Fit for a King

It's been a quiet Christmas season.  It slipped upon us before I was ready, and when I acknowledged it's
presence I felt compelled to "do" everything on my imaginary list.
Last year we did it all.  We were home the whole month of December and I didn't let a day get by us without
some project or other.  This year?

This year I am learning to let go of my plans.  To celebrate Jesus in enjoying my children.  Being willing to let
my "fun-project-that-you're-going-to-love" go, if they'd rather play monopoly in front of the warm wood
stove and in view of the tree lights.  I've had to ask myself  "Who is all this doing for?" and  
"Why does it matter if we do it, or that we do it this week? Even this month?"   
I want to make memories with the children, and I want to take advantage of this annual opportunity to
remember the birth of my Savior.  I want to savor every savory scent, the soft lights on short dark days,
to make things for people and try every recipe, and craft that inspires me.......

I can't do it all.  There aren't enough days, and the ones I have aren't long enough.  I guess that's actually
something to be thankful for - a season in which I crave long days - many people are plodding through days
that seem endless as they bear some burden or another.  I'm thankful that my days are short because we're
having fun.  We are.  We're having fun, and when I feel guilty about all the things'n'stuff that we aren't doing
I remind myself of that.
We're having fun resting, playing, creating, baking, listening, sniffing, tasting, and just being together.
Nothing spectacular this year. No monumental traditions built with care and planning.
But we are having fun.
And we remember Jesus! 

The stars pictured above were a new thing for us.  They were delightfully easy, inexpensive, and I think
they're rather lovely on the windows!  Olivia has been the one to sit down and get creative with me,
and that girl can follow-through like nobodies five-year-old-business!  She watches, picks it right up,
and plows forward, working out the kinks on her own.  She really impresses me.

Today the other three bigg'uns made one star apiece.  That was enough.  For today anyway.
I have to say that I  am hooked.  It's like instant quilting gratification!  You can buy colored wrapping
tissue at your local dollar store (we had two packages equaling roughly 10 colors to choose from).
We've only used one sheet of each color and have made 10 stars I think?  There must be millions of
stars-worth of paper in those 2 dollars we spent!  Here is the tutorial we used  for our Tissue Paper Stars.
I highly recommend using a knife to cut the tissue as suggested in the tutorial - it made easy work of
chopping our paper down to size.  Each sheet of tissue is square, so it can be folded in half, cut, and folded 
again, and cut again and so forth until you reach the square or rectangle size you want.  I keep imagining
new color combinations and sizes and patterns I want to try....hm..............
Do please tell me if you try these stars yourself, and if (like Olivia and I) you thought them fit for a Kings
Birthday celebration!