Christmas Countdown Day 10

December 10th: Lights at Temple Square!


Since GiGi was visiting, we thought this would be a great weekend to head down to Salt Lake City and see the lights at Temple Square. It was cold, but not too bad, and we had such fun! I think we were definitely warmer than the bride you can see in the background here in this one! Brrrr!:
In the picture above, the children are in front of the white statue of Mary, Joseph and Jesus in the manger on the reflecting pool. It is incredibly beauitful! Click here to see a better picture of the scene. It is positively breathtaking with all the floating candles around.


Here we are with the Salt Lake Temple in the background!

We made our way over to the Nativity scene. Here they have a scene set up (just statue/mannequin type things) with Christmas Music from teh Mormon Tabernacle choir playing in the background. If you wait, you can hear the entire story read straight from the Bible.

The kids were really excited to see this replica of the Salt Lake temple, so we walked through the South Visitor's center so they could see what the rooms inside the temple look like:

Daphne also desperately wanted to go see the Christus statue. If I'm being completely honest, this statue kind of weirded me out a little when I first joined the Church. Having come from a background where we used only crosses to serve as emblems of the Savior, the idea of a statue seemed, well, Catholic to me. Or something. I don't really know what. But paintings of the Savior are peaceful to me now... reminding me of the promise of eternal life that He brings to us. I'm still not a huge fan of the statues, but I understand the appeal a little better now:

On our way back, Tori got to where she was too tired to walk, so I carried her back!

We had so much fun!! I think we may have frozen my poor Mom, but I think she had a good time all in all. I LOVE to go to temple square!

Our scripture for tonight was Matthew 2:9-10:

"When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."

Christmas Countdown, Day 9

December 9th: Christmas Cookies with GiGi!


One of my most vivid Christmas memories from my childhood is making sugar cookies with my Mom. She makes the most deliciously sweet Christmas cookies. They are sooo yummy. They are also a pain in the neck to make. My other memory was of a chaotic, messy, flour and frosting covered kitchen. Which is pretty much what you see here. (And why I am delinquent in having made sugar cookies with my kids for so long. I spent so much of the year trying to keep my house in showing condition that extra stuff like this fell by the wayside.) It felt nice to have the freedom to "let go" a little bit and not worry that a realtor might call any minute!
The kids had sooo much fun!

The girls stayed interested much longer than Isaac. He dropped out pretty quickly to hang with Dad, but Tori and Daphne stayed strong.

But the award for persevearance goes to.... Daphne! She stayed helpful through the whole process and was really sweet with Tori as well. So, of course, she got the first taste!

Yum!! Thanks so much for all the help, Mom! It would have been reallyoverwhelming with just one adult and Matt's back was completely out that day. Love you!

I know we read a scripture this night and sang, but I forgot to write them down. :( So you'll have to stay tuned for our scripture for tomorrow.

Christmas Countdown, Day 8

December 8th: Mangers!

I was so excited about our activity for this night! My Mom had flown in that day, so she got to be part of the festivities. Tonight we read:
And our activity was making mangers out of popsicle sticks! (The early childhood professional in me is opposed to "crafts" that require a specific product, use a model, and tend to stifle creativity). But, sometimes the only way to bring in a hands on activity to re-enforce a scriptural lesson is to do a craft. I digress... so we made mangers:
(Remember when I said that my kids might be partially dressed or in jammies with wet hair for lots of these activities? Yeah, well, here is a topless Tori.)
We also used peanuts to make a little Baby Jesus to put inside the manger. Here is Tori drawing a face on her baby:

Since we were using peanuts, Daphne wore gloves to protect herself. (It worked!) Tori's finished product:

I ran ou tof time to get some straw for the manger, but that would be a great touch!

Our Manger Nursery!

Our song for tonight: Away in A Manger. (of course!)

Our scripture was Luke 2:12-14:

"12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Christmas Countdown, Day 7

December 7th: The Stable!


Tonight we read this book: I love this book! It is perfect for young children, but the illustrations are engaging enough to keep school aged children interested as well.

Tori's really listening intently, huh?

So, then we decided to make a stable out of a shoe box! Matt was my helper for this one-- I so appreciated him doing the crafty work. He had hurt his back very badly cleaning up after the wicked wind storm we had the week before. He was in quite a bit of pain but was a real trooper!

Our song for tonight was: The Nativity Song. The words of which include, "This is the stable, shelter so bare. Cattle and oxen first welcomed Him there...." Such a sweet song!

Our scripture for this night was Luke 2:6-7:

"And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

Christmas Countdown, Day 6

December 6th : FAIL.

Alright, don't tell me that you haven't ever planned something and failed!!

Matt had a migraine this day and I was exhausted and my kiddos were rotten! I sent them to bed without dessert, without brushing teeth, without scriptures and without prayer!! AAHHHH!!! It wasn't pretty. I don't think I have ever done that before. Not my best Mommy moment.

So, Merry Christmas! Hope that warmed your heart!

Christmas Countdown, Day 5

Tonight's activity was: Hot Chocolate and reading Christmas Stories! Everyone got to choose a Christmas story and we read them together snuggled in by the fire! The kids are super excited to have fireplaces now! First off, we read Tori's book about Santa. See?!! I'm not ANTI- Santa! He's not banned from our house or anything, we just don't believe he's real. And... he's not. As I mentioned in a previous post, Matt and I both feel very strongly that it is important to emphasize Christ's birth and we have let our kids in on the truth about Santa from the beginning. We still believe that there is value to the spirit of giving and we still sing songs and *gasp* read books about the man in red.

Daphne picked The Christmas Baby, which is not really a favorite of mine. It starts out really great and the end is a little "iffy". I have seriously considered ripping out the last two pages. But my Preschool Teacher's reverence for books has won. We'll see how long I can hold out!

Isaac chose "The Three Trees" which I love. It is not necessarily a Christmas book, it goes just as well with Easter. But it's definitely worth checking out! We had a blast!

Our song for tonight was Silent Night! And our scripture was Matthew 1:24-25:

"Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS."

Christmas Countdown, Day 4

December 4th was a Sunday, so we had family dinner at Matt's parents' house. Because we were with all the cousins, I read tonight's book to all of them: This Book is so touching- it is a true story re-told by Thomas S. Monson. If you read this book, prepare for your heart to be warmed. I LOVE this story! Ellen is the oldest child in a family who lives in Canada in the early 1920's. Because Winter has come early and Spring has come late for the past two years, their crops have all failed and the family is now destitute. Ellen has lost the hope of Christmas. I highly recommend picking up this book to hear the rest! Love.

Since we had family dinner that night, we didn't have time to do the activity until a while later. Fortunately, it was a time when we had cousins over! So some of the other children who heard the story were able to participate! Our activity was a little service project to collect old coats, etc... and take them to the Warm Clothing Drive at the Bank of Utah. The kids were super excited to help someone else!

Here is Daphne and cousin Corbin packing up the goods at our house:

Isaac and a shirtless Tori in the background!

Cousin Luke joins in!

And here they are at the Bank of Utah dropping off our stash!

I would have LOVED if they were able to actually meet people face to face and help them in that way, but perhaps we can try service like that as they get a little older. Either way, I think they left knowing that they did something to help another person and that meets the goal!

We didn't have time for a song this night... but our scripture was Matthew 1:23

"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

Christmas Countdown, Day 3

Christmas Countdown, Day 3: The Crippled Lamb

You'll notice that a great deal of our activities occur after the kids are all bathed and in jammies, or that they have lost various articles of clothing from the day. I hope you don't mind! You just kind of get what you get!

Tonight's song was Angels We Have Heard on High And then, our activity was reading The Crippled Lamb, by Max Lucado. The story tells of a little lamb who feels left out because he has a crippled leg. One night, all the other sheep leave to find greener pastures, but the crippled lamb is left behind in the stable... so he finally feels important and is able to witness one of the most remarkable events ever!
We had candy canes for a treat and the kids loved the story:

Our scripture for tonight was Luke 2:15-17:

"And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child."

Christmas Countdown, Day 2

Day 2: Ward Christmas Party!!

This is one of our more exciting days! Our Church Christmas party was tonight... my kiddos got to be part of the nativity.

Daphne and Tori were asked to be angels! (Of course they were!) This was convenient since they were angels for Halloween this year and we already had all the stuff for their costumes: Victoria was sooo excited to be on stage:

Daphne:

You can see Isaac in this one (he has the blue thing on his head.) Actually, I got a few compliments on this idea and I thought it was pretty clever, so I'll share: We have an old recliner that was given to us by Matt's parents. You know those little arm covers that come with recliners? Well, we saved one and used it for Isaac's shepherd hat. Pretty cool, right? OK, so it's not the most exciting tidbit you've heard all day, but I thought it was a good idea!

You can see all three of them in this one!

Here are some of the sheep, who took off their noses and put them over their eyes. "AAARGH!!" They were so hysterical!

I was also asked to sing for the Christmas party. About 7 0r 8 years ago, I attempted to sing "O Holy Night" and it went terribly. Terribly. I told myself I would never sing it again. So... I'm not really sure why I did it, but I attempted it again. I brought the key down about 2 full steps thanks to my amazing accompaniest, Shelley. So, I thought I would be fine. I was wrong. It wasn't terrible, but it was pitchy. To use Randy's term. When will I learn?

Overall, it was a fun night! The kids had a blast and although I had to pull the microphone from Tori while she was kicking and screaming (she wanted to sing, too!), she loved the whole party.

Our scripture for the night was Matthew 1:20-21:

"But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins."

Christmas Countdown- Day 1

So, even though I am ridculously behind on posting... I want to write about our Christmas Countdown. We LOVE Christmas! It is really important to me, however, that we make this season a time to celebrate the birth of our Savior and not a materialistic festival of "getting". So, I tried to plan an activity for each day leading up to Christmas. Sometimes, our days are super simple, and some days it is pretty exciting! But every day includes a scripture and a song and a little Christmas Cheer!
Day 1: O Come All Ye Faithful Our first day, December 1st, we basically used to introduce the concept of the Christmas Count down to the kids and worked together to make our chain (seen above).

We also ended the night with ice cream and hot fudge, which definitely rallied the troops!

Our song for tonight was O Come All Ye Faithful and our scripture was Matthew 1:18:

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."