Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve the kids get to open one present. It is always new pajamas. However, since it was no longer a surprise we "tricked" them into believing I had forgot them this year. Since I do forget a lot, this was easy to pull off. R was so sweet when he came to me secretly and asked if he could give them one of the presents he had bought each of them. I thought this was so sweet of him and said "Yes! Absolutely".

He had bought them each a pair of slippers from the dollar store. Here they are! Aren't they great?


R got these since he didn't get a new pair of slippers.

The slippers roar and now so does R!

Then we did s'mores.


Finally the charade was over and we let them open their new pajamas!




After changing into their new pajamas we did our Advent Reading of Jotham's Journey.
First we light the candles, each representing different aspects of salvation...repentance, hope.

Then we gather together and read.

This year we decided to let them open one family gift early.

They really liked it! The game Clue, DVD version.


Then we played the game. R won! Then it was time for all kids to settle down for a long winter's nap. I think they finally fell asleep sometime after 2am!

Merry Christmas

As we enter into the day we choose to celebrate the birth of Christ, let's remember that Christ is "The Ultimate Gift". He is the gift that fills the gap that separates us from God. Without Christ there is no hope. So Rejoice! For unto us a child is born whose name is Christ the Lord!
Merry Christmas from us all.

Gingerbread House 2007

Today was a slow, quiet day. We took the morning slow and easy. We played card games with the kids, went shopping for Christmas Dinner and then made our annual Gingerbread House. Now understand, I am not known for my kitchen skill and so here we go......
In the Beginning:


It took much concentration....




There was teamwork involved....


And great effort for some. Look at that tongue action!

But in the end, it was all worth the effort. Here is the finished product.

Tia Let, this ones for you! LOL

Christmas Piano Recital

All four of my children play piano and this year was the first year they had a Christmas recital. R played "Deck the Halls". He had forgotten his music and so had to play it from memory. He did a really good job!

A played "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear". Unfortunately she missed a note at the very beginning of the song. This rattled her a bit but she did fabulous from that point on. She was soooo nervous.

She also played "The Christmas Song". After her first piece she walked up to the piano looking a little worried. But, you can see here that she had nothing to worry about!

C did a really good job with "Angels We Have Heard On High".

R played a duet of "Good King Wenceslas" with his piano instructor, Miss Carol.

J did a stunning job with "O Holy Night". She is really becoming quite the pianist.

It has been so wonderful to have the kids playing Christmas Carols all month long. I love the piano and to hear them playing all this time has filled our house with a wonderful Christmas spirit.

Progressive Dinner

With 2 teens in our home we have entered the realm of youth group activities. Last Saturday we hosted a progressive dinner for our teens. We had the main dish. The came in in groups so at first it didn't seem like much. But, they kept coming and soon our house was full! We had teens everywhere.


J provided some entertainment for the evening and drew quite a crowd.

It was really a great evening. The kids were fabulous. We hosted about 40 teens in our home for about 45 min. As quickly as they entered they left for another home for dessert. Our teens are amazing. We had so little to clean up when they were done. You would hardly have known that our house had just been full, except of course that it went from very loud to very, very quiet! LOL

The Wreath Solution

Well, we did it. We finally figured out a solution to our hole in the wall. What do you think?

If you look closely you can tell it is a doggy door turned sideways with a plaque hung over it.

We decided to move the tree and rearrange the furniture and here is our finished project.


We really should take our Christmas picture here next year. What do you think?

Living Nativity

Last night we attended a "Living Nativity". We were invited by one of the moms in our home school co-op. It was fabulous and sooooo well done. You could definitely tell that a lot of time and effort was put into planning this. We started out in a looonnnngggg line but it went very quickly and the kids were able to pet some goats while we waited.


We started out by being given coins to pay the Tax Collector. You can see in R's face what he thought of this. LOL!

Next we had to sign the Census.

We then walked through the Bethlehem Marketplace where we were able to experience many different shops. Each shopkeeper gave us information of what it was like during that time but presented it in real time stories.
The Wheat Grinder

The Spice Maker (this was our friend who invited us to the Nativity)


The Perfumer

Here is A smelling frankenscence. They also had myrrh. Very strong smelling perfumes.
The next part of the journey was outside where we went through 6 different scenes of the Christmas Story. Here are a few.
Gabriel visiting Joseph. I love the way they did this.

The 3 Wise Men.

Servants tending the Wise Men's flocks.

I loved the camels. They had many live animals including sheep, donkeys, goats, cows and camels. The camels were rather entertaining. In the second picture below you can see one camel trying to eat his keepers clothes!


The last pictures are of Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus in the Manger and

the baby Jesus eating her (Oops! HIS toes! LOL).

They ended the story by shining a light on 3 crosses in the distance. Unfortunately these pictures did not come out but I thought is was fabulous how they shadowed the manger scene with the cross. If you can find Living Nativity in your city I would highly recommend you going. We really had a great time.