Peace out

Alright people.  Let's talk peacemaking.

The world itself is loaded - fraught, you might even say - with meaning, and conflicted/conflicting rhetoric. In fact, my spirit is really d r a g g i n g it's feet about getting into discussing this, in a two-year-old-forced-into-snowpants sort of way.

Yikes, even the handing out of the Nobel Peace Prize is not without its controversy.

But yet - can consideration of peace ever be separate from this season?   Really, actually...no.


Has anyone else noticed in the shops that the 'on-trend' Christmas ornament this year is a peace sign?  The ones in Pottery Barn are glittery silver, but I've seen rustic ones, disco ones, and pink ones.  I guess the idea of co-opting the peace sign into commercial settings is nothing new, but somehow this season it's really rubbing me the wrong way.

But hey - let me not judge those GenXers plonking the peace sign on their tree for a nice touch of subtle glitter.

Tonight, as I reflect on peace (and the lack thereof) in the world, I am grateful for all the different versions of peacemakers. Certainly there are the servicemen far from their families, serving a vision of peace that must feel elusive as they go about their duties. Certainly there are the statesmen who must, at heart, still believe in some version of peace.  (I need to believe that some of them do, anyway.)   Certainly there are those working amongst the poor, amongst the broken-spirited, who strive to bring any measure of peace or comfort to people not given the luxury of symbolic glittery ornaments on their tree.

The question that's been niggling around in my head all day is this: what am I doing to bring peace in the world?  Yep, that's right.  What am I doing?  (I don't get any breaks around here.  The inner dialogue is very hard on Me.  Merely claiming "but I don't get enough sleep!" holds no truck with that inner voice.)

Here is what I am doing to bring peace to my little corner of the world.  I am taking my kids to the playground to "jump their jiggles out," so that tired bodies want nothing more than to rest quietly on the floor coloring until dinner time.  I am fixing simple, nutritious food so that the sugar and the stimulation of the season need not fight with the rest of their stomach contents.   I am watching Jul i Skomakergata every evening, that has a sweet story for each day of Advent, and taking the time to sit with my small people and translate for them.

Most importantly, I am making peace with myself.  I am allowing myself to forgive, I am disciplining myself to be gentle.  I pursue a path of kindness in a small small effort to bring peace to those around me, and then by extension, bring peace to those I connect with only momentarily.  If I can bring peace to our small home, then surely that is a start to bringing peace elsewhere. (And Yes, Torbjorn, that does mean I'm choosing not to pick a fight.

This season, the message that "He shall be the one of peace" is my inspiration, and my guide.  May all of us find that path of peace in these hectic days.

The gift of waiting

We agreed that a third kid would be good.  A third kid could work for us.  This was March, and I told the Nilsen Dad that I was absolutely cool with going for #3, I just didn't want a Christmas baby.

Neither of us are great scientists;  neither are we gifted at math.  Next thing I know, I'm in stirrups being told we're due December 31st.

I spent December 2007 very great with child.  Both of the older kids arrived early, and I fully expected that Nilsen #3 would do the same.  As such, this dyed-in-the-wool procrastinator got Christmas ready way ahead of time.  (And by way ahead of time, I mean in November; my standard 'way ahead of time' means the week before Christmas, instead of Christmas Eve.  God bless UPS Overnight Shipping.)

We spent that last month quietly doing crafts, making cookies, wrapping gifts, and counting down days with no less than five Advent calendars.   Every day, as my belly stretched bigger and wider, and my cheeks threatened to take over my face, I wondered if that day would be the day.

Even in my discomfort, I was grateful for the time and the mental space to reflect on Waiting.  One aspect of that reflection turned into a post which to this day is one of my favorites.  You can find it here.

Looking back though, at that last month of quiet (and yes, it was the last month: I'm told there might be another in 14 years or so), I am aware that it took me until then to fully grasp the meaning of Advent, and the Advent season.

It's a word that gets tossed around pretty frequently, at least for those of us who are semi-regular churchgoers.  Certainly even non-religious families do advent calendars to count down the days to Christmas. For most of my life, I didn't spend much time in thinking on how the advent experience could add to my Christmas season:  I just wanted Christmas Day to come faster!

Finally, as an extremely pregnant thirty-something, I became intensely aware that the expectation, hope, preparation and longing that are part and parcel of a Christmas baby are exactly what I need to focus on when remembering the birth of the Christmas Baby.   This realization has made all the difference in finding ways to make the season meaningful not only for me, but for my family.  We all can remember the time of anxious expectation, and therefore celebrate with heartfelt joy when celebrating the day of birth.

****

Editor's Note:  I've been journaling - privately - about Advent this season.  There are a few ideas that I've reflected on that feel big enough, broad enough, to share with all of you.  The next few posts will - hopefully - bring a few thoughts on these things.  

Christmas Preparations

Cecilie in front of the tree
Cecilie toothless in front of the tree
At one of four train gardens of the season, with Ms Sullivan
The Nilsen kids at the mall
Annika's first ride on the merry go round
Our very own peppermint stick
How most of the month of December was spent...

...and then comes christmas

The kids are almost as excited about unpacking as the grown-ups, advent calendar and Little People manger scene (with "Pirate Angel") being rediscovered... you can see Lars saying something along the lines of "but sister..." (I am certain he is capeable of saying "Cecilie")

...and yes, the tree IS up, come on, what do you take us for?

Christmas Prep

Trouble is my middle name...
Cecilie's first proper stage production (the angel on the right). Her line "Don't be afraid" was mercilessly drowned out by enthusiastic actors and spectators alike, which left us all a little bit exhausted, and daddy slightly insane looking

Striking a pose with a Christmas project, later eaten (the marshmallow rim, that is...) by an undisclosed (out of concern for his life) treat-loving elf. [See first photo.]
A Sugarplum Fairy and The Smallest Reindeer
Mr Lars shaking his tail feather...

National and Natural Costumes

As God intended it
My favorite ornament
Bringing Norwegian Yule Cheer to the neighbors
The angry elf
What happens when you give your children too many sweets prior to attempting to take christmas pictures

Christmas prep and St Lucia

Cousin Jack and auntie Chichin came over for some baking
Food coloring is declicious
Starboy
St Lucia, with matching Kirsten doll, sweet sweetness...

Santa Lucia

We're storming towards christmas, and it dawned on us yesterday night, that today would be Santa Lucia...

It is an old Saint's Day, but in Scandinavia, this day has been turned into a celebration of light, with breakfast in bed for the oldest in the house, provided by Lucia her self and the star boys and terns (if you have a gaggle of girls going...) (well, actually it is their parents).

"Luckily" Lars wanted attention in the middle of the night so mummy had the pleasure of sticking the buns that daddy had prepared at 1.30 in the oven in time... better late than never, and surely a morning to remember!

Nå er det jul igjen

You know, after all it is October...



As expected, Costco has had xmas going for a couple of months already, even Giant (our local grocery store - yes, we have a Giant on our side...) has had a great big snowball on display for three weeks now, and every time we go by, Cecilie jumps up and down and shouts "I LOVE xmas, so much!". 


I don't think it was the "rubbing of the lamb" (sounds either perverse, or sacrilegious, I can't decide which, so it is staying), but it could be that my sister confirmed that she was definitely coming, combined with the fact that we have a proper front porch now (-think tasteful display) and that Kirsten came down with a cup of coffee this morning and said, "it's almost time to add ginger bread syrup". Yeah right, ALMOST-- levys broke and the flood gates opened... I now have ginger bread syrup in my coffee and xmas in my heart!


Growing up with xmas beginning on December 23rd (little christmas eve) and lasting to the 13th day, I might have been a little bit reluctant (well, maybe for one year I was reluctant...) to adopt what can only be described as "bringing it on, early and long" strategy to the whole thing. However, I am now a full convert (who cares about "Advent" anyways - pink and purple doesn't work with red AT ALL, and all that other stuff that supposedly comes before just doesn't fly).


You will find Norwegians not having a single "red day" between 17th of May and Christmas. Americans have what's called "holiday season", which is shorthand for "summer is over and to not get too depressed we need something to take our attention away from the change in weather and the shorter days". It empirically works wonders, and I can only feebly guess what it would do to the English and their national psyche if they successfully managed to adopt a similar tool; they might even win the World Cup!?! (Clearly, just having "Premier League season" hasn't really cut it, and Guy Fawkes, who the hell is he, anyways?).


Let's be truthful (secularly speaking): Ramadan, Leif Ericson Day, Sports Day, Columbus Day,Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Lailat Ul Qadr, Eid, Halloween, Culture day, Armistice, Thanksgiving and the Immaculate Conception, even Zwarte Pieten, are all nice to have, they are like sub-plots in a novel - let's all get out of the closet and start celebrating Baby Jesus, born to rock, and ginger bread syrup in our coffee!


If you are in dire need a holiday, you could always check out this site. There is plenty to go around: tomorrow is national cinnamon bun day in Sweden!!! Appears to me an excellent way to fight seasonal depression.