So, what about the blessings? Well, we had to cut some and move swiftly on to blessing each other. On quite a few days this looked like setting up the kids with a xmas movie and being blessed with peace and quiet. We also asked the kids to think about how they could bless someone in school who they didn’t get on with. After 3 days of trying, Caleb came home and told us how he had let M, a kid who is sometimes mean to him, go into the queue in front of him. M jumped at the offer and then swiftly turned round and kicked Caleb. Never too early to learn that blessing isn’t always reciprocated. Elijah, when asked what he had done to bless an annoying friend said, ‘I ignored him’.

Over dinner one night we decided to go round the family and for each person, you had to say what really blesses you about them. This was very sweet but the boys felt they each need to add to theirs some things they were great at that others missed out. No self-esteem problems here….

We all got back to health and happiness and sleep about 2 days ago, just in time for our annual xmas trip to W5. Every year we go on the 23rd because we always have the place completely to ourselves. Except someone let our secret out, because we had to QUEUE when got there. I huffed and gave dirty looks for about 10 minutes until I realised there was still only about 50 people in the whole building. Much fun was had, we went on the Santa train and got to meet the great man himself, at which point Juju predictably started screaming.

So that’s us caught up til today when we have making up for lost time with Santa letters and gingerbread houses. A few tense moments when writing to Santa when Caleb and Elijah both started asking Santa for things that had NOT been on any previous list. Not good, but they were skillfully manouevered into writing down a fair approximation of what was waiting for them 2 floors up in the attic. Phew. Juju, when asked what she wanted from Santa this year, said, with pout, ‘I want my PRESENTS!’. Alrighty then.

While meandering round Ikea, (Ikea childcare: another little blessing for tired parents), we found a wee flatpacked gingerbread house kit and this was how we spent our morning. More was eaten than ended up on the house, as is traditional, and JM did a sterling job of the actual barn-raising bit.

 New jammies/hot chocolate and xmas stories will be this evenings advent activity. When they are all tucked up, pretending to sleep and listening for reindeer hooves JM and I will be starting a new tradition. It really just involves a bottle of Cava and all our favourite nibbles from this year, a 2011 smorgasbord if you will.

So that’s Advent 2011. Not quite what we had planned, but full of hope and expectation ,even if at times it was just for a full night’s sleep. And though we didn’t quite get to bless all the people we had planned, we had fun trying and blessing each other in the process.Wherever you are, whoever you are sharing the festive season with, God bless your home and hearth this night.

Don’t be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born.

 He is Christ, the Lord.

We managed about 10 houses before Caleb tripped, fell and faceplanted in someone’s driveway. Not quite the christmas greeting they were hoping for.

So we left Elijah and Jm to it and went home to tend wounds and cheer up with some burgers and chips.

Speaking of postmen, a quick book plug for those who haven’t come across it for  The Jolly Christmas Postman by the Ahlbergs. I am a huge fan of anything the Ahlbergs have produced, ‘Each Peach Pear Plum’ and Peepo being nursery chart-toppers in our house. But their Pocket Postmen series are my favourites; beautifully illustrated, a funny take on a postman’s journey through the world of fairy tales, this is made made irresistable by the actual lift out letters. Many, many happy hours spent with these books. This year we added the Christmas postman to our christmas book bag and I think it’s the best yet. A great xmas pressie for your kids/neices/nephews/any small child you find in the street.

The place we go to is in the most beautiful setting, just on the west side of the bann near Castlerock. The trees were supposed to be harvested 6 years ago but instead have grown tall and close together and form one big christmas thicket, into which the 10 of us fought. They were all way too big to just chop at the bottom so we had to try and hack them down from half way up. JM and I would have been completely useless at this by ourselves,ending up grumpy and poking each other with pine needles. No false modesty here, our later attempt to get the tree to stay upright more than proved the point with a very stroppy stand off over a bag of vermiculite.

Another festive treat was a trip to Coleraine’s only proper sweet shop to spend our St Nicholas gold. Little white paper bags filled with treats make me very nostalgic for childhood and my weekly quarter of cinnamon lozenges, for the princely sum of 25p. My Gran’s handbag always had an assortment of brandy balls, chocolate limes and murray mints and Sunday nights at church, someone in the row always could be counted on to share their mint imperials. We spent a very long time in the shop, helping the boys work out what goodies they could squeeze out of their pound coin: two quarters of cola bonbons (I don’t remember them…)  and various brightly coloured E-tastic crap. The sugar high could last days…

Today was Hibbert Xmas. Mum and Dad are off to my sister’s in England over xmas so we had our own wee celebration today complete with crackers and after dinner board games.

There’s not enough photos, is there? Sorry about that. Must do better. Tired and sleepy now. Will bless myself with wine by the fire accompanied by Jm and a book. Night night.

Which also happily left us with babysitters all set up, so himself and I took ourselves off for a wee drink and a late night movie (Moneyball, v.good btw). Which brings me to today’s advent blessing.

There is a wonderful lady in our church who is affectionately known in our house as Granny Dianne. She’s warm, kind and funny, one of those people who who delights in kids and makes them feel loved and wanted. She’s been such a help to us in the last few years, always willing to babysit and just love our kids really well. My three adore her and none  more than Juju. Dianne has had a heartbreaking few years and it has always seemed that wee Juju always knew when Granny Dianne just needed loved on and cuddled. The two of them are inseparable in church.

So today’s activity was to have Granny Dianne round for dinner and make her some christmas cards telling her why we love her and appreciate her. Cabesy’s imagination has gone into overdrive these days, so his looked more like a graphic novel with the bizarre addition of a homemade, old-fashioned pocket watch. It all makes sense somewhere inside that head of his. Junia,the ever-resistant-blesser, refused to participate and instead felt the best way of loving Granny Dianne was to keep her company all night while we were out, long after lights-out. So self-sacrificing.

Anyway, that left JM in charge of todays’s advent activity. We’re starting to think now about ways we can bless our community and we’re beginning with what I thought would be gentle introduction.

The idea was to get the kids to each pick a couple of books and wee toys to donate to the monthly car boot sale, run for charity, at The Sandel Centre. Now in fairness, I had forgotten that I had done a fairly comprehensive clear out not that long ago, so I wasn’t giving them a lot to work with. Cabsey came up with nothing, despite a thorough search and Elijah wanted to give all his favourite toys away. So we have ended up with nothing! Not an auspicious start. I did, however, discover that I had never actually dropped all that other stuff off at a charity shop, so we’ll just have to say that we got a head start on this one.

I also buoyed up my spirits nicely with a little retail therapy. I had promised myself I would wait til the sales, but what’s a girl to do when the sales start early? I have a few xmas parties to go to and next-to-no excuse to be glam the rest of the year so I threw myself into trying on beautiful, sexy little numbers, (narrowly avoided purchasing a dress that amounted to an elongated boob-tube) and found a dress that made me sigh with pleasure and not cry at the till. Splendid.

I’m not feeling so christmas cheery this week. Even before the discussion of malaria death and floods. My xmas tree plans have been thwarted and I don’t have the energy to try and seek out another one. I have considered just drawing one and sticking it up on the wall, at which point Jm looked at me with some concern. I’m still knackered after the weekend and feel caught up on the xmas treadmill of events and to-dos that I can’t find my way off. Even nice plans, like going to see Martyn Joseph on Thursday at the Errigle, feel like a hassle with babysitters and travel. Bah humbug.

Maybe I need one of those SAD lights. At this time of year I just want to hibernate and am never found too far away from either a duvet or a fireplace. Then come spring I come alive, a wee energiser bunny, walking and cycling everywhere and spending all the time I can outdoors. I must be part hedgehog. Or maybe today part grumpy bear.

The kids have put their shoes outside their rooms which is traditional on St. Nicolas Day in a lot of European countries. Despite having done it last year the kid’s couldn’t remember what this was for. JM helpfully told them that St. Nicholas would leave a poo in their shoes. Thanks for that.  A pound coin and some chocolate is what I had been planning. But hey, if he’s happy to clean out the shoes…actually, no that’s just gross any way you think about it.

I’m hoping to keep posting but both our laptops are now not working, so it may be a bit of a challenge!

When I was thinking about what we could do this advent to bless people who live far away from us I remembered Habi and thought it might be high time to see her as more than just another monthly outgoing.  So we have been looking at photos and all the info World Vision has sent us over the years about her and imagining what life in Senegal might be like. We’ve been praying for the things we think she might need, like protection for her area of Senegal from more floods and from mosquitoes. Caleb wrote her a letter today with a million questions and now quite fancies living in Senegal himself ( I think not going to school is the main attraction).

I am completely and utterly zonked after my crazy weekend. The Light and Life fair was really different this time, with mostly christians turning up, but again so many incredible stories of God reaching out to bless and heal and encourage. The rest of the team have been doing this sort of stuff a lot longer, I have a lot to learn from them and they are really inspiring to be around. I’m still taking baby steps and learning to discern the spirit in it all but encouraged; that it is in learning to be myself  and rest in that, that I am best able to hear the Father’s heart.

I saw the broken-hearted, the weary, the despairing and the lonely given dignity, worth, compassion, and love. And not a tract or sneaky preach in sight. Love for love’s sake, because it is powerful stuff and it makes all the difference. The women I got to sit with today told me stories of their lives, sometimes with words, sometimes with the scars on their forearms or the sag of their shoulders. Betrayal, addiction, loneliness, fear, courage, hope, weariness, anger and a fierce love for their kids. At the kids venue they got spoiled and engaged with and lavished with christmas spirit. And here’s the thing, every one of the other volunteers that I met felt the privilege of being able to do this, to get to be involved and meet these incredible single parent families. Hope blew through Coleraine today.

In other news, the boys had a blast at the planetarium with the grandparents and our activity today was to find out more about Habi, the little girl we sponsor in Senegal (more on this tomorrow) and bless her by praying for her and her family.

Tomorrow promises more craziness as I do a Light and Life fair in Coleraine. More massage! But this time combined with some prophetic stuff (she said nonchalantly, scared shit-less). We did one in Portrush a few months ago (I have good reason to be scared..) and if you want to find out more about it click here