Here We Come A Wassailing....

Short Version:

2 years ago, our family walked across the street and Christmas Caroled to our neighbor. One and done.

1 year ago, our good friends, The Corbetts, joined us on vocals and mandolin as we serenaded 7 or 8 homes in the lower part of our neighborhood. We sang a tune or two to each house...many of which were very surprised and blessed by our gift of song.

This year....
14 of us went out to spread some Christmas Cheer to the Michael Lane/Wayne Ave. area of Dudley, MA.

We recently began attending a new church and have quickly become connected with some wonderful families.....families who love The Lord, and love each other...families that want to do right, honor Him, live and learn by His Bible alone, and enjoy time with one another. Tonight pretty much hit all of those points.

It was a great night for caroling....48 degrees...not too cold for folks to hold their doors open to listen to a song or two.
We went out with a pretty basic 3 song setlist:
1. Jingle Bells (we had 4 kids under 5 years old...they had a good time jingling bells and laughing all the way)
2. Hark The Herald Angels Sing: We HAD to add something about Christ in our set. Plus....I always get all rev'd up at the "Join The Triumph Of The Skies" part.
3. We Wish You a Merry Christmas...just a classic wassailing set-ender.

Our first practice was also our first caroling stop...the deck of my parents home....a dress rehearsal, if-you-will.

A little blurred with no flash but....you get the idea.

After that...we hit maybe 12 or 15 houses in our neighborhood. It's kind of funny....When you knock on some one's door unexpectedly in the night and then burst into song on their front lawn....our culture isn't used to that. So, usually, the first song is spent with the homeowners trying to pry family members away from the TV to come and listen and/or keeping their dogs from jumping through the glass storm door and tearing us to shreds. I will say that, by the middle of the second tune...every family we visited was on board and singing along. We even brought one woman to tears. Booya.
here's some random shots of us on the road:






We nominated Timmy Nault as our official caroling photographer...so...while He wasn't in most of our actual caroling shots...we had to pay him his due (complete with his kind-of-creepy, kind-of-cool fur hat):

Trust me...he's cool.

We even had a "Drive-by" caroling occur when a van that was driving down the street stopped to see what was going on...they got jumped with an unexpected "Jingle Bells" before they sped on their way.

Our night ended back at our home with delicious Hot Chocolate, tasty Winter Brews, lots more music, and lots more laughter. Easy....Simple....Perfect.

When I started facilitating drum circles years ago, I read and recited a quote from and African drum instructor, Babatunde Olatunji, who said :
"All people, from all walks of life, all colors, we have things that we can do together, and it's the simplest thing to make music and sing together..."

Add to that Psalm 147:1:
"Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him".

It was wonderful to bless our neighborhood with song this evening. It was even better to honor the Lord through good, happy, pure times of rejoicing this precious season with friends and family.
I am grateful for my friends, old and new, that I shared this night with. I am more grateful to celebrate the season...and to have honored The Lord...the Creator...who clothed Himself in His own creation...who came to us...and came to love, know, teach, guide, and inspire us.
I would love nothing more than to go back in time, to "join the triumph of the skies" and proclaim our Saviour's arrival with the angelic hosts.

Tonight may be as close as I'll ever get.

I'll take it.

1st Annual Homeschool Christmas Program

I remember as a (public schooled) kid...basically being forced to participate in the annual Christmas pageant. I can remember over the years dressing as a Sugar Cookie (complete with pink rosy cheeks...which I'm still not happy about), also the Captain of the Toy Soldiers and, in 4th Grade, even getting a chance to perform as the big man himself...Santa. Add to that the countless shepherds and "Heavenly Hosts" choir members from church plays...I always loved being a shepherd...it was basically the "We've-Got-Too-Many-Kids-In-Our-Sunday-School-Class-So-We-Need-Fifteen-Of-Them-To-Be-Shepherds" corollary...which meant that you got to look cool in your shepherds get-up and carry a big stick...but you didn't actually have any lines....except maybe "Hark!" and then pretend to be scared when the angel shows up with his "good tidings of great joy".
Chrissy's Christmas pageant experience, as far as I know, starts and ends with her stunning performance as "The Monotone Angel" in a Christmas pageant around 4th or 5th grade...you'll have to ask her more about it for details.

Anyway...being a homeschooling family (granted, we are "homeschooling" a kindergartner and a Pre-K'er), it seemed only right to put on some sort of Christmas Program. So here we go:



Our Audience:

Our neighbor "Miss Nancy", our good friend Carol, and grandma 'n Pa. Now, by now, The Corbett's are reading this and saying "Hey, what gives??!!"...not to worry, you are in for an exclusive performance on Christmas eve :^)


Chrissy guiding the kids in their opening Scripture Recitation. "Hide The Word in their hearts..." know what I'm sayin'?


"Mary Had a Baby Boy" sung to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb".


Next up was the homegrown puppet show of the book "Room For a Little One". The kids nailed this. My favorite set piece is the angels in the upper corners of the nativity...On the left is Ivy's...to the right is Gavin's....Hand outlines for wings....foot outlines for bodies. The "hay" ain't bed, either.


Little Drummer Boy (and Girl)


Presentation of Gifts...."Gifts" being a homemade Christmas ornament and a card (with nothing inside it).

And last, but not least....

Every Christian Homeschool Christmas Pageant needs a birthday cake for Jesus, right? I mean...Christ gets honored...we all get to eat cake....everybody wins, right?

The night wasn't without it's mishaps, highlighted by Ivy, in the middle of the performance, completely lifting up her dress over her head to announce that she "had an itch".

We didn't photograph that.

Thank you to my wonderful wife who invests so much of herself into our Children. it is a true blessing to be able to leave for work everyday knowing that the hearts and minds of my children are left to be moulded by the hands of my amazingly capable and talented wife...as she uses her gifts and listens to the leading of The Holy Spirit...what an amazing blessing.

At the end of the night...I took a stroll around the house. I love our home the most at Christmastime. here's a few shots that I grabbed:


Our nativity. Every year, I get Chrissy a new piece...although we may have to curb that tradition as we are running out of space on our server.


From the dining room, towards our tree...with Christmas Card wall in the foreground.


From right in front of our Christmas tree...through the dining room, and into the sun room....with the fireplace in the background We love strings of lights...we keep them up year-round...as well as tea-lights. I've always been big on "mood lighting"....so wonderful...so relaxing....

"The blessing of The Lord, it maketh rich, and he add no sorrow with it" - Proverbs 10:22

He certainly ain't talking about legal tender.

Amen.

Wreathing Havoc

So...second year in a row...probably gonna become a family tradition....

The Leo Family Homegrown Christmas Wreath.

If you remember back a blog or two ago...the one about the 12 ft. tall Christmas tree...when all was said and done...I had a solid 5 foot of pine tree bottom sitting in my side yard. This became the greens for our 2011 Christmas wreath.


We started by setting up our dirty ghetto table in our dirty ghetto driveway...hey...that's how we roll 'round here, know what I'm sayin'?!
We used the octagonal frame that Gavin and I made out of scrap wood and "L" brackets last year. In this shot, Gavin is using some pliers to take out last years staples to get ready for this year's greens.


Starting to attach some greens.


The girls arrive with the lights.


Almost done with the greens. A quick side-note. To those who have a super keen eye for keen observation...you'd notice that during many blog posts and facebook update
photos throughout the past 2 1/2 years or so, I'm wearing the same ratty, washed-out, stretched-out long sleeve black T-shirt that you see in this photo. The truth is...I'm wearing this shirt inside out because on the front-side it says "50 Cent G-Unit" and has an icon of a bullet with wings. Not my style at all but...Truth is....
I bought this shirt at a thrift store for 3 bucks like 3 years ago....and being a big, fat dude....this shirt has been key in some hardcore snow removal, gun-range shooting, and overall cold-weather protection over the last 2+ years or so...I can't begin to describe how comfortable this shirt is...It's getting a bit gnarly these days...but I'm not-at-all ready to get rid of it. It continues to be a key component to my Winter Well-Being...Anyhow...let's get back to the topic on hand....


The girl with the bow.


Stapling up some serious Winter-Berries...We're almost there.

A silly little basket-head...]

So....with greens, lights, pine cones, and berries attached....

Here's what she looked like all set up:


...and here's what she looked like come nightfall:




Blessed and thankful for the Lord's guidance, peace, and provision.....and praying the same for you and yours this Christmas season and into the New Year.

Merry, Merry Christmas,

Stamping a Moment in Time

There are eras/days/events/hours that you wish you would never have to live again.
There are eras/days/events/hours that you never think about after they happen...just a flash in the pan, then dissolve into some distant memory that you may or may never recall throughout your life.
There are eras/days/events/hours that are so important/epic/life-changing that you will forever use them to mark life-long changes in your path through life.
There are eras/days/events/hours that you just want to look back on fondly because they were just pretty awesome.

Tonight falls into the last category.

To make along story short:

Chrissy went out to do some Christmas shopping tonight. It was me and the two little ones for the bulk of the evening. Some things to note:

It's Christmastime.

It's the first night in 2 weeks that it's even felt "Christmasy" and chilly.

I had this night planned and in the bag from the get go....complete with a night-before stop to WalMart for supplies.

We made These:


Watched This:


I hung out with Them:


I drank one of These:


While curling up next to This:


Simple. Fun. Family. That's just about all I need.

Merriest of Merrys to you!

God Bless.

Extreme Tree Trimming

Well...like many others...this weekend was the weekend to procure the family Christmas tree. I posted a similar post last year:

http://findtheblueheron.blogspot.com/2010/12/tree-trimmingliterally.html

about our exploits in securing our tree. This year was much of the same....same place: (a guy right in our town who's got a couple acres with trees planted on it)
same date: (first weekend in December)
Not-quite-the-same price: he went up from $25 to $30...but, in the end, I'm still supporting a local brother
same harvesting means: hand saws are for chumps....I say let the Stihl do the work.
same over sized tree: refer to the pictures below for explanation.


WE FOUND IT!! Now..a couple of factoids to bring up.

1. I'm 6'2"
2. The top of the tree is nowhere in sight in this photo
3. We have 8' ceilings in our Living Room

The reality is...the guy who we get our trees from has trees that are 3 feet tall and trees that are 23 feet tall...and all of them cost the same price. This adds an interesting element to choosing a tree because you are in the unique position of not necessarily selecting a tree, but selecting a part of a tree...last year we cut ourselves an 11' tall tree, lopped the top off of it, then shaped the bottom of it into a nice Christmas tree shape. This year, it was just the opposite. Chrissy spotted this one and decided that the top half was a keeper. Around here, we don't just TRIM the three....we chop that mother in half.

So, I fired up the ole chainsaw ant let 'er rip:

which elicited this response from my daughter:

shock, terror, and sadness at the fact that I just chopped it down. She's, by nature, a nurturer, and fell in love with our tree as it stood in the field...she had a real hard time understanding that it had to get cut down in order for it to be brought home and put up in our house. She came around, eventually.


Loading her up onto the tractor. One of the nice things about buying a tree here is that the owner comes out in his tractor and trailer and hauls the tree out of the field right to your care for you...now heavy lifting.

Gavin made sure that the tree was secure during it's trip from the field to our van.

just a cool shot that Chrissy took.

Once we got it to the van...we loaded it onto the roof rack. I had to snap a pic because this thing was a giant root ball away from being the Griswold Family Christmas Tree:


Which stirred up the quote:
"Dad...that tree wouldn't fit in our yard".
"It's not going in our yard, Russ, it's going in our living room".

During the trimming and shaping portion of our afternoon, there was also a very aptly quoted:
"...little full....lotta sap".

At any rate...when the sawdust cleared, we were, as usual, left with a nice little Leo Family Christmas tree:


May all your Christmases be white...we'll bring you some figgy pudding...for auld lange syne...deck your halls...laugh all the way...come and behold him...and all that stuff.

Merry Christmas from The Leo's

Homegrown for the Holidays Pt. 1

O.k. so, before I get to my main point, let me quickly mention this....The Leo Family Coat Drive....with Gavin in "Kindergarten", thus officially labeling us a "Homeschooling" family...we thought that an annual holiday service project would be right for our family. We decided to hold a Coat Drive...which basically amounted to us sticking fliers in our neighbor's mailboxes asking for them to donate used coats that we would, in turn, donate, to those in need in our area. Well...last Saturday, we went around and collected the coats...then Chrissy and the kids spent the last couple days using this outreach as a teaching tool.....ethics, Bible, math, graphing....Go HomeSchool!!

Graphing the number and type of coat we received.


Our Big Score!! We're starting our own movement...it's called OccupyYellowCoat. So far we have to people onboard but willing to recruit more :^). It was a nice experience for the kids...We are going to try to do some sort of service project every holiday season.

Now...on to the meat of this post.

Christmas....such a wonderful time for many...such a stressful time for many more. Our family has definitely had our fair share of both. In years past, we have definitely over-spent on presents for our kids....just heaping junk on top of junk that ends up being meaningless. A few years ago...Chrissy and I came to a decision...
Let's slow it down....let's buy just a few things for the kids, and let's commit to making one thing for each of them ourselves. Past home-made gifts have included painting/cooking aprons, musical instruments, a toy wooden musket. This year, our home-made toy wasn't a "from scratch" product as much as it was a refurbished piece that my folks had grabbed from a yard sale:

An old-school puppet theatre.

My mom and dad had found this thing at a yard sale a few years ago for like 5 bucks. It's definitely home-made. And whoever fabricated this thing spent some time on it. It's very well made, with lots of little structural considerations that tell me that whoever designed/built this thing knew what they were doing and decided to take some extra steps to make it right. Notched shelving, rounded corners, proper bracing....this thing was built to last.
When we got it...our kids were much too young to be able to fully enjoy it so we stashed it in the back of our garage and kept it out of sight. Gavin and Ivy are getting older and play so well together...it just seemed right that this was the year to put some work into this thing and bring it back to life....here's where I am so far:
Before:


After: cleaned, sanded, primed, and ready for new paint:



Not quite sure what kind of paint job I'm going to put on this thing....perhaps some country-cool scene a la Lancaster County, PA with rolling hills and farmland...or perhaps some sort of sun/moon day/night mural...I'll have to wait until inspiration strikes. Chrissy plans to sew up some new curtains based on whatever theme I end up going with...I guess I'd better lock it down soon and get painting....

More to come.

Catching Up and Calming Down

So, it's been almost a month since my last post.....something that hasn't happened in the 1 1/2 years that this blog has existed. It's been quite a crazy couple of months for our family. Since getting back from our trip to Lancaster County, PA in early October we've had: another trip for Chrissy and the kids to NJ, a cold/sickness that's been hanging around strong for almost a month, and a freak early-season snowstorm that knocked out power to us for 4 days (and others in our area for over a week). It's been challenging enough to keep our collective heads above water, never mind trying to keep a blog going....but I'm back on the train starting right now...as this Winter season comes on us...it's a time for our family to slow down, to reconnect and to prepare for the coming year.
In my last post, we talked about getting ready for our "Light The Night" family Halloween outreach....well...that never happened, because on October 30, our area was blanketed under 6 inches of the heaviest, wettest snow you have ever seen, leaving us and thousands of others without power. Thankfully we were prepared and able to stay calm, warm, and fed thanks to our wood burning stove, propane oven, and gas-powered generator. Our town had postponed trick-or-treating to almost a week later, on the following Friday....but Chrissy and the kids would be in New Jersey at that time celebrating our Niece Brenna's 16th birthday and out nephew's 5th birthday....so we gave all our candy to the local relief shelter to share with the kids who were staying there with their families to weather the storm. We did still manage to get the kids dressed in their costumes, if only to visit one of our neighborsm who we are very close with, to get a treat amidst the snowstorm:
Our Little Farmers.

Tonight's post is going to be a quick one....but I'm committing to getting back into a regular rhythm. within the next few days, posts will be up on:
- Home-made laundry soap recipe and process: I've got several requests from friends on how to make this stuff.....long story short: We've been making our own laundry soap for years based on a recipe that I found online (which I've made several changes to).. The stuff works better than Tide, is all natural, and costs less than 3% of anything you'd buy in a store.
- A Leo Family Thanksgiving (featuring another year with my wonderful 90 year old grandmother at our table:^)
- The Leo family coat drive.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving....we'll be in touch.

The Leo's


- Our backyard, 10/30/11....crazy.

Light The Night Prep Work

So....last year, I posted a blog about what our family, as a Bible-believing Christian family, had decided to do with Halloween. Many Christian families dismiss this "holiday" altogether and have no part of it. You can read here to get our family's take on it:

http://findtheblueheron.blogspot.com/2010/11/hallo-whaaaaat.html

last night and tonight...we got ready for this years "Light The Night" celebration.

last night, we carved ourselves a pumpkin...for the last 2 years, Gavin has designed our pumpkin. last year....he gave us the "Bob-o-Lantern"...this year...we let him design it, but let Ivy name it....




Ladies and gentlemen....the "Jenny-o-Lantern"...crack-tastic.

So tonight...we started by decorating labels that I had made up with Bible verses on them:




...filling bags with candy....



...stopping for a snack....


...and ending up with about 150 bags of candy wrapped with God's Saving Word:


Our goal is pretty simple....to not hide, but offer God's word to those who come on our land to get candy. To not shove it down their throats, but get in the mix and to prayerfully seek The Lord's leading...should there be someone who needs to hear the Word that night...that we may be unashamed and full of The Spirit....or if they come by only to get candy...so be it. We pray for Godly discernment. One thing that I love is that my son is unashamed to ask a peer if "they love Jesus". It blesses me to hear him ask that of a new found acquaintance at the playground or to the new kid in the neighborhood....I wouldn't be the least surprised if he was called to preach the Word.
Come trick-or-treat night...we'll have our hot buttered cider out..warming in the yard on the camping stove...available to warm the loins of the parents leading their kids around...as well as a bonfire going in the front yard. Our goal is not to one-up anyone else...but to simply be a soft-yet-noticeable presence within our neighborhood. To quietly spread comfort, connection, and the Word of God.

Sometimes you are called to sow...sometimes to reap...Halloween might bring a bit of both.
Tonight was just about a perfect night with the family...and....oh yeah....it snowed:


Beba came out to enjoy the flakes with the kids....in his socks.....
Then we got warm beside the fire:



"..Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it.
mount of Thy redeeming Love."