Last night in Kid's Rock we talked about things that we do to get ready for Christmas. Our Bible story lesson was what God did to prepare for Christmas. We talked about Zechariah and Elizabeth, an angel coming to Mary, Mary visiting Elizabeth, Elizabeth giving birth, and an angel visiting Joseph. Then we made Advent candy garland, which was really cute, though involved. We tied 25 (well, actually 21) pieces of candy to a ribbon and numbered each one so that the kids could eat a piece of candy every day to count down to Christmas. The garland turned out really cute, but I'm not sure that all the kids got the idea. I caught one sweet little girl offering candy from her garland to people in the sanctuary shortly after our craft had been completed. Another child managed to get home with an entire pocket full of candy in addition to her garland! Still, tons of fun getting ready for Christmas!
Around the Dabbs house I feel kind of on top of the game this year. Our Christmas tree, complete with baby gate, went up a few days before Thanksgiving. Even with the baby gate there are several ornaments that still keep scurrying down from the tree and ending up in various places in the living room. I caught Trey chewing on one the other day. So, not only is the tree up, but it has been re-decorated several times (especially the bottom left side which is a little too close to the gate).
I also put up a few other special decorations. I have a Willow Tree Nativity set that is really one of my favorite things I own. Wiseman #2 lost his head before December was even here. :( Thankfully my sweet and patient husband was able to super-glue it back on. It's not perfect, but if Balthasar stands in that back, you can hardly notice.
I do have a non-breakable Nativity set for Evangeline to play with that is on the shelf just below my Willow Tree one. She likes it, but likes mine even better. She can barely reach the Willow Tree one, but if she puts enough effort into it she can get some of the figures down (hence the headless Wiseman). I am thinking about going to Lifeway to buy a Fisher Price Nativity set. I have a 40% off coupon and am wondering if I should get one now with it, or wait and try to find one even cheaper after Christmas. The decision will probably come down to whether or not I feel like driving to Lifeway in the next few days.
Our Christmas cards went out today! Not the greatest cards in the world (the pictures anyway) but they have a cute design compliments of Katie S. Crawford (my sister). We did things a little weird and sent some people a Christmas letter and card and others just a card. The reason behind this was the fact that we only had 50 letter envelopes. I like our letter, but am really bugged by the fact that it has a typo. I caught it in proofreading and changed it, but forgot to tell Drew to print out a new one. UGH! It's irritating. Next year I plan on sending a letter to everyone and hopefully the letter will be free of typos!
I am 90% done with my Christmas shopping. Okay, that's not an exact percentage, but it's pretty close. Drew is 100% done with his shopping, as he announced on Friday. I asked who he bought presents for and he said me. Must be nice to only have to get presents for one person who pretty much makes you a list. He took Evangeline with him, but she wouldn't crack as to what he had bought.
We've been teaching Evangeline two Christmas songs: Away in a Manger and Jingle Bells. Her version of Away in a Manger goes like this, "Away Main main main no no no bed." Repeat. Really cute though. She does pretty good at Jingle Bells too and can say the "Hey" right on cue!
Tonight Drew and I are starring in the Singing Saints Dinner Theatre production of The Gift of the Magi. That is a whole 'nother blog post!
I am enjoying reading a Carols Devotion on My Bible App (I love that thing!) and Drew and I are still trying to get some good ideas for what traditions we can have to keep Christ first at Christmas. Specifically we have been discussing when to read the Christmas story (Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?). What are you doing to get ready for Christmas?
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