A haunted house?

There is always a lot of confusion in our house after church. We walk in, Sunday shoes and clothes start flying and everyone starts crying for lunch. It is feeding time at the zoo and the animals can get testy. Once everyone is fed and watered and have retired to their respective dens, I start cleaning up.

Well, today was no different. It was quiet upstairs as everyone had retreated downstairs. How typical...when there's work to do. As I was in the kitchen, I heard something hit the floor and turning around toward the sound I saw something amazingly terrifying. A toy without a child nearby. One of the bathtub toys was laying just outside the bathroom door as if it had been thrown out of the bathroom. I stood there motionless....which doesn't happen often... wondering how the toy had come flying out of the bathroom on it's own. I dismissed it and went about my work, but I kept seeing it out of the corner of my eye. Luke and I have been enjoying playing lots of "hide and go seek" in the house every day and one of his favorite places is in the bathtub. I slowly walked into the bathroom fully expecting to see him standing there with a big grin on his face. Nothing. The room was empty, as was the entire upstairs.

After I got the kitchen cleaned up, the incident just kept gnawing at me. I went downstairs and found Sean. I cleared the room of little ears and told him that the weirdest thing just happened. As I explained that I saw a toy come flying out of an unoccupied bathroom, he smiled and said, "No dear. The toy was down here in the office and I threw it upstairs. You must have heard it hit the wall and saw it laying on the floor outside the door."

Sean just looked at me, grinned, and said, "Blogger material."

Holiday confusion...solved.

Hello all. I know it's been a while since you've heard anything interesting about happenings at "the zoo," and believe me it's not because the "animals" are exceptionally good these days. No. In fact, it is simply that the "keeper" has been exceptionally busy.

Connor has been really confused these days about the holidays this time of year. At school, they have been studying how different people celebrate. The school prepared us for the fact that they would be studying Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, one that I didn't even recognize, and Christmas. One day he came home doing Kwanzaa dancing and wanted me to play the bongo drums for him while he danced. Another day he came home saying, "Then they all sit around and drink a warm drink in honor of their ancestors and play with a cradle." He then proceeded to tell me the name/meaning of a few of the Hebrew symbols on the "cradle."

While the purpose of these lessons was for political correctness, it certainly gave me a wonderful teaching opportunity. The boys are very familiar with the true meaning of Christmas and the reason God came to earth in human form. Now, they are acutely aware that there are people in the world who do not understand or accept the greatest gift we will ever receive. The gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Don't leave Christ out of your Christmas holiday season. Merry Christmas!