that is what we did, except for going and cutting down the tree, as we found a local farm that had some pre-cut trees. And thus far, the boys have loved the tree.
Every morning, as we bring the boys down to the living room, the first thing that they say, most time even before we get to the living room, can we turn on the lights? The boys have really seemed to enjoy the tree and lights and we even let the decorate the tree.
So to the start of new traditions and a future of getting a Christmas Tree together as a family and starting the Christmas season. And more importantly, I hope that this starts a family tradition for the boys, that will carry over to when they grow older and have families and children and can pass down this tradition as well.
Growing up, I looked forward to a snow day, now, not so much. Now, instead of going out and playing, I have to shovel the side walk, clear cars, help others, etc. As a kid, a snow day meant going outside and playing in the snow.
But, even though a snow day has changed for me, it isn’t that bad. I love watching it snow. I love watching the boys walk up to the window and talk about it snowing and wanting to go outside. I love that. I just don’t love the other parts that come with a snow day.
Today, we got another 5 – 6 inches of snow, on top of what we got this weekend and my wife was called out for work and the nanny couldn’t make it in. So, I have a snow day with the boys and I have loved watching their reactions to the snow, but I wonder if they will continue to love it as the winter goes on?
Hopefully after nap time today, we are going to go out and enjoy the snow day.
It is amazing how life can teach you lessons, at any age. Last night, I talked with a friend and she began to tell me how her husband was struggling with drinking again, work wasn’t going well, but that she had her family and children. Life, even when she was down, she focused on the positive.
Another friend reached out to me last night, upset because he and his wife were having a rough patch. But, through it all, they realized how much the other was giving and putting forth to making their relationship work, but because of struggles of life, they were not seeing what the other was doing.
My wife, who works in the medical field, was on call last night, goes on call for 48 hours this weekend, which means that I’m Mr. Mom this weekend. But, her job affords us the opportunity to have her home during the week several days during the week.
Is it hard? Sure. Is it challenging? Some days. But isn’t life? Doesn’t life present challenges that we have to face every day? But it is how we deal with life and the challenges.
A simple statement, but sometimes, it isn’t so simple, yet so meaningful. Over the last several weeks, we’ve noticed a HUGE difference in Baby B. He is talking a lot more. He has averaged at least 1 new word a day.
But last night, after I put the boys to bed, he stood up and said Thank You Dad. Wow. Where did that come from? I didn’t even know that he knew the words Thank You, let alone know how to use it correct.
Thank You, Baby B, for learning more and really growing your vocabulary.
The words that no parent ever wants to hear from their child’s Doctor. But those are the words I heard the other morning. Baby A has been having a pretty rough time lately with a really bad cold. But he started getting better and then literally overnight, he was coughing and the coughing turned to croup. The cough didn’t get any better after a day or two so we called the Pediatrician to have him checked out, because his breathing was a little different this time. He was still playing, eating and acting like himself for the most part, but this time, he sounded like Darth Vadar when he breathed.
The Doctor and I were talking and she very calmly told me, that Baby A as expected had the Croup cough, but that he also had Stridor, which is something that I had never heard of. I give the Doctor a lot of credit, I guess she saw a little bit of panic in my face and she basically explained the treatment, which was a steriod and if that did not resolve the problem, that we would need to goto the ER for breathing treatments. But, she suggested that we drive with the windows down on the drive home and then also going to the playground, because with it being a chilly day, the cold air will help with his breathing.
So, that is what we did. Got the prescription field, drove home with the windows down and then after his nap, we went to the playground. It was cold running after he and his brother, but it helped. We did not have to goto the ER, this time at least. And I’m sure that at some point, we will, but we were at least able to avoid it for the time being him.
We are almost a week into the cold, again, and I think that we are getting over the hump of the cold. Or I hope at least. But, I will say two things: 1) I hope that you have a great Pediatrician that you trust and that is available, even on the weekends and 2) please look for the signs for Croup and Stridor. Though not super dangerous, from what I’ve read, the Stridor portion can be if not monitored. And even though I love Star Wars, I can’t imagine talking like Darth Vadar is a fun thing.