Christmas Guest Series- Lorene Peetz

Hello all! This year I am doing a guest series for Christmas! I know it’s only the beginning of November but I had a lot of girls who wanted to do a post, so here we are starting in November! This week I have the best guest of all of them, (at least in my opinion) she has been very influential in my life, I’ve known her all my life. Can you guess who she is? My mom, Lorene Peetz! So I hope you enjoy this one and the others coming!

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself, hobbies, family background, ect.\

I‘ve been wife to Carl Peetz for 25 years now. We are on our fourth state since we married in CA, lived on GA for 12 years and MS for 7 years. We now live in Waynesville, NC pastoring a small church, and homeschooling. We have four amazing children with an assortment of talents and interests ranging from writing to science to music to cooking and photography, to mention a few. Currently, my hobby is digging in to some area of study with one child or the other, asking great questions and having them answer as they pour out what they’ve learned. I pursue many things, but alas I need more focus to finish individual books!

2. What are some of your family traditions?

One of our family traditions has been to acquire a single unique ornament each year that represents a significant event from that year. We recount the stories (our family’s history, essentially) as we put each ornament on the tree.

3.What is your favorite part about Christmas?/ How does it bring home the meaning of Christmas to you?

I think I like the advent activities and reflections. I appreciate the way it is spread out so that there is time to ponder aspects of the story piece by piece, although I still struggle to revel in each part amidst all the busyness of the season.

4. What is the best present you have ever gotten, who gave it to you and why did you like it so much?

That’s a tough one, but maybe not for the reason you would expect. I would need to remember individual gifts and who gave them to me… Which makes me think about the actual importance or significance of receiving gifts. Gifts is not high on my list of love languages, quality time and acts of service are tied near the top instead.  In that case, my best presents haven’t been in packages… maybe I’m into presence instead. One of the last Christmases spent with my sister was the year her husband died so we were all together at the beginning of December for his memorial service. There was a new song released that year by Joy Williams —“Here with us”. I sang it to my sister, extending to her the deepest consolation I know. And yet I still struggle to get a grasp of it myself. What does it mean that He is here with us? What difference does His presence make in our lives? Each of us has many answers to that question, and each person’s set of answers to that question is different than the next.

5. Explain your dream Christmas.

It would probably revolve around being super observant throughout the year so that I have the “perfectly suited” gift for everyone. Then I would have those gifts acquired by December 1st… You get the idea… This is all about planning and executing measured, well paced steps to accomplish everything stress free! Hahahaha… My attempts toward accomplishing this kind of idea have pretty much abruptly ended, much to my dismay.  I usually have to purposefully realign my thinking to be sure I am focusing on the right reasons for doing whatever I can manage to accomplish. Reality and simplicity aimed at genuine reflection…

6. Is Christmas your favorite holiday? Why or Why not?

Hmmm…. This is a tricky question for a perfectionist who wants to be purposeful instead of just superfluous-more than sufficient; unnecessary; useless. I guess I’ve collected some mixed emotions over the years. I have enjoyable Christmas memories and painful ones.

7. Which is better: Christmas or Easter? Why?

Christmas is just getting closer to the finale, while Easter is the finale! Both are important but they have unique vantage points and roles. I don’t know which is better…It is interesting, perhaps crazy to think that 33 1/2 years is squished between Christmas and Easter!

8. What are your hopes for this Christmas?

My hopes for this Christmas is to have a memorable, enjoyable and purposeful celebration of the birth of Jesus with family and friends. We have my parents and Carl’s father living with/near us this year and our children are approaching the “leave the nest” age, so this may be the last one we easily have all together.

Thanks for reading, join me back here again for another guest post from… Marlee Drago!