25 Days of Christmas: Day 5

Day Five

"A Journey to Bethlehem"

Last night we went on a special outing to "A Journey to Bethlehem". This experience allowed you to walk around in a reenactment of the town of Bethlehem during the time Jesus was born. There were skits, shops, animals, snacks, and characters! This was put on by a local church near where we live. The set up was great, and the experience was amazing! The kids really enjoyed seeing the stories we have been reading to them come to life.

I hope you will enjoy some of the photos I was able to take with my phone.

Story teller

this lady was "selling" perfurmes and lotions

The soldiers have captured a thief!

Women gossiping by the well

Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem from their long walk

No room at the Inn

Angels giving the shepherds the Good News!

The birth of Jesus Christ our Savior in a manger

The 3 wise men off in the distance traveling to find the Christ child.

25 Days of Christmas: Day 4

Day Four

Saturday was fun! I told the kids that if everyone finished their chores we would make some candles, and if they're were really good, a treat later in the day.

Here are the treats that we made: melted snowmen s'mores 

and here are our candles

The candle project was more of a mom's hands on project, but the kids supervised ;)

This is something we've done a few times before, upcycling our old burned down candles. 

I usually save these because it seems like such a waste to throw away all of that smelly good wax when I know we can simply just melt it down and make a new candle from it!

I let the candles melt down in a pot of hot water, and I use tongs to remove the old wicks.

I bought new wicks from Hobby Lobby to go into the new candles. I held the wicks in place with a pencil while I poured in the wax.

And ta-da! New candles! :) 

Now for the fun treats that the kids enjoyed.....

These didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted, but still cute none the less

As you can see, the kids really enjoyed these messy treats!

The messier the snack, the tastier it is to them :)

Evening came and we all enjoyed another Christmas devotional from Luke 2:1-20. We discussed how the shepherds felt when an angel came to them to announce the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord, and how we might feel if an angel of God came to us with a message. Maddox told us he would be scared, while Skylar said she would be excited! 

25 Days of Christmas: Day 3

Day Three

Yesterday after school the kids and I went outside to collect pine cones from our backyard. Our next project was going to be glitter pine cone ornaments.

This project was very messy, but we all loved the results! To make this ornament we simply painted the pine cones with Elmer's glue, sprinkled on the glitter, allowed them to dry, then with hot glue I attached the ribbons onto the bottom of the pine cone.

Later in the evening, after dinner we all sat around to listen to another bible story, from Matthew chapter one. We learned about the genealogy of Jesus and about the way Joseph found out that Mary, his soon to be wife was pregnant with the son of God. As a family we discussed how Joseph must have felt and how we might feel if we were in his situation. The kids are so good to listen to the stories and to join in on the conversation, and even ask and answer questions themselves.

This Christmas season has only just begun and we are already greatly blessed by it.

25 Days of Christmas: Day 2

Day Two

Skylar, Maddox, and I made the most adorable Christmas wreath!

This project was so easy and fun to do. I took an old wire coat hanger out of the closet, shaped it into a circle and then the kids stung these beautiful ornaments on the wire. Some of the ornaments were left over from our Christmas tree, while others were some that I had picked up at the dollar store. When the kids were finished I closed the circle up with a ribbon, gave it a bow and hung it up on our front door. We were all thrilled with the way it turned out!

Later that evening at the dinner table Mitch read to us a bible story out of Luke 2:21-40. He read to us after Mitch and I were done eating, but while the kids were finishing up. This story is about Jesus when he was only 8 days old, and about 2 people in a Temple waiting for their Savior's arrival. After the bible story we discussed how we should always be waiting and ready for the second coming of Jesus and how our excitement towards waiting for Christmas morning should be centered around Jesus.

Every night we will do a bible study like this as a family, and I would like to invite all who read this to do this study either with yourself or your family. You can find this study at YouVersion, click here for the link: "Rediscovering the Christmas Season"


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Meanwhile in Jingle Twinkle news, this is what our little elf has been up to!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 1

Day One

Thanksgiving night as a family we went out and bought a live tree to place in our home, to be decorated and enjoyed by us all. It's a wonderful tree, but my husband and I thought it would be special for the kids to have their own Christmas tree, so yesterday we surprised them with a pre-lit 4 foot tree of their very own. They were so excited! Together we popped popcorn and I taught the kids how to make a popcorn garland. Maddox and Skylar were so patient, threading popcorn one at a time, trying to have fun even when the popcorn broke or when they pricked their finger with the needle. They just kept going, and were so proud when they finished, I was proud of them too. With pride, Skylar and Maddox hung the garland on their tree all by their selves. Now they can't wait to create new ornaments for a tree just their size.

25 Days Of Christmas

This year with my children I have decided to celebrate.....

This isn't really any different from any other year, I'm only now making it official with a name. You see, celebrating Christmas (or any holiday or birthday for that matter) is BIG in our home. Birthdays seems to last a week and Christmas starts Thanksgiving night and doesn't end until New Year's Eve. This year our kids seem to be a little more into the holiday spirit than usual. We put our tree up Thanksgiving night and we have been listening to Christmas music ever since. We're all looking forward to our usual traditions for this time of year along with adding a few new ones, including, "The Elf on the Shelf", we named ours Jingle Twinkle. Along with adding new traditions I thought we would have a little fun by enjoying 25 days of Christmas this December, by doing a little something each day to celebrate, all while keeping the true meaning of Christmas alive by teaching my children about the birth of Jesus Christ. Our 25 days will include crafts, making ornaments,  wreaths, treats, watching movies, special outings, reading the bible and so on. As each day passes I plan on blogging about our fun, along with updating you on what Jingle Twinkle has been up to.

I wish you all a merry 25 days of Christmas and hope that you will join in on the fun!

Below you can see what Jingle Twinkle has been doing so far.....

20 questions

This is such a cute and fun game to play with your kids. I got this idea from a momma who got this idea from a facebook note that was being passed around. You should play this with your kids too!

20 Questions

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?

Maddox:"I love you"

Skylar: "I love you."

2. What makes Mommy happy?

Maddox: "Getting flowers and jewelry."

Skylar: "snuggling"

3. What makes Mommy sad?

Maddox: "When I say stupid"

Skylar: "us being apart"

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?

Maddox: "telling jokes"

Skylar: "telling stories"

5. What was Mommy like as a child?

Maddox: "a child"

Skylar: "lovable with your bear"

6. How old is Mommy?

Maddox: "17"

Skylar: "26"

7. How tall is Mommy?

Maddox: "18"

Skylar: "probably 3 ft or 5 ft"

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?

Maddox: "yell"

Skylar: "playing with me"

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?

Maddox: "goes to kid church"

Skylar: "be busy"

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?

Maddox: "I don't know"

Skylar: "be famous for having a HUGE house, bigger than this one"

11. What is Mommy really good at?

Maddox: "Making letters"

Skylar: "cleaning"

12. What is Mommy not very good at?

Maddox: "Making clothes"

Skylar: "Games on your phone"

13. What is Mommy's favorite food?

Maddox: "Chinese"

Skylar: "Pie"

14. What makes you proud of Mommy?

Maddox: "saying I love you, hugs and kisses"

Skylar: "Giving me stuff"

15. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Maddox: "a kid"

Skylar: "a chef"

16. What do you and Mommy do together?

Maddox: "we play."

Skylar: "Go shopping"

17. How are you and Mommy the same?

Maddox: "we do same things"

Skylar: "we're both girls"

18. How are you and Mommy different?

Maddox: "we do different stuff"

Skylar: "You're big and I'm small"

19. How do you know Mommy loves you?

Maddox: "because you be good and you love me"

Skylar: "Because you tell me"

20. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?

Maddox: "Restaurant"

Skylar: "Church. Because you like to learn about God a lot."