Celebrating Advent

Each night we are eating dinner by candle light. There is a large plate with 25 candles on it. Twenty-four tea lights surround one 4" red candle. Night after night we light one more candle. Dinner becomes brighter and brighter each day we get closer to celebrating the birthday of the "Light of the World". Today we lighted 6 candles and it was almost bright enough to actually see the mess of rice Chloë made all over her space.

After dinner we clear the table and bring out "the box" (currently this is simply the packaging box that the set came in, next year I plan to have a specially decorated box).  Each night we start at the beginning of the story.  Daddy reads bit by bit while the children and I gather around the shelf adding each piece as he calls them out.

The pieces sit on a low shelf where the children can enjoy them. Before dinner their job is to make sure the pieces are all found and ready. They have so much fun placing the pieces. Sabin is especially excited to learn what the "new" piece is... and every night he wants to know if this is the night for Jesus.

Playing so Sweetly

Monster Trucks at the manger?



Chloë giving Mary a goodnight kiss

Peacefully Buzzing,
Misty

Season of Advent

This is our second year of celebrating Advent. Admittedly, last year was a bit of a flop. I plans were too great and with Joey out of town for much of it....

Anyway, this year I am keeping it super, super simple. Last month I purchased this and this from amazon.com. Ok if you don't want to check out the links... it's two parts of a Fisher Price Little People Nativity Set. These two sets, plus a cow and a chicken from the farm set we already owned and a picture of angels will give me the 25 pieces to tell a story written by Noel Piper which she mentions in her little book Treasuring God in Our Traditions, available FREE here. (Fabulous book by the way!) Months ago, I emailed the people at http://www.desiringgod.org/ and they sent this little story free of charge.

Allllll that to say, this is a wonderful and simple way to prepare for Christmas and help keep the focus on the Saviour. If you have a nativity set, you can make up you own story according to the number of pieces in your own set.

Peacefully Buzzing,
Misty

And What Do We Do With All That Candy???

Why play with it of course...

While little sister napped, Sabin had the great privilege of making his very own "Big Rock Candy Mountain". (Or "big rotten candy mountain" as he innocently sings it.) He had seen something similar on a library video and asked if he could play with his tractors and the candy. I loaded various candies onto a large cookie sheet at the table. He entertained himself for an hour, eating very little. While he napped mama cleaned up.

Of course some of the candy did manage to escape the rubbish bin.

Don't worry there is plenty left.

Peacefully Buzzing,

Misty

Happy Halloween

Once upon a time I posted about holidays: my questions regarding what to celebrate and what not, and how to celebrate various holidays and traditions. We love festivites here. For the most part, we have just decided to celebrate life and the traditions of our culture, offering explanations of our beliefs along the way.

That said.....

We had a lots of fun carving pumpkins together.

We love dressing up in costume and trick-or-treating to our neighbors for Halloween. This year we even attended a couple of Halloween Parties.

Peacefully Buzzing,

Misty