Monday, December 01, 2014

Productive PJ Day

This was a pj day. It had to be. I had SO much to do that none of it would get done if I left the house.

We got school done.

The older kids had Japanese lessons.

Last night the kids tore into the tree and set it up. I was reminded, once again, I'm woefully behind on Stacia's ornaments. Each year, each child was to receive a photo ornament. At this point the only ornaments on our tree are THESE and special ones reminding us of special places. But evidently, we've only celebrated two Christmas' since Stacia's birth. Hmmmm.....

Stacia and Michael examine her lonely ornaments

 
 
It's a cute solo ornament!

Yes, the tree was done...but the living room looked like someone had dumped boxes and boxes of Christmas clutter in it.

The younger two finally found the traveling wise men. The oriental wise man whispered in my ear that he adores Jesus because Jesus always keeps His promises to us.
 
Stacia LOVES this nativity - and I'm glad she's still young enough to enjoy it.

The younger two and I spent a lot of time making order out of the Christmas Chaos in the living room. We put a few nativities out - will take a few to the chapel and - and packed away normal things to make room for Christmas things.

I also did some PWOC stuff and thought through what I'd like to share tomorrow at MTOC.

Stacia was excited and surprised to receive a package today! Thanks, Mandy. You made her day.

 Michael got home at almost the same time dinner was done.  We ate. We sang another hymn and read and discussed another passage. We found it ironic to be discussing Gen 2:21-25 this evening.

So thankful to be loved by a God who loves me when I'm unlovable. I adore a God who always keeps his covenant promises. He is faithful.


Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Traveling Wise Men

Years before a naughty elf on a shelf was marketed, I heard of families with traveling wise men at their home during Advent. There has even been a book written which may be fun to use.  The basic idea is to be sure your children understand the role the wise men played in the Christmas story...then....

Plant the wise men and a note early in the Advent season and let them journey through until they find the newborn King - either on Christmas a.m. or on Epiphany (January 6th).

Like the elf, this tradition builds daily fun into your season. However, these travelers turn our focus to adoring Jesus each and every day.

After being reminded of this tradition on Facebook, I decided to use it this year. We missed all the elf fun as our children were older when he began making his big splash.....but I like how these wise men can help us start each day with a focus on adoring Jesus.

I wrote up a quick blurb.

I went to find our wise men....ours are going to be a bit harder for the kids to find this morning...they aren't nicely waiting at the Advent Wreath. They were still in boxes around the living room but I found a few! Yes, I do have a lot of nativities. I plan to display a couple and put the rest in the library at Far West. I also am planning to tell kids to take what they want as most of these will be given away rather than go to storage or Japan.
 
The kids buy me these pieces...but they're a bit big to be hiding....
 
These are a better size - from our very first nativity 30 years ago - but they're breakable
 
Here they ARE - the Fisher Price guys. Perfect....

We hide the little guys.

The kids find them.

One of the men whispers a reason to adore Jesus in my ear each morning (I tend to tie in with our Advent devotional from the night before).

I share that with the kids and we move on with the day.

For more Advent/Christmas fun check out our Advent Index.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...