Oh Christmas Time

My favorite time of year!!

I came across this facebook page that is giving away free Jesse Tree printables! I'm not sure how long they'll have it available so hurry over, like Print Candee Illustration & Design on facebook and print it all out!

And then make sure to go to their blog to learn more about what on earth a Jesse Tree is! (Don't feel bad, I had no idea either... or maybe we should be a little ashamed of that!)

My sister and her family has decided not to celebrate Christmas. My sis-in-law and I have really struggled with this. As a result, we've spent all sorts of time researching and soul searching. In one of Steph's searches (that I'm sure she'll post about on her own blog in the near future!), she found this blog - Desiring Virtue - which is where I came across the above printables.  Jessalyn (the blog author) recently finished a whole series called "Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas." She discusses the legitimate reasons for not celebrating Christmas, and the wonderful reasons to celebrate Christmas! She also gives TONS of practical ideas to turn your Christmas into a Christ-centered one.

I'm so pumped.

I love Christmas.

So I'm still working through Jessalyn's many posts and am very excited about making a list of ideas to add to (or replace) our Christmas traditions.

Once we decide what we plan to do (at least for this year. I'm sure there will be plenty of trial and error!), I'll let you in on that.

I'm also sure I'll have a post soon about why I think it is so very important to participate in Christmas, and how researching the idea of not celebrating it has only solidified the necessity of it for us! Until then, make sure to check out the free printables and the Desiring Virtue blog!  

And by the way, my family (parents and sibs) started a brand new tradition just last year of bringing a dinner and gifts to a needy/hurting family near Christmas. It's never too late to start something new that will be a form of worshiping and celebrating our Savior!

Conviction through song.

Several random songs have been hitting me (...convicting me...) lately and I keep meaning to share them.

I was originally going to share the official video of "The Motions" by Matthew West but it won't let me embed it. Here's the link, though, if you'd like to check it out. Fantastic song.

Instead I'll share the song by Casting Crowns - "Here I Go Again."

Convicted. Every. Time.

Let it do the same to you. Then stop talking about the rain.

Paper Turkey Craft

I realize Thanksgiving is in less than 2 days but it's not in the past so I think I'm doing good.

And hey, this might be fun to do sometime on the day of Thanksgiving to keep the kids entertained and out of the way. Although, adult supervision would probably be ideal.

Today, Marie and I made a paper turkey with her hands and feet. I love crafts that involve little baby hands. We get to see how they've grown over the years.

I didn't think to take pictures while we made it so I took a couple shots tonight. We got this idea from a library book.

What you'll need:

-Construction paper (or cardstock) in the colors of brown, blue, red, green, yellow, and orange.
-Pencil
-Scissors (Marie did not help with the cutting but older kids could)
-Elmer's glue
-Googly eyes

1. Trace the kiddo's feet on the brown paper, cut out, and glue at the heal with the toes fanned out.

2. Trace the kiddo's hands on all the different colors, cut out, and glue onto the back and two on the front (as shown above)

3. Cut out a beak, a wattle, and feet. Attach with glue.

4. Glue on the googly eyes.

5. Take pictures of your baby showing off her work...

Also, I found this Thanksgiving matching game over at Have Fun Teaching. (You'll have to scroll through the page to find it, then download it). Another idea to keep kids occupied on the feasting day of thanks. And opens up opportunities to explain the purpose of the holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

R is for Rainbow

Last week we worked on R is for Rainbow. Came across this activity to go along with it and had to share!

Rainbow Crayons

- old, broken crayons
- metal muffin pan (we used the mini one)

Preheat oven to 250.

First peel the paper off your old crayons.

Marie got tired of doing this quickly so while I peeled the paper off, she tried braking them and put them in the mini muffin pan.

Jack was determined to push a chair up to the counter like his sister.

Stick them in until the crayons are melted (10 minutes-ish).

 

Let them cool and pop them out.

Color!

We used some pretty cheap crayons so Marie got a little frustrated that they didn't color very well sometimes. So Derek cut a few of them into strips and that seemed to work better. The kids had a great time!