So this is what the advent looks like. It's 24 stockings I got on clearance for 10 cents apiece like 5 or 6 years ago. Each stocking has in it:
- two chocolate candies
- an activity
- a piece of a magnet nativity
- a piece of a magnet Santa vignette
- an ornament for our ceramic gingerbread house
- a "Jesus" ornament, which is a name for the Savior
- a scripture for the #LightTheWorld campaign
Day 1
Visit the Bellevue Nativity Festival.
One of my favorite activities of the year. You can dress up and form your own nativity....
Do a scavenger hunt among the bazillion nativities...
Find your favorites (look ma, a polar bear!)....
And more. I was in a crummy mood. I think I was tired. But I knew this was the activity and we went. I'm so glad. It was calm and peaceful. It was so beautiful. I like to go with friends but I was glad I was alone this year, because I just let the kids lead where we went. We did the children's playroom (where there were magnetic nativities and wooden nativities for them to play with, as well as word searches and coloring pages), plus the video room with short films on the Savior. It felt so spiritual. I really loved it. It was confirmed in my heart, once again, that I really believe this.
After Laurel did her scavenger hunt, she got a flavored candy cane that turned her tongue blue. It was a great day.
Day 2
Set up the tree!
This is just a blast. We clean the whole room and vacuum. We set up the tree, get out all the ornaments, and go through everything. The kids seriously do all the work. Our tree looks ridiculous since it has two strings of the white (attached to the branches) that don't work. I could unplug it. But I might try to fix it with one of those light guns someone told me about recently. Just need to borrow one or buy one. Two ornaments met their demise this year. Bummer. After we're all done, we clean and vacuum again. It's great.
I also put lights in the window this year! So cool. Used suction cups.
Got out the kids' PopUp Play gingerbread house.
They started coloring it some more, and put lights on it. Which was so fun, all their idea.
Wesley has a little tree in his room, and Laurel gets this gorgeous wreath on her door (from Aunt Leslie).
I felt like a million bucks Saturday night. I kept my cool, I let the kids do their thing, I was patient and had a wonderful time. We listened to Mannheim Steamroller and I thought of my family and I was just SO GLAD I have these adorable kids and these Christmas memories with them. It was a great day.
Day 3
Go to Grant & Hayes's Christmas party. Every year our friends throw a party. It's awesome. Food and crafts and running amok. It did not disappoint.
Day 4
Set up the Nativity set.
I didn't take any pictures! WHY!? I had a Bible and we started reading Luke 2 and I'd pull stuff out of the box. We talked about taxes to the government (which is kind of like tithing to the church). We talked about how they traveled to where they were born, so I'd travel to Maryland and the kids would travel to Seattle. We talked about how all the rooms in the hotel were booked so they slept in the barn. And we got to visit a barn this summer so the kids remembered what it smelled like and felt like with all the hay and horses. We talked about how Jesus was laid in a manger, which was like someone laying a baby in the food bowl for Harvey (their cat).
We talked about the angel. And how he said don't be afraid. And maybe I'd be afraid if I saw an angel. We talked about the shepherds wanting to go to where Jesus was, since don't we want to go visit when cool things happen? It all makes sense.
It was so fun reading this story to my kids, and watching them play with the nativity. They were somewhat irreverent.... but it's a quick story :-) And I didn't mind.
Day 5
Go to the mall and make a train at the Lego store and see Santa!
Yay! The Lego store does a free minibuild each month and when I found out this was a train I just freaked. The kids still love trains. Unfortunately they were all booked up, so I got on a waitlist.... and I called last week to check in and the nice guy said just to show up and they'd probably be able to get us in. And they did! Yay!
What my cute kids don't know yet is that we are taking a family trip to Legoland in San Diego in March :-) It's one of their Christmas presents.
Yay trains!
We went to see Santa and there were gobs of children in shiny dresses and matching outfits. We just waltzed up in our street clothes. I think everyone thought I was lame for not taking this seriously. Haha. I just don't feel like paying for Santa photos. I was thinking tonight that the Santa at the mall, who has been there for years, literally for Wesley's entire life, is a big part of the childhood memories for a lot of local kids. I hope he lives forever.
Wesley asked for a "baby Alexa" (at my urging... since that's what he's getting) and Laurel asked for a "orange cat with red stripes" and I have no idea what that is.
I like to bring the Savior into this every year, and I also like to bring service into it. Last year I used a scripture chain from the Friend magazine and we read part of the nativity story every day. This year, the #LightTheWorld campaign provided scriptures all having to do with service and things the Lord did. This has been awesome. The scriptures are super short, and there is a short video that goes along with all of them. The kids ask to watch the video during breakfast, then we talk about doing good to other people. So one of the verses was on loving our neighbors, and I was like, what can you do nice for someone? And we talked about opening the door for the person behind us, or getting our classmate a piece of paper when we get our piece of paper, or saying a kind thing when we feel mad. It has been so sweet to teach the kids that they can do service every day. Every day. It doesn't have to be big at all.
These videos, plus our Jesus ornaments, have helped us focus on the Savior and being better people. Laurel heard the word "Immanuel" in a Christmas song, and she was like, "Mom! That's one of our ornaments!" I seriously thought I'd cry. She is also an emerging reader, so it has been awesome to see her see an ornament and say in her cute little voice, "Lord of All."
I want to say with 100% certainty that Christmas and #LightTheWorld and my Jesus ornaments and who knows, just the spirit that is all of this wrapped into one, everything that goes along with this, has made a difference in how my house feels. And that has been absolutely necessary, since I've been feeling crummy. I'm emotionally a bit heartsick, I'm physically a bit heartsick, and I needed something, and this has been it. Wow.
More later. We have 25 days of this!
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