Christmas At Our House

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Or as Miss H says, “CHRIST-mas.” She started saying that the other day, it is really cute. Overall, our focus at Christmas time has always been Jesus. This year it was more than ever. We spent two weeks just studying God’s Word and scouring scriptures. However, we do have many fun traditions that I thought I would take some time to share. Maybe give you some ideas for next year.

Jingle the Christmas Bear

 

This is Jingle our little Christmas bear. He is only about three inches tall and the kids play hide and seek with him from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas morning. We hide him throughout the house sometimes all you see is the tip of his hat and other times you see all of him. It is always fun when the kids are about two. They always seem to be the first to find him and they get so excited about finding him. It is way too cute. Here he is hanging from the lights. He was there for about 6 hours when at dinner, Little G started laughing uncontrollably and yelling, “Jingle, Jingle!” For some reason, she decided to look up.

Our Nativity Board

Another tradition we have is making a Christmas nativity bulletin board. I split up all of the characters between the kids to paint. Then we put it up on the wall. The kids love being able to show visitors their masterpiece and every year it looks a little different.

 

Eying the Presents Under the Tree

Every Christmas Eve, we go to Daddy Reg’s parents’ house for dinner with friends and family. Usually there are between 30 and 40 people. We eat a ton of food and hang out for a while. Then we all sing Christmas carols. After singing some carols, people share Christmas memories. Then, I read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Several years back it became my job to read it and I do look forward to it each Christmas Eve. Then we pray for friends, family, and whatever is laid on our hearts. Afterward we hang out for a little while longer, grazing on the Christmas cookies and everyone trickles out. The family stays and we all gather around the Christmas tree for gift giving. We have a large family, and when everyone is home for Christmas, this can take a few hours. It is such an enjoyable time. This year, the older kids were given clues to what their big presents from Papa, Grandma and the Uncles and Aunts. They open little gifts with clues attached. It was so much fun to watch them figure it out. They get to go on a weekend trip to a childrens museum, aquarium and more with all of them. The kids are so excited about it.

Reading The First Clue that led to many more.

 

 Putting the clues together. Still many more to go.

On Christmas morning, the kids do stockings, and a few more gifts. Then we just hang out and be family. This year, we watched both Narnia movies. And every Christmas night we have soup and rolls with Daddy Reg’s family coming over. I love cooking for many people and this is the perfect time to spend more time with family.

We had a busy but very fun week. Today we relaxed and took a much-deserved rest.