Winter Coziness

Hot Drinks:

 

Candlelight and fire

Twinkle Lights

Warm couch blankets, and Read Alouds

Bread dough rising in the morning

Warm afternoon snack

Dessert Treats

Hanukkah

I struggled with whether or not to celebrate Hanukkah this year. I absolutely did not want a replacement for Christmas. But I also did not want to miss out on a way to celebrate Yahweh in a way that would be pleasing to Him. After all Yeshua (Jesus) did travel to Jerusalem, to the temple,  during Hanukkah, so that must mean He celebrated it, right? (John 10:22)

We ended up doing the antithesis of everything we had resolved to do.

   

My first course of action in anything I am unsure about, is to research. And that is exactly what we did.  Our family read various historical accounts of the Maccabees, including the  book of 1 Maccabees. 

I also prayed for wisdom. 

I first decided I was uncomfortable with the "Hanukkah Menorah" (sometimes called a Hanukiah) with its 9 branches, because it did not fit the Biblical description of the menorah (Exodus 25, Exodus 37). I decided if I was going to buy a menorah, it would be gold, have 7 branches and be as close as possible to the one in Scripture.

But then, as we read  about the making of the holy articles for the Tabernacle, we learned that they were not to be used outside the Tabernacle, or by anyone but the priests. (Exodus 30:32, 37 and Leviticus 26:1 is a bit of a stretch,  but it did influence our thinking as well.)  We decided to skip the menorah all together.

Not to mention, in our research, we found there is no record of the "miracle of oil" ever occurring in any of the accounts of the actual miracles that occurred for the Maccabees. It is a tradition that has been passed down, with no historical backing. 

Since we did not believe the "miracle of the oil", we would also be skipping the Hanukkah tradition of fried foods. No latkes or doughnuts.

  

But...as we were discussing our decision, my daughter became very curious about latkes. She wanted to know what they were. I explained, but her curiosity was not satisfied. So I pulled up photos, and then videos of how to make them, but she still was not satiated. We ended up looking up a recipe and making latkes after all, as an educational endeavor and not as an aspect of a Hanukkah celebration.

So why are there 8 days of Hannukah, if there was no oil miracle? I believe it comes from the example of Hezekiah in 1 Chronicles 29, when he also cleansed the temple.  

We also decided to skip dreidels. According to our understanding of Scripture, gambling is not a way to glorify Adonai.  

But....at church, there was a Hanukkah celebration, and since we were already there, and wanted to be included in the fellowship, we participated in the celebration, including games of dreidel. It was a lot of fun, and we thoroughly enjoyed it, but afterwards I struggled with  guilt for going against our convictions. 

 Overall, in our readings about the Maccabees, I did find the message of this "holiday" to be exactly in line with what Yahweh has been doing in our lives this year. 

To me, the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) is about following Yahweh's commands NO MATTER WHAT. It is about not giving in and following the culture, even if everyone else is doing it. The Maccabees and their followers were willing to fight and die, rather than do the things Yahweh calls abominations. They fought for liberty to follow Yahweh the way He commands us to, in His Word. And He blessed their obedience miraculously, by giving them victory, even though they were impossibly outnumbered and had everything against them.

I think we can all benefit from a time, each year, to remember that we must be set apart and holy to the Lord. (1 Peter 1:16,  Leviticus 11:44, Leviticus 19:2) A time to rededicate ourselves to Him, and cleanse our own temples (1 Corinthians 6:19). To pray that He would show us ways we have been tainted by the culture around us, so that we can repent and turn away from those practices that grieve Him. 

No More Christmas?!?

I have found that our decision to no longer participate in Christmas has not gone unnoticed, and I have had a surprising amount of people ask why we have taken this drastic step. 

In reading through the Old Testament (specifically, the first 5 books) this year, we saw how many times God told His people not to adopt the culture of the people around them. 

I had known the pagan roots of Christmas for a few years, but I justified continuing in it, because  we made OUR celebration all about the Lord (and we truly DID). We did not do Santa, or materialism. We kept a simple Advent filled with a special Bible study.

But in studying Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers... He made it clear to me that He is not pleased with us using pagan practices to worship Him. He said over and over and over to be separate, and stay away from what everyone else does. He NEVER said redeem evil things and use them to worship Him. 

 I have been asked how our children took the news. We had done all our reading together and we discussed what the verses meant for us, as we read. And when I told them about my Christmas conviction, they were not surprised. They understood where it came from and were fine with it. They wanted to do what was right before God, rather than hold on to tradition. I have checked with them often since we made the decision,  and we feel we are not missing out, and instead have replaced that holiday with much richer and more fulfilling celebrations. (The Biblical feasts)

 We believe Jesus was most likely born at Tabernacles, which is one of the biggest holidays God commands us to keep in His Word.  We have really enjoyed making that our main holiday (alongside Passover). We use the week long celebration to bless loved ones with gifts, to celebrate Yeshua (Jesus)'s coming, and go all out with decorating our home.   (Plenty of posts here on the blog about how we have learned to keep the Biblical feasts, if you want to know more.)

The following verses by no means are an in depth study. I did not keep specific notes on this topic as we were reading, as the conviction came upon me slowly. These are just what comes to mind immediately, as I write this post. There is so much information online about the real beginnings of Christmas. If you feel  the Lord leading you, please pray about it, and research for yourself.

 
Jeremiah 10: 10 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

2 Kings 17:15 They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them.

Deuteronomy 12:31 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way,

Deuteronomy 16:21 You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah or any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD your God

REPOST: Snowflakes

Praise the LORD from the earth,
         You great sea creatures and all the depths;
  Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
         Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
Psalm 148:7-8 

We make snowflake every year, but this year my 6 year old had a genius idea. He suggested hanging them from the ceiling instead of taping them on a wall. 

The picture doesn't do it justice, it really is a magical feeling walking down the hall!

I  LOVE this site for templates for fancy snowflakes
http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/pdf/v2i1/snowflake.pdf
Peter is making a second set as I type these, and he is so anxious for December 1st when we’ll hang all the snowflakes we’ve made!

We also cut out the verses and tape those on the walls going down the hall as well. 


For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’;
      Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength
Job 37:6

 

From 2008:
Today has been windy, with rain pouring down all day, but it has been amazing. Watching the rain stream down the windows and being thankful I have a cozy warm house to be in with hot tea to sip. Seeing the beautiful leaves sprinkled all over the yard,blowing with the wind… God is so good.
The boys and I decided to try out a fun craft, and I think it was a success! We made one HUGE snowflake, and plan on making some smaller ones to keep it company to hang in December. You can find instructions here:

Icicles

I forgot to post this one of my sweet girl with my other snow pictures

Playing in the Snow

Snow-Cones!

Winter Praise

 My heart is overflowing with thankfulness.

♥gorgeous glittery snow

♥looking outside and seeing beautiful white as far as I can see

 ♥the wonder and excitement of  children that comes with snow days

♥the abundance of birds that visit on snowy days

♥bundling my sweet ones in layer after layer before letting them out  on their "arctic expedition"

♥ bringing them in to warm up with a pot of hot chocolate, or tea

♥looking out the window and watching the snow fall with wonder and gratitude for the Creator of it

♥beautiful sparkling icicles

 ♥ snuggling under a blanket on the comfy couch with the Word and some good books under a blanket in a  toasty warm house, while watching my sweet ones playing outside

 

 

 

Family Snow Day

The Wonder of Candle Light

I love lighting candles during winter. They makes the house smell delicious, they make the house seem welcoming and cozy... I just love them! I love turning off all the house lights, and eating dinner by just candle and Christmas light!

 And here in the top corner of the U.S., night time starts EARLY in the winter, so it helps make the house cheery in those long dark hours instead of dreary! 

This year though, we have kept a pillar candle lit on the coffee table all day every day, and each time I look at it,  I have prayed for peace in our home. I have definitely felt that prayer be answered over the last couple weeks!

Another Snowy Day

My snuggly  boy

Taking a  break from all the playing to do a little math