The Traveling "Wiseman" is Back!

I love this time of year. We slow down and focus on the amazing gift of Jesus coming into our world and into our lives.  The frantic hustle and bustle has disappeared from our Decembers.

Last year we added a few Traveling Wisemen to our celebration.

Alas - this year they are in storage with the rest of the set - but - we have THIS

Yes, I did. I hid Gumby. He's standing in for The Wisemen this year in the true spirit of Semper Gumby. Stacia doesn't seem to mind.

She remembered that last year we shared a reason we adored Jesus each morning...and we tried to tie them in with where The Wisemen had been hidden. She excitedly shouted, "We adore Jesus because He's a fruit!"

She quickly realized that wasn't quite right and amended, "We adore Jesus because He fills us with the fruit of the spirit."

The funny thing is we hadn't even remembered to try to tie the hiding place in with a reason for worship.

We've added a few more fun decorations to the Caboose. Some teeny, tiny candy canes to the tree and these darling Victorian hats to the cupboards....oh and a couple of bows. I scored at the Thrift Store.

Michael assembled this fantastic flag pole for me. I brought my flags for each season with me. We placed it so we can enjoy it from our dinette and our neighbors can enjoy it as well. Right out there with Featherstone, my Flamingo.

We've read the Jotham's Journey books for years....in several states, two different countries....we gave them a break for a couple of years but Stacia is old enough to enjoy them now...and the boys like them too. This year a new book came out- Ishtar's Odyssey. It's going to feature The Wisemen journeying to Bethlehem.  We're only one night into it - but we're liking it. Though the kids are not keen on having a Persian feast.

Possibly prompted by our rousing, nightly, slightly torturous, singing of hymns at Easter, the kids requested a Christmas Carol. Why didn't we think of STREAMING A YOUTUBE version for background last spring???? 

This Great Blue Heron likes to hang out in our loop - quite a ways from the lake -  about .5 a mile.  He came up, stared at Featherstone, seemed to imitate Featherstone, and then lost interest in the pink bird and headed over to inspect our neighbor's Christmas lights.

Hmmm....in other excitement we are simply making huge tracks in our book school - dreaming of when we'll hit the road and will appreciate being ahead in the books as we step back into hands on history.