My House of Days: The Story In The Carols Day 1

Tuesday, 1 December 2015

The Story In The Carols Day 1

Here we are in December again. I am excited about our month leading up to Christmas Day.

This year I decided to have the theme of Carols and the story they tell. I hope you enjoy our little journey as we learn a little more about this time we celebrate together.

Today's devotional was the first of Advent - the Prophesy Candle representing Hope. God's promises give us hope. God promised he would send a messiah (Bethlehem...out of you shall come forth the One to be ruler in Israel. Micah 5:2) and he did; he sent Jesus. And God promised that by sending Jesus a way would be made for us to be free from our sin (All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6).

Advent - Prophesy Candle representing Hope

This is our advent calendar. We count down with a candy cane each per day. They LOVE this...

And this is a new advent picture calendar for this year. I do love Beatrix Potter.

Last year we wrapped Christmas books. It was a huge hit. So again this year!
This year one child unwraps a book and a second child chooses from the unwrapped books. I have over 50 Christmas books and I didn't want to wrap that many!

Today we had to unwrap 2 books as I had planned to begin yesterday but didn't get to everything.

Cedar and Arrow

Crystal and Arrow

Another tradition we began last year were the Christmas Angels.

This is the letter the children found in the mail box this morning.

The angels were hiding on the bookshelf.

I really like the words to this carol. I don't know the tune, so I am using it as a poem which we will ponder on over the next 3 weeks as we steep in the story and it's meaning.

The first carol we have today is I Love To Tell The Story. I love doing our activities in December with my children to help them learn the depths and beauty of the story. And I look forward to that one day when I will sing with the angels the new, new song of the old, old story!

I stumbled upon a story bead idea for Thanksgiving, which lead me on a search for a Christmas one. I couldn't find one that fit my ideal so I made my own up. We will work our way through the story one day at a time. I am hoping that by the end of the story the children will remember what each bead represents and be able to tell the Great Story of Redemption in their own words.

Christmas Bead Story

White Bead - An angel appears to Mary

Eagerly anticipated are the movies I tuck away for December viewing only. Here is a new one we added. It isn't really a Christmas one, but there is snow and the story is really endearing.