Tis The Season…
…for family gatherings and full bellies.
…for reflecting back on the past year and looking forward to the year to come.
…for getting super excited about Christmas and equally panicked that it will come and go and you’ll miss something.
Oh, no?
That’s just me?
I adore Christmastime. The tree, the carols, the cookies, the church services, the poinsettias, the eggnog, the stockings, the parties, the gift wrapping…it all woos me with the promise of a little heaven on earth.
Our fallen world is filled with so much pain, and I think Christmas is a magical time that we believe holds the promise of good.
Shoppers being nice to each other at the mall. People buying a latte for the guy behind them at Starbucks. Dysfunctional families eating, drinking and being merry together in moments of rare harmony.
I believe we were created for perfection and that we’re looking for little bits of it all the time.
I believe that God crafted all of creation, a gorgeous symphony of sights, sounds, colors and wonder, and that when He was done, He wanted to share it with someone.
Like turning the house into a magical Christmas wonderland of garlands, snowman figurines and twinkle lights and waiting with bated breath for your children to wake up and see it all.
The wonderland is so much sweeter when you share it with the people you hold most dear.
That’s how I think it was with God when He made everything and then made us.
Tiny veins built into delicate green leaves adorning grand oak trees. I bet He thought, “Wait until they discover these! I bet they will love them. And wow they’re gonna love it in October when all these little veined treasures turn a hundred shades of red, yellow and orange!”
So He made us.
In His own image.
To enjoy every little bit of it.
And all was well. Perfect actually.
The human heart was created for perfection.
Our hearts do not know what to do with all of the pain we face.
Dysfunctional relationships, death, infertility, deceit, loss, sickness, cruelty, hatred, crime.
They overwhelm our precious perfection-craving hearts.
So we numb them.
Or we try to.
Oh, boy do we try.
Shopping. Drinking. Rule following. Eating. Drugs. Sex. Control. Exercise. Starvation. Smoking. Religion. Routines. Recreation. Social media. Reading. Cleaning. Serving.
No matter how “good” or “evil” any of the things in that list might be, if they draw our aching hearts away from the only One who can comfort us, they are harmful.
The Sacred Romance, calls them “less wild lovers”.
God longs to be the lover of our souls and He is, by His very nature, good.
But He’s wild.
We don’t understand Him.
His ways are not our ways.
So often He doesn’t seem to “make sense” to us, so we turn to “less wild lovers” that appear to be the thing that will satisfy us NOW.
And that’s all we want.
The pain to subside. The ache to die down.
We want a fast-food solution to the deepest ache of our souls.
If you’re like me this time of year, you add a weapon to your arsenal…
The promise of Christmas cheer.
You think that maybe, just maybe, if the house is decorated just so, and you make the right assortment of pretty cookies, and go to parties with your favorite people, and choose the perfect gifts for each of your kids, and go sledding, and drink hot chocolate, and listen to enough carols by the glow of the tree, and consume enough eggnog in cute glasses dusted with nutmeg, and savor each moment enough, that you will somehow feel better.
But you won’t.
There may be some wonderful moments when all the holiday stars align and the food tastes amazing and everyone is getting along. You may squint your eyes together to take a mental picture so that you can remember the moment for years to come.
Oh, no?
That’s just me? :)
But really, when it’s all said and done, there is no amount of holiday cheer that can satisfy us. Rescue us from our sin. Mend our broken hearts.
Only HIM.
The true promise of the Christmas season.
Jesus.
I sat down to type up a Christmas Bucket List here and look what I ended up with? An important reminder for myself!
I love when that happens in this space. When God steers my fingers toward typing something He wants to say to me.
And today it was a reminder not to get caught up in all the hype.
To enjoy the next few weeks, but not look to all of the fun holiday stuff to fill a place that it simply cannot.
I want to quiet my heart.
I want to meditate on scripture so that it’s written on my heart and it comes to mind each and every time I start to feel frantic.
I want to lean into the wild One who can tame my ferocious longings.
Think Outside the Sandwich! {9 easy lunch ideas for your toddler}
A couple of weeks ago, I posted 10 Tips to get your Toddler to Eat Healthy Foods and those have helped tremendously in getting Grace (my 3 year old) to eat and enjoy a variety of healthy foods.
By nature, she’s a breakfast lover…eggs & bacon, fruit & plain yogurt, oatmeal are all winners. Not to mention the less healthy bowl of rice krispies which would probably be her first choice everyday. Lol
Dinner is pretty straightforward too. I make dinner and expect her to eat it. I am willing to make some accommodations for her, like giving her more sweet potatoes than chicken since I know she can be finicky about poultry, or scooping up more of the veggies she likes than the ones she doesn’t when I’m serving her a bowl of stir-fry.
I also think it’s fair for her to not like certain things at all, so I let her pick onions or “mushy” zucchini out of her bowl of soup as long as she eats the rest.
Keeping communication open has helped us to have a productive conversation about food rather than a battle of the wills or fight for control.
When Andy worked at an assisted living home for the elderly, he was told during training that the residents were powerless about so much of their lives that it was important to let them make decisions when they could.
That message stuck with me and I’ve applied it to parenting.
Grace’s entire day is dictated by the things I determine, so I think it’s good to give her as many choices as I can when it’s appropriate to do so.
All that being said, breakfast and dinner are pretty straightforward, but sometimes lunch feels like a giant black hole.
Am I the only one who thinks so?
I even get stressed about what to pack Andy for lunch.
Heck, my own lunch seems daunting most days. Salad AGAIN?!
I’ve mentioned before that Grace adores peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some days that is my go-to meal for her, but if she had a bowl of cereal or some other grain-heavy breakfast, I like to make lunch a time to pack in extra veggies, fruit and protein.
For the past few weeks I’ve tried to remember to snap a photo of her lunch before she chows down, so here is a short selection of sandwich-free lunch ideas that are a hit at our house :)
This particular lunch was leftovers from dinner the night before. It’s nice when that is an option :) Adding some butter and cinnamon to the sweet potatoes makes them feel a little like dessert :)
Grace is a die-hard feta cheese lover. For whatever reason, I feel better about feta cheese than many other cheeses, so this is a good way to get some protein and calcium into her :)
Eggs aren’t just for breakfast! It takes only a couple of minutes to scramble up an egg or two for her and the eggs plus the almond butter made this a really filling lunch!
I know hummus is a “love it or hate it” kind of thing, but I think if you introduce it early, you have a decent chance at your kids loving it :) It’s a great non-dairy dip for veggies or, if they are like Grace, they will just eat it with a spoon!
Since she was little, Grace has enjoyed beans. Black beans are her favorite by far, so I usually stick with those. Skewering 4-5 beans on a toothpick to create “bean kabobs” would be a good way to introduce your toddler to beans and help them be willing to try them. You could even alternate the beans with small cheese chunks or even grapes :)
More feta (shocker) with fresh berries which are fun to eat off the ends of their little fingers! Carrots and more black beans round out the dish.
Kiwi is a superfood and a big hit at our house! Both girls gobble it right up without even a thought for the seeds. The bright green color of kiwi makes it appealing and you could offer it with a toothpick for fun eating :) These black beans are sprinkled with garlic powder (not salt) to make them a little zippy! My girls LOVE garlic, so maybe yours would too!
I get so tired of hearing, “I’m still hungry!” after lunch time so I try to offer a good amount of food and make sure that each plate contains good fat to fill up on. Avocados are a great source of healthy fat and their soft texture makes them ideal for beginning eaters. A little garlic powder spices things up and make it almost like a simple guacamole :)
Nuts are also a great source of fat and they come in such a wide variety, you’re sure to find at least 1 or 2 types that your little one will enjoy. Grace likes almonds and walnuts best so far. She loves peanuts, but those are technically a legume, so I try to steer her toward true nuts :) Whipping up a batch of homemade hummus is a cinch in the blender or food processor. Budget Bytes has a great basic recipe that is so much better and cheaper than what you can buy at the store.
So that’s it! Just a few ideas to spark your own creativity. Let me know if there are other healthy lunch items that your kids enjoy…I’m always looking for new ideas and ways to get creative with both of my girls’ lunches!
