December Day #24

Posting a bit late.  Better late than never.  Can't leave things undone!

Before bed on Christmas Eve we had a Pass-The-Parcel.  It was a family board game which the children had seen me buy.  Since the surprise of the gift was spoiled, Arrow suggested wrapping it up in lots of layers of Christmas paper and playing Pass-The-Parcel.  


We seemed to have quite a few unopened books left over so they all got opened to finish off the countdown to Christmas day.

The books are:

• Christmas Long Ago A-Z.  As you would expect it is Christmas through the alphabet.
• Silent Night.  Blossom's special book which plays the carol and has little twinkling lights.
• Prayers At Christmastime is a collection of little prayers.
• The Night the Angels Sang.  Another Arch book.
• The  Very First Christmas.  

Our angels were found holding a picture of a gift.

The wisemen gave special gifts to the young Jesus.  They were prophetic of what was to happen later in His life.  

Gold was a gift for a king.  

Frankincense - the use of frankincense was commanded as a chief ingredient of the incense which was to be kept burning in the tabernacle. (Exodus 30)  David prayed: "Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense" (Psalm 141:2). As the smoke of the burning offering ascended up from the altar, so the people believed their prayers would go up to God with it, and it would be a sweet savor to Him. Now we can see how wonderfully meaningful was this gift of frankincense the little child in Bethlehem. Not only is He destined to be the great King, but also our eternal High Priest. The incense confesses that He alone can convey our prayers, and indeed our very souls to God.

{Taken from *this web page*}

Myrrh - The third gift was myrrh. Its first use in the Bible would suggest that its definitive Biblical use was in the holy anointing oil. The priests were to be "anointed" with a divinely-designed oil, the main ingredient of which was myrrh.

And Jesus is God's precious gift to mankind.  The way in which we, as sinful beings, are able to come before the Holy Creator.

And on Christmas morning our angels had joined the nativity set.  The star had lead us to Jesus.  No longer a baby.  Now He sits with His Father in heaven; our High Priest.  

Merry Christmas!

~Lorna

December Day #23

This morning our angels were perched up high on the fancy mirror in the lounge.  They are holding a picture of wise men.
I haven't noticed it before but no one went with the wise men from their place of origin, and once they got to Jerusalem and a big fuss ensued about some new baby king of the Jews no one actually followed the wise men on the final part of their journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem either.  They didn't follow the crowd, they didn't succumb to other people's opinions, they set out on a quest to find the King of kings which they had read of in ancient writings. 
A challenge for us too.


We opened 3 books again today!

The books are:

• The Three Trees.  A story about 3 trees with big dreams of being made into some things great.  A little disappointment for all 3 until they realise the significance of their destiny.
• Frosty The Snowman.  Because it snows in winter...in the Northern Hemisphere!
• A Shepherd's Whisper.  A slightly odd story about the shepherds discussing the meaning of the angels message.  

We had jelly again today.  I had made layered jelly yesterday when I made the broken glass jelly.  Just as yummy again today.

Cedar enjoying jelly.

Arrow devouring jelly.

~Lorna

December Day #22

This, I tell you, is yummy!  Unless you don't like jelly...and then I feel sorry for you.  It is called broken glass jelly and is rather fun to make too.

This is what it looks like before it is cut up.  Recipe and instructions on my food blog


Today our angels sat on our Hanukkah window sill holding a lamb.

Jesus is our shepherd.  He knows how best to take care of us.  Psalm 23 is a lovely picture of this. 

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

{Copied and pasted from Bible Gateway}

We opened 3 books today as we missed a day or two.

The books are:

• Red Boots For Christmas.  A story about a man believes Christmas is just a time where people show how greedy they are, but he learns that by giving He can bless others and in turn be blessed because he gave.
• Little Benjamin and The First Christmas.  An Arch book.  Again the story of the birth of Jesus this time from the perspective of the inner keepers son who wonders if the prophesy of old will EVER come true.  And it does...right inside their stable.
• The Birthday of a King.  Angel won this book when she was 4 years old when she entered a colouring in competition.  The book draws a parallel between what a kings birthday would have and what Jesus had the day of His birth - a parade, a special room, fire works, invitations, presents, a party.  It is cleverly written with a great lilting rhythm.

~Lorna

December Day #21

Our angels are sitting on Blossom and Crystal's window sill.  They are holding a picture of a shepherd staff.  Today is the fourth devotional in advent.

We lit the green candle, the shepherd's candle which represents joy.  The shepherds are a picture for us to see God's heart: God wants us to hear the good news of great joy so much.  That good news is of course that Jesus is the One who would make the way for us to be able to stand before a holy God covered in righteousness; not our own but Jesus's righteousness.  


We did open books today.  Butterfly and Blossom.

The books are:

• The Little Bird of Bethlehem.  A book about a pigeon who witnesses the stable events
• The Little Match Girl.  A Hans Christian Andersen story.  Sad.  Need a tissue while reading.

Another movie.  

I really can't tell you about this one yet, other than that my children really enjoy the VeggieTales stories.  I know they are not a favourite of some people.  My children have learned things from them and we have had great conversations from the stories...so they are staying here.  

We had some family and neighbours over today for a friendly gathering!  Butterfly decided to bake for the occasion.  

Beautiful, and delicious.  Well done my sweetie!

~Lorna

December Day #20

The third devotional in advent is about angels (a few days later than the schedule).  We lit the white candle, the angel's candle which represents Peace.
Angels are the messengers of God.  Whenever God had a message for someone He sent an angel.  At the announcement of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds a whole choir of angels sang praises!  They sang because now Peace had come to earth.  The Peace that God had promised to those who follow His ways.  Perfect Peace.


Our angels were sitting on my window sill holding some coloured ribbon.

The devotional today was about the colours of Christmas.  We usually associate Christmas with red and green, and also gold and white.
White (snow) reminds us that we can be washed clean, as white as snow.  
Isaiah 1:18 "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
Red (holly berries, Pohutakawa flowers here in NZ) reminds us of our "scarlet" sins and the blood that was shed by Jesus on the cross.  He gave His life as a sacrifice in our place for the sins which separate us from God.
Green (evergreen trees) remind us of everlasting life.  When we are washed clean, God makes us like a green tree that lives forever before Him.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 "Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river.. [its} leaf will be green..nor will [it] cease from yielding fruit."
Gold (ornaments) remind us that when we believe in God we become children of the King.
Psalm 21:3 "For you meet him (us) with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head."

There is so much in the festivities and traditions that can remind us of the true meaning of Christmas!


We didn't open books today.  I blame the humidity.

And when it rained we employed the tv to entertain!

 This little movie came all the way from the Gold Coast Australia courtesy of the newspaper a number of years ago.  We thank Nanny for sending it!  
It is a story about 2 mouse children who go on a quest to find the meaning of Christmas.  They talk to the ornaments on the tree to discover the story.

 We were really in to Angelina ballerina some years back.  Watching it again revived a dancing want in the girls.  It isn't really about Christmas, it is just set at Christmas time.

~Lorna

December Day #19

 Today our angels were sitting on another book shelf holding a star.
Stars are an integral part of the Christmas story.  The star pointed to where Jesus was.  The wise men followed it.
In Numbers 24:17 Moses prophesied "a Star shall come out of Jacob."
And that star was referring to Jesus, "I am...the Bright and Morning Star." Revelation 22:16
In Scripture it says that the purpose of the beauty of nature is to point our thinking toward the Lord. 
"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.." Romans 1:20
In the following verses the writer is saying that when he views the beauty and awe of creation all around him he wonders why God would think of or care for people.  The wonderful thing is that God does; such love!  
Psalm 8:3-4 "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?"  


Today our books were opened by Crystal and Cedar.

The books are:

• The Christmas Story.  This book is illustrated by Eloise Wilkin.  Her illustrations are happy childhood memories of reading for me.  
• An Angel Just Like Me is a story about a boy with dark skin who questions why all the angel ornaments have pink skin.  I like the sentiment of the story; it makes you think.  Don't just accept things the way they are just because they are that way.  "The truth is that whenever a fence is removed it's wise to ask why it was put there in the first place." Ravi Zacharias  It is wise to question why.  It helps us to be discerning.

We made pipe cleaner/bead crosses.  The cross was the purpose of Jesus coming.

Interesting how each child's cross shows a part of their personality!
L-R: Butterfly (bright and vibrant), Blossom (methodical and purposeful), Crystal (orderly and expressive),
Arrow (blue and worked very independently), Cedar (red and purposefully ordered)

The children enjoyed the dreidel game so much we played it again today.  We used the plastic math money.

Arrow spun first and landed the entire bowl!

Great times.

A little house cleaning tip for December.  Put a few drops of peppermint oil on the bag and/or filter of your vacuum cleaner...it smells lovely after you have vacuumed!

 Arrow playing the "boat" game on the Xbox.  It makes me smile that he uses the remote like a steering wheel as well as moving the little stick thingy.  He gets a turn once a week for half an hour and he counts down the days!  

Dinner tonight.  "BLT on T".  Bacon, lettuce, tomato on toast with a fried egg, avocado and cheese.  The secret is frying the egg on a medium heat in animal fat and topping with ranch dressing.  

~Lorna

December Day #18

 It is interesting, I think, that the stuff around us and the circumstances of life often clutter our thoughts so that we are not able to see the beauty around us as easily as we ought.

These are 2 views I have from inside my house.  When I sit quietly and reflect on these photos (taken by Butterfly) I am humbled at the gift of beauty painted right outside my window just waiting for me to notice it.

Our angels are hiding in a cupboard today! Holding a candle.

When the cupboard is closed it is dark.  If you lit a candle inside the cupboard it would be filled with light.
Our hearts are like the cupboard; dark with sin.  Jesus is the light of the world; when we open our heart to Jesus, He fills us with His light.  
"The light shines in the darkness; the darkness can never put it out."  John 1:5

*{No candles were lit inside small cupboard spaces in the enacting of this lovely little devotional analogy!}*

 Butterfly and Arrow opened books today.

The books are:

• The Gift of the Magi.  I'm never too sure what to think about this story.  It is endearingly sweet that they would each sell their most precious possession in order to buy the other a gift.  But then tragically sad that the very thing they sold was the the reason the other bought the gift they did.  The love aspect is nice though.
• With Love At Christmas.  Tatty Ted pictures with greeting card phrases on each page.  I bought it because Crystal loves teddies.

Arrow and Cedar sharing popcorn while watching Veggie Tales The Toy That Saved Christmas...again!

Hanukkah Day 2, we made oil candles.  One was SCARY!  Consensus = wax candles are much safer!

Oil candle with a candle wick

A button lamp like Ma Ingalls made in the Long Winter

I read this from Derek Prince a few months ago about oil.
"Now the oil is always in Scripture a type of the Holy Spirit.  ...  The candlestick, in itself, is incapable of producing light without the oil and without the fire."

 ~Lorna

December Day #17

Our angels were found by the tv holding a picture of a bell.  The devotion was about freedom.  The freedom we have from sin that is found in Jesus.  Bells ring out a joyous sound; our freedom is a joyous thing!

Crystal and Blossom opened books today.

The books are:

• The Happiest Search.  An Arch book which has a rhyming story about the Wisemen.
• The Steadfast Tin Soldier.  Not exactly a Christmas Story, but it has a Christmas tree on the front!  Good discussion to be had about why things happened the way they did.

I just had to share our lunch.  Pumpkin and Kumara soup made by Angel...there are no words to describe how good this tastes!  Try it sometime... here is the recipes on my food blog.

Today is the beginning of Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights.  This is our first year of learning about this festival.

It is a Jewish festival which celebrates an historical event when the small Maccabean army drove out the large Syrian army and rededicated the Temple so they could once again worship God freely.  
When they cleaned up the temple they found only enough oil to light the lamps for one day; the lamps which were to burn continually.  They lit the lamps anyway and sent a rider off on an 8 day journey to get more oil.  Miraculously the one day worth of oil burned continually for 8 days and nights until the rider returned with the new oil. 
This is remembered and celebrated still, as a miracle that God performed, which shows that he can do wondrous things.

Our crafts today centered around the Hanukkah story.  
We made blue Star of David with tinsel pipe cleaners and a black paper/cellophane window menorah.

Blue stars, menorah, and a wooden tealight candle "menorah" my dad made me.

We also played with a dreidel; a spinning top.  The Hebrew people were not allowed to worship God or teach from the Torah while under the invading army rule.  So the teachers would sit with their students on the side of the road and do their lessons in the dusty ground.  When the soldiers came riding along they would rub out the writing in the dust and begin to play with the dreidel, gambling for coins.  Since the soldiers played similar games themselves they didn't think twice when they saw the teachers doing this with their students.  The probably felt they had "won" in changing the peaceful God fearing people to following Greek culture.
Here we are using the dreidel my dad made for me.  There are 4 sides each with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet - Nun, Gimel, Het, Shin. We used chocolate coins.  It was quite a lot of fun.

Arrow spinning the dreidel.

Eagle gets a good spin going.  He and Angel seem to have most of the coins!

A Butterfly spin

Cedar's spins were short.

Blossom spins and everyone has to put a coin back in the bowl!

Cedar eyeing up the coins!

Crystal spinning in hopes of being able to win all the coins in the bowl.

Everyone puts a coin back in the bowl.

We made latkes for dinner; a potato fritter fried in oil.  Because potatoes are a hideous price at the moment and I had none we used kumara, and I fried them in lamb fat as we had lamb patties for dinner too!  It was DELICIOUS!  And even my kumara fussy children liked them!!

I also made this apple challah but we were too full to eat it!  Breakfast tomorrow.


Just before bed we lit our candles.  The tall candle is called the Shamash or attendant candle.  It is used to light each of the 8 smaller candles.  Each night one more candle is lighted, until after 8 evenings all are alight. In memory of the miracle of the oil burning for 8 days.

We also read verses that tell about Jesus being the light of the world and the giver of light.

~Lorna