advent day #6 - listen to Christmas music

Tonight was our married couples small group Bible study night. Knowing that our Bible study nights are ALWAYS busy and late, we planned to have a very low-key night. We planned to listen to Christmas music while we ate supper! That's it - plain and simple but nice!

Our night was a late one so we didn't even read our Scripture for the day...perhaps, we'll double up on our Bible reading tomorrow night. We did manage to work on our memory verse today though!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. ~John 3:16

Letty is...

CRAWLING (and not just "commando" crawling)!!!!

(Don't forget to pause the music before playing the video.)

At 7 months old, Letty has started "officially" crawling. Although she seems to still prefer to "commando" crawl as it is a much faster means of travel for her right now, she has now learned the coordination of her hands and knees to "officially" crawl. She just can't wait to catch up to her big sister and her big brother!

advent day #5 - Watch a Christmas movie.

Our activity for the day was to watch a Christmas movie together as a family. The movie we chose was a Barbie Nutcracker movie that we had.

As you can see, someone was not happy about the movie selection...



...OWEN!



BUT, once we started into the movie, the mice, the Nutcracker, and all of the action and fighting caught his attention, and he didn't seem to mind watching it after all.



Ivy had the idea of turning out all of the lights, including the Christmas tree lights to give us "theater lighting." (Thinking about her idea, we have NO idea where she got the idea as she has NEVER been to a movie theater to watch a movie yet. It's fascinating to see how our kids pick up on things.)

All in all, we had a nice special time as a family sitting down, relaxing, and watching a movie on a Sunday afternoon.

Of course, before bed, we worked on the next word to our memory verse and read more prophecy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from the book of Isaiah.

He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. ~Isaiah 53:3-6

advent day #4 - Decorate!!!

Oh, boy! Letty's picture pretty much sums up our morning...



Today, we planned to spend the whole day and work together as a family to decorate the tree and our home for Christmas. BUT, the day didn't start out the way we had envisioned. Don't you hate it when that happens?!? First, we got a late start. Then, the tree's trunk was skinnier than what our tree holder could handle, and when we tried to rig the thing to hold our tree up so that we didn't have to buy a new one, the holder broke! Then, we plugged in our lights to see if they work and saw that a strand in the middle was not lighting. Thinking back to last year's Christmas, we quickly remembered that we had repaired this strand of lights and commented to each other last year that we would buy new lights this year. SO, Daddy, Ivy, and Owen were off to Lowe's, while Mommy tried to clean up our house a little and get things ready for decorating while Letty napped. AND, of course Letty didn't nap for the amount of time that she should have so our preparations for decorating didn't get done and only a very very little bit of cleaning was accomplished.

How was this day ever going to turn around into a positive and fun and (good) memorable day for our family???? All of our efforts were not working so Who better to turn our efforts and our day over to than the Lord (like we should have done in the first place). He needed to take control of this day, and we just needed to relax and go with the fun of the day.



Well, slowly...but surely, we were having our fun-filled day. (Can you see the little smirk forming yet????) :-)



Soon, we were all in full force getting our Christmas tree decorated with all of our neat, meaningful ornaments.







Owen's way of decorating the tree is to play with any ornaments Mommy, Daddy, or Ivy would let him have and not hang them on the tree.



Later, we discovered that he was doing his own decorating...



...by putting them in Letty's toy. :0)





Of course, Letty was doing her own little decorating...



...in her mouth. Her new nickname is "Paper Eater" as she always seems to find paper somewhere, and it always seems to get into her mouth. :-)



Here's what our tree looks like this year...



After decorating the tree, we ALWAYS place a nativity set under the Christmas tree as a way to always remember the true meaning of Christmas - the birth of our Savior, Jesus! This year we have TWO kid-friendly nativity sets to place under the tree that the kids are allowed to play with at any time (something that Owen LOVES to do, and I LOVE watching them play with them too).



Owen has turned this "fun" thing into a water slide for Baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary, the shepherd, and all of the others. :-)



They LOVE to set the nativity sets up, too.







The nativity set that Ivy put up was given to Nathan and I as a wedding gift! (A great idea for a wedding gift if I might add!







This set was given to our family last year by a dear lady, Miss Sarah, that I met and got to know through a ladies' Bible study I attended before the craziness (and fun) of having 3 small kids happened.

Another favorite to decorate at Christmas time...







I remember helping my Mom (Grandma O.) decorate this tree for Christmas when I grew up, and I'm so proud that I'm able to carry on the tradition with my family. I believe this tree was hand-painted by my Mom with the help of her mother-in-law and was given to her parents as a present for a Christmas when my Mom was younger. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Mom!)

Here are a few more decorations around our home...







I've started collecting nativity sets but especially if they are unique. The above and below pictures are among my favorites...



...this was given to us by Nate's parents as a souvenir from their trip to Mexico.

This nativity set was the one that Nathan's Gram always put out at her house during Christmas...



AND, this nativity set is my absolute favorite...



Every year when I grew up, I remember helping and/or watching my Mom set this up. She would lay out a piece of red felt cloth on our mantle above the fireplace. Then, we would carefully unwrap each piece and place it on the mantle. BUT, my Mom NEVER put Baby Jesus out until Christmas Day, his birthday. This set was hand-painted by my Grandma O. and given to my Mom and Dad as a gift. Sadly, it is ceramic, and I don't have a place high enough and safe enough to put it out yet. Perhaps, when the kids get a lot older, we will be getting this set out. I can't wait!

Lastly, this is our memory verse/advent calendar wall where it contains the word that we need to learn each day for our memory verse, where we place our 2 people that we pray specifically for that day, and where we hang the slip of paper containing our instructions of what activity we are to do that day...





Well, I must say that our day of decorating certainly turned around into an enjoyable and memorable day. It's amazing what can happen when we place our desires and our efforts into the Lord's hands.

At the end of the day, we read from the book of Isaiah.

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ~Isaiah 9:6

advent day #3 - pizza & tree

Tonight, we went to pick out our Christmas tree as our family's advent activity. Ever since we moved here 8 years ago, we have always bought a real tree from a local fire department, and this year was no exception. The fire department uses the sale of these Christmas trees as a fundraiser to buy equipment and other needs it may have throughtout the year. Since our home is located within the district that this local fire department services, we feel that supporting this fundraiser is well worth it.

As has been the case in the past, it has usually taken us (Nathan) forever to pick out that "perfect" tree. We usually don't do anything in a zip (notice my little play on words...he he!). This year WAS an exception as it did NOT take us long to pick out our tree. I think we set a new Zipf pick-out-the-Christmas tree record! :0)

Of course, we had to get a picture of Nate examining the trees.

Ivy is always good at giving her Daddy advice about the trees.

Letty and Mommy were just along for the ride (exactly the way Mommy likes it - she knows to not say anything when a big decision like this is to be made). :)

And, poor Owen didn't quite make out of the van as he fell asleep on the way to the fire station. What a tired little boy he was!

So, this is the "skinnier" tree that we brought home this year.

After picking out our Christmas tree, we finished out our night with ordering a PIZZA for dinner!!!! Yummy!

Before bedtime, we continued working on the kids' memory verse which we are now up to 3 words, and we read Isaiah 7:14 to continue focusing on our Savior's birth.

"...Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." ~Isaiah 7:14b