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.

For Advent, Angel, Blossom, and I made a themed dinner.

Chicken Wreath Pie
*Recipe Here*

Strawberry, Mint, Meringue wreath
*Recipe Here*

I do hope you are inspired!  Please leave a comment if you can, we would love to hear from you.

~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 #7

Today's devotional was the second in advent.  Today we lit the blue candle - the Bethlehem candle representing Faith.  Bethlehem gives us a picture of what it is to have faith.  

Mary was visited by an angel and told she would give birth to the Messiah.  She knew from hearing the readings of the prophets (Micah 5:2) that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem...and she did NOT live in Bethlehem.  How was that going to work?  During that time Caesar Augustus called for a census to be taken, and as Joseph was a descendant of King David he and his family were required to travel to Bethlehem.  God gives the promise, and he gives the means by which that promise is to be fulfilled.  We just have to have Faith and take the steps toward it even if we don't fully understand it or see the full picture.

And that was what our angels were holding this morning as the stood upon our back door steps!

Today's books were opened by Butterfly and Cedar.

The books are:

• Precious Moments Timmy's Gift; A Christmas Story.  I just love Precious Moments stuff!  And this story is just simply adorable.  You can watch the story here.
• The Little Mouse's Wonderful Journey.  About a mouse named Timmy (What are the odds?  Two Timmy stories today!) who goes on a journey to Bethlehem and witnesses the birth of a King)

More cookies!

Today's movies...

And I know some of you are wondering... "Where are Angel and Eagle?"  Well I caught her!  Angel is helping Blossom to make lunch.  The boy is harder to capture...Angel and I are trying!

I will leave you with this thought from the Precious Moments book introduction...

"It has been said that life is made up of moments, and most certainly it is.  There are precious moments in time when great deeds, both large and small, are accomplished by an ordinary someone, just like you and me."

~Lorna 

December Day #1

I love Christmas time.  I love what it is about and who it is about.  And I love making memories with my children ALL December through while we learn more about the truth of this historical event and its implications for our future.

This year I have added a few new traditions.  And I am much more organised than I have been in previous years which will make life easier.

So here we go....

I've read a bit this year about the Elf-on-the-shelf tradition, but we don't do Santa or elves so I made up my own version!  Ours is Follow-The-Star-Angel-Messages.  We have 2 Precious Moments Angels called Promise and Grace who will hide in different places around the house.  The children will be able to find them by locating a star ornament hanging nearby.  The angels will be holding a clue to that days devotional reading.  When they have found the clue we will do our family devotions and craft activities.

The letter the children found in the mailbox this morning introducing the angels and the tradition.

The red star hanging above and the angels holding a tiny loom band advent wreath.

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).  

Our Advent Wreath and Candles - Prophesy/Hope candle lighted

And on the topic of wreaths we made 2 today...

Cedar with our front door wreath

Butterfly with the wreath she made for our gate from conifer branches and flowers

We also do advent calendars because they are fun to do the count down with!  This one is possibly the favourite as I fill it with candy canes and each child gets one candy cane each day of the count down!  That is 216 candy canes!!...I know OTT and crazy...

Advent calendar (made by my mum) laden with candy canes!

This advent calendar is a newbie to my collection.  It came from my Grandparents house and is probably about 60 years old.  Special to me.

Another fun tradition we started recently is wrapping Christmas books to unwrap each day.  Since I am an avid collector of books (I adore second hand stores!!) I have enough to unwrap 2 each day, which of course is very helpful when there are so many  hands eager to unwrap!

Crystal and Blossom got to unwrap today's books.

Blossom and Crystal with today's stories.
Dick Bruna's The Christmas Book and Scripture Union's Jesus is Born.  

And to end the day off we had a wreath themed dinner!  This is another new tradition I decided to try.  Food is such a great way to cement a message and a memory!  

Chicken Pie wreath

Berry Meringues 

If you want the recipes I will have them here on my food blog.