So Be Good for Goodness Sake!

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Lynn

My daughter posts on Facebook almost daily the adventures of “Chippy”, my grandbabies’ little Elf who hasElf on the Shelf shown up for the past several years at their home on December 1st.  He has numerous adventures in their home and then he mysteriously disappears around the same time the Christmas ornaments are put away.  For those of you who do not know this wildly popular Christmas phenomenon, it is based on a best-selling book and the Elves that accompany the book are considered “Scouts” of Santa who report back to him so he can manage his naughty and nice lists.  And that’s where the controversy starts…

Just like the Jolly Old Elf (Santa), the little Elf on the Shelf watches whether a child has been good or bad, supposedly motivating children to behave for at least twenty-five days in December so they will get their promised gifts.  Every parent has attempted this ploy in some form for generations warning their children that if they misbehave there is someone (something) who is watching them and will punish them or reward them based on their behavior.  Great killjoys like the Boogie Man is meant to scare kids into submission while The Easter Bunny will refuse to hop over at Easter and Santa will refuse to visit if Elf brings him a bad report about a poorly behaved boy or girl.  Psychologists despise this kind of behavior modification for child rearing citing the fact that believing an imaginary persona has any authority in the world is a lie.  (Psychology Today)  Others do not like the idea of being “spied on”, saying “…the Elf conditions kids to accept “increasingly intrusive (albeit whimsically packaged) modes of surveillance.”

My daughter, a great teacher, uses the little toy as another method to teach educational concepts and add a little seasonal fun to her homeschooling environment.  Chippy loves to read so he is often found with a good book and then encourages my grandbabies to sit with him while my daughter reads to them.  He also likes to bake and sets out all the necessary ingredients and watches intently while they decorate gingerbread men cookies.  The little Elf doesn’t spy on my grandbabies, he interacts with them and surprises them with daily activities that causes them to think and enjoy the world around them.

I grew up with “elves” in my home at Christmas too.  Both my parents were Danish and so Julenisse were a fun part of our Christmas traditions.  “One of the main Christmas characters in Denmark is a mischievous elf named Nisse. Christmas is a time when Nisse can have his fun. Nisse is said to live in the lofts of old farmhouses and he enjoys to play jokes. Nisse wears gray, woolen clothes, a red bonnet, red stockings, and white clogs. Families will leave him a bowl of rice pudding or porridge on Christmas Eve to keep him from playing too many jokes on the family. Usually Nisse is a kind and helpful elf who enjoys to help on the farm and he enjoys being good to the children. Also in Denmark the Christmas elves called Julenisse are appeased with rice pudding as well as dishes of seeds that are placed outdoors for wild birds.” (Denmark Christmas Traditions)

On Christmas Eve, for dessert my mother always made rice pudding that had a whole almond inside. Whoever found this almond would receive a prize.  I continue this tradition in our home and although my kids are never keen on eating rice pudding, they still manage to eat a bowl of it in quest of that elusive almond.

I don’t have a problem with elves.  I don’t have a problem with Santa…or the Easter Bunny…or the Tooth Fairy either.  I enjoy the fun these imaginary figures bring into the lives of our children.  As a teacher, I see educational value in using toys that foster creativity.  Elf On the Shelf does that.  However, both my daughter and I are purposeful in explaining the difference between what is real and what is unreal to our children.  My grandbabies know that although Santa and the Elves are fun, they are not real.  Santa does not know when you are sleeping or awake, or whether or not you’ve been good or bad.  My children are not accountable to Santa, or to a toy Elf, or a Bunny at Easter.  They don’t believe in these personas for salvation from their misdeeds, they know only Jesus can do that because they know that He is real and He does watch over His children (Psalm 121:5).  They know that His Word is alive and active in their lives.  (Hebrews 4:12)  They are accountable to God, as am I.

So, the true lesson to teach children at Christmas and all through the year is: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”  (John 3:16-21)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Family Life, Proverbs 16:9 - Journey Thoughts, Teach on, Teacher! | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alberta Weather Friday Funnies

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Lynn

Well, we’ve had a good laugh here in Alberta at the expense of yet another celebrity who has come to our fair province with an agenda.  In this case it was the “Titanic” star, Leonardo DiCaprio who mistook our blustery Chinook Snow Eater for proof of climate change.  As I have blogged several times before, our Chinooks can wreak havoc on those who are sensitive to sudden barometric pressure, but it can also within hours raise our temperatures from below zero to double digits.  Leo, while filming his latest film here last March, experienced a Chinook and said it was a “terrifying” event.  We Albertans are still laughing!

It is a common saying here in Alberta to “wait an hour and the weather will change”.  An exaggeration but not too far off the mark when it comes to our blustery, warm Chinook winds.  It’s not climate change, it’s a fact of life here.

So here’s some Friday Funnies that poke fun at our weird and wonderful Alberta weather.  Sorry, Leo, the first meme is for you:

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Spring in Alberta

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A Decorating Disorder

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Lynn

My good friends, Connie Cavanaugh and Kathy Howard have got the right idea: simplify Christmas!  I hear “gasps” world-wide as womencharliebrowntree race to their Christmas trees to give them a protective hug.  Believe me, I empathize with you!

“You’re not taking this away from me!” I hear from folks who have gone way overboard on ornaments, tinsel and garland.  It’s a seasonal disorder.  I have it too, it is probably inherited, and it requires me to overcompensate for lack of providing fun and frivolity for my family the rest of the year!  It’s a guilty pleasure!

It has grown to such epidemic proportions that rather than feeling the “Joy of the Season” I find myself dreading the annual decorating of the house and would rather climb up that craggy mountain with Mr. Grinch and just “Bah! Humbug!” the whole thing.

“Happy Holidays”?

“Bah!  Humbug!”

Christmas, believe it or not, used to be my favorite time of year.  I LOVED decorating and shopping…I was never much of a baker to begin with, but I made good attempts at Christmas even though I never baked during the rest of the year.  What I couldn’t prepare, I store-bought.  My kids didn’t seem to mind.  I had my shopping done for everyone on my list by October!  Now I tend to procrastinate…and procrastinate….

There was a time I couldn’t wait to put up my trees…yep, TREES!  One year I put up four of them!  I wouldn’t let my family help of course, because part of my disorder was that I believed no one could do it as well as I.  Certainly I allowed my children to assist when they were young, to give them that feeling of satisfaction when I said, “Good job!”, but later I could not stop myself from re-organizing and re-arranging ornaments they had put on the tree(s).  I hoped they wouldn’t notice.  They did, and eventually stopped helping as they got older.  As I got older, I got resentful they wouldn’t help.  I never thought that I had brought this behaviour on myself.

My husband had one task and one task only: put the lights on the tree.  I think he cheered quietly to himself when pre-lit trees were invented.

As the years went by my Christmas anxiety grew and grew because as I got older, it was more a chore to deck those halls and I was becoming less and less merry.  Anxiety I’ve learned is one of the major side-effects of this disorder.  Feeling weary by the demands I placed on myself, I knew I had to find a cure.  I had to stop the madness.  I had to down-size my decorating.

I also knew that it was not going to happen overnight.  No, I had to take it slowly, so it wouldn’t shock my family who had become accustomed to my seasonal disorder, and I knew I had a compulsive need to decorate.  To limit my decorating would be a shock to my system.  So, I thought of it like losing weight, no fad diets for me that might help drop weight quickly but can’t be maintained.  I knew the only sensible and long-lasting solution was to have a gradual reduction to help me and my family acclimatize to the new changes.

So I decided to put up one less tree.  No one commented or seemed to notice.  It was a small victory.  The following year, I only put up two trees!  Again, no hint of displeasure.  I was starting to wonder if my family were just uncommonly unobservant but I let it go.  The following year, I opted for pre-lit trees but I combined it with another change: the tree in the living room was no longer nine feet tall but now only seven feet tall.  I thought no one would notice.  I was wrong.

“Why’s the Christmas tree so short?”  The oldest said.

“Where are you going to put all your ornaments?”  Said the middle child.

“Hey, wait a minute…we’re missing some trees!” The youngest spouted.

The guilt was nearly overwhelming.  I had ruined Christmas.  I thought the kids would never forgive me.

They did.  Especially when they observed that their presents looked bigger under a smaller tree.  Go figure.

For many, many years now, I’ve been less and less focused on the decorating and more and more focused on the true REASON for the Season – Jesus Christ.

But I will admit my decorating habit is a hard one to break.

Last year I let the grandbabies help decorate the tree in the living room.  They could only reach the bottom branches.  My daughters challenged me to leave the tree as is.  I tried.  I REALLY tried…

Let’s just say I’m a work in progress.

 

 

 

 

 

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