25 Days of Christmas: Days 10-11

Day 10

The kids and I finally finished our ribbon garland project. It's wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, $15. I think our garland turned our beautiful. The kids watched as I wrapped it around the railing of our front porch. I had some extra lights, so I decorated a couple of trees around our house as well. The lights aren't too much, too bright, or too fancy, but still special to us.

Now the set of pictures you'll see below is from our outing on day 11.

There is a neighborhood a few towns over from us where a guy and about 4 to 6 of his neighbors turn their home into a Christmas light attraction. They even have their own Santa Claus and offer free popcorn and hot chocolate. These people go all out in decorating for the season. So Mitch, the kids and I, along with a group of our friends had a night out enjoying what these amazing people had to offer for free for their community.

25 Days of Christmas: Days 6-9

Day 6 was a very busy day for us, we didn't have time for a craft that day, but we were able to sit around the dinner table for a bible study. Mitch read to us Mark 9:33-37. As a family we discussed how Jesus was a servant and how we too are to be servants of God, by serving others.

Day 7 was movie night! We watched Rudolph, Frosty the snowman, and Santa Clause is coming to town.


Day 8: Browsing pinterest, I saw where you could make garland from a string of lights and ribbon. Skylar, Maddox and I have been working together on this project. It's pretty simple, only I severly under estimated how much ribbon we would need and this is turning into an expensive project. The photo below is from pinterest.


Day 9: Last night Mitch read to us from the dinner table Exodus 25. This was a long read for everybody, especially the kids! Exodus 25 is a passage of strict instructions from God to the Isrealites on how to build and decorate his Taberacle. After this read, as a family we discussed how some of our Christmas decorations are symbolic for Christ, such as the star on top of the tree. We are also planning on making more ornaments that will be a constant reminder of Christ and I will post pictures of those in days to come!

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.