Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

What it's all about...

In this month of festivities and fun, we have made a conscious effort to stay focused on what it is really all about... Jesus! Of course, we can always improve, but it has been fun and nice this year to hand out blessing bags, donate gifts to a children's home that our church supports, do our Jesse Tree and try to keep PEACE (as opposed to holiday CRAZY) into our home.

I saw this on Pinterest and HAD to do it with the boys. They will be framed and hanging by morning! I know that it will be wonderful to bring them out every year and reflect on Jesus and see how much the boys have grown.
Here are some of the Jesus books we've been reading every day.
And of course, the Little People have been played with almost every day! It is so sweet to hear the boys tell the account and move the people. And of course, they do get a little silly at times. But mostly, they are quite reverent and love to tell about Jesus' birth.

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived." Luke 2:1-21

A Little Learning...

The teacher in me needs to have some learning amidst all the fun! We've been working on recognizing and writing the numbers 1-20, so here are two activities we did for numbers.

This game came from Pinterest. I printed off the gingerbread man. He had the numerals 1-6 in the boxes of his body. Then the kids rolled a regular dice and colored in the corresponding number on the gingerbread man.
It was a LOT of fun and the boys wanted to do it with another shape!
The other activity is a twist on a Pinterest idea... I found a Christmas tree coloring sheet on-line. Then I wrote the numbers 12, 13,14, 15, 16, 19 on a wooden cube and on the tree worksheet. I made a key at the bottom of the page for each number to be it's own color.
The the kids rolled the numbered dice and colored a dot on the tree that corresponded. Anything with dot-riffics is a hit in this house!

A Trip Through Bethlehem

A local church presents a fabulous Walk-Through Bethlehem every December. It is on the top of our "must do" list! It is so wonderful to see the town come to life. It gives the Bible a more real feel and allows you to see it better in your mind as you read The Word of God. The lessons for adults and children are too numerous to count! Here's what you see on your walk through Bethlehem...

Before you enter the town, you get to see a man cooking lamb on an open flame. Jacob and Rylan both tried the lamb and like it!

Rylan loved the lamb!

The Roman soliders were much nicer than the ones back then. They even let the boys try and hold the shield!
Every town has goats, right???
Loving it with Daddy...
and Mommy...
We got to eat dried dates and apricots. The dates were SO sweet! Rylan tried both and liked them, Jacob did not try them.
The three wise men walked through the line several times. The kids got GOLD necklaces from this wiseman. We also got to smell frankenscinse and myrrh. They both smelled good!The donkey was a bit skiddish, so we did not get to touch him this year.
Here is the wedding procession! Jacob was asked if he was ready to get married. He politely replied no. Then after they walked by, he and Rylan erupted in laughter! They thought it was hilarious to think of a kid getting married!
Food from the wedding feast... bread and fattened calf (brisket). Both were yummy!
We were all enamoured by the camel! He was 4 years old and still getting used to people touching him. He was so fluffy and tall!
Another wiseman near the door was giving out gold (Almond Kisses).
Entering city limits...
First stop was the cheese makers. They showed us how to make cheese and we got to eat goat cheese on a cracker.
Then off to the paper maker. The kids got to wet papyrus strips and criss-cross them before putting them in the press. It was a great demo!
Then we saw the scribe! Each child got a little scroll of Deuteronomy 6:4-9. It was so neat to hear the boys recite part of it with them.. Thank you Hide the Word!
Walgreens! We go to our Walgreens far too often and the boys loved seeing the old drug store. They smelled several herbs and got to grid some with the mortar and pistol.
At the bakery we got to try some honey wheat bread!
Olive oil on our foreheads...
Hearing more about lamps and oil at the lamp shop...
The spice shop was lots of fun. The boys closed their eyes and sniffed then guessed the spice. They did pretty good!
One of the favorite stops... the miller! The miller put wheat buds in the grinder. Then Rylan spun the grinder and Jacob caught the flour. They did this over and over again!

The wood shop... they got to hit wood with an ax!
The weaver was so neat! They got to spin yarn then weave it on the loom. It was trickier than they thought it would be!
The basket-making stop. It was neat to see all the baskets and try to weave one ourselves!
They got to make real pinch pots at the pottery shop! They dried nicely and are on display at home!


The rope makers... this was another highlight! THey worked together to braid a long rope then the lady cut it in half. It is really cool!


The last stop was the stable with Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. I felt disrespectful taking a photo, but it was breathtaking. You round a corner and in a small, dimly lit stable is a real family. It was so sweet and humbling. TO think that Jesus, our Savior, started off in a tiny stable... God is so good!

Thank you church and we'll be back next year!

Every day life

Even though we have been doing lots of Christmas activities, we have had many "normal" days too. Here are some highlights of our "normal days"...

Reading football magazines with GPop - gotta love Rylan on top of his head!

With the NBA lock-out ending (yeah!!!) we were on pins and needles with the Maverick free agents. For about two weeks, all 4 of us were watching ESPN, checking the web and worrying about our favorite Mavericks. When Tyson went to the Knicks, we were all sad. Then when JJ Barea went to the Timberwolves, it was almost more than Jacob could bear. He really almost cried! Here he is with the letter he wrote to the TImberwolves..
"Timberwolves Give JJ Back. Jacob"
Bath-time...
When getting down the Christmas decor, Jason found a box with some of his childhood treasures. His book of trading cards was a SCORE! The boys have recently gotten interested in "postcards" as they call them, so looking at Daddy's collection was awesome! In fact, they look at the book several times a day! They are huge vintage sports fans!
It's finally been cool enough for slippers in the morning...
Early morning reading by the tree...
More Christmas fun to come!