Many hands make for little work

(The following reflections are part of the celebration of Sinterklaas, which happens here in Belgium on 6 December.  It's the day when Sinterklaas, affectionately called "the Sint", comes to town and brings presents for all the children. )

It's the line of my childhood that my mom always said, as she tried to rope all 4 of us kids into helping out with household chores:  "many hands make for little work". Somehow, as a kid, and especially as a teenager, I never felt that to be true. Perhaps it's because there was always at least one sibling, sometimes even two, who managed to make their hands do even less of the little work that we were all doing together.  It was at that moment, when I was feeling jealous about all the extra work that I was doing (because of course, I was the only one really working!??), that Mom would sharply say "Barbara Jean, your green eyes are showing again".  We all knew what that meant....jealousy popping up all over the place.  And you can imagine that,  when I realized that my eyes are green, I quickly replied "Mom, my green eyes are always showing....it has nothing to do with being jealous".  (I was a teenager so imagine that line with a little bit of attitude with it as well

Thankfully, there were no jealous eyes showing up with our women, just a lot of eager hands to make the cold, solid cookie dough into cookies to be enjoyed by the kids.  Here are a few examples of the "goods" ~

Getting started....

Decorated and on their way to the oven....

Sure to make someone happy :-)

Some things never change.  Traditions are a good thing, and fun to celebrate at this time of the year.  So, of course there had to be at least one memory created in the kitchen....smoke coming out of the oven, not enough baking paper so cookies stuck to the cookie sheet (that works, though....samples for everyone!)  Every year as we bake cookies together to prepare for Sinterklaas, there are always a few that don't quite make it to the party.  That just makes for a round of taste treats for those eager hands that aren't jealously looking at how they can get out of the work, but are looking instead to make the work go quickly so that we could enjoy each other's company.

And in the midst of it all, there were loads of recipes being shared from literally all over the world.  Christmas traditions celebrated in one land are different from another land that is different from another land which is also different from our new homeland, Belgium.   Most of our guests have never celebrated Sinterklaas before. Boy, are their kids in for a fun surprise!

Yet amidst all the excitement and home baked goodness of these party plans, my heart is yearning for the greater celebration that is soon to be upon us.  Advent is my favorite season of the church year.  It's a time when we're asked to wait, to remember again the mystery of Christ's coming to earth.  Our children's program at AIPC this year will be about looking at the Christmas story through the eyes of a child.  The opening remarks of the program are a stern reminder to all of us....let's not get so caught up in the traditions and trappings (i.e. stuff) of the season and forget that Jesus is born.  He's come to earth.  And He's coming again!!

So here's my Advent challenge to each of us.  

May we find time for the traditions and cookies and holiday cheer, without ever losing sight of the reason for it all.  Christ's coming to earth.  Let the celebration begin!