25 Days of Christmas 2013: December 13-19

December 13th: Dress Rehearsal

December 14th: Movie Night, Miracle on 34th Street

December 15th: An Out of the Box Christmas Performance

December 16th: Lukas' Spiritual Birthday (anniversary of the day he became a Christian). He made and decorated this cake himself!

December 17th: Craft, Victorian Crackers. They're filled with candy and are supposed to be cracked open and enjoyed on Christmas.

December 18th: Christmas Extravaganza, a night of music at church. You should have seen Ava with the hulu-hoop!

December 19th: Kids' Choice Movie

25 Days of Christmas Days 21-22

Day 21

Christmas Extravaganza

Our church had a special service filled with tons of musical talent. There are some amazing musicians in our church, and this gave all of us a chance to minister with our gifts. I cannot even tell you with words how blessed I was by some of the great singing and playing we heard last night. The first photo is some of the KidStuf kids singing some Christmas songs to kick things off.

Eric sang "Mary, Did You Know?" I asked him to sing it because he's amazing and the song is perfect for his voice. It seriously makes my heart melt when my husband sings this song. 

Have you ever heard the lyrics to this song? They are incredible. Just think about Mary kissing the face of God. It gets me so completely excited to think about that. Today, I read the story of Mary beginning when she first heard from Gabriel through her visit with Elizabeth, and I am in awe of who Mary was. Whatever God handed her, she willingly accepted it. She didn't complain knowing how people would react when they discovered her pregnancy. And can you imagine how much her heart hurt when Jesus was on the cross? I know how much my heart hurts when my kids hurt, but Mary's pain had to be so much greater. This is a woman of great character. I want to be more like Mary, more like Jesus!

I may have gotten a little side-tracked there, so back to the rest of Day 21.

I sang a song called "I Believe" originally recorded by Natalie Grant. I love Natalie Grant. I'm certain I didn't do her song justice, but I loved singing it!

I also got to play "Carol of the Bells" with a flute quartet. I've played with these ladies a couple times now, and I enjoy it every time. It is so nice to have opportunities to use what God has given me to minister through music.

Day 22

Gift Wrapping Day

I can't post the gifts, but I can post a very messy photo of our wrapping supplies. I can assure you, this was once very well organized. And then we moved. And this is what came out of my attic. 

Three days to go!!! I'm super excited to spend some more quality time with my favorite people! More photos to come!

25 Days of Christmas Days 16-20

I realize I'm not doing much better than I was at keeping up with my 25 Day blog posts. This month has been crazy busy, and this is in spite of the fact that we limited our calendar this season. In fact, we've been on a school break for a week and a half, and I'm still waiting for a day off! Maybe next week, right? 

Day 16

Lukas' Spiritual Birthday

When I was growing up, I was introduced to the idea of celebrating spiritual birthdays by my best friend, Sarah. Her family had cake and a special dinner to celebrate the day each child asked Jesus into their heart. We have grown to love this tradition with our kids. This year, for Lukas' 7th spiritual birthday, the kids decorated a Little Drummer Boy Cake. They had so much fun doing it even though it was cut into about 30 minutes later. On an unrelated note, Ava does not suddenly wear glasses. They were a prop in a play the kids were in last year.

Day 17

Cookie Baking Day

Powdered sugar faces. Ava put more on her own face than she splashed on mine. We always spend a Saturday in December baking cookies, making fudge and other treats. We began this tradition the very first year of our marriage in our little upstairs apartment in Marion, Indiana, and now the kids look forward to it as much as we do. This year, we made Russian teacakes, thumbprints, oatmeal cinnamon chip bars, chocolate fudge, and saltine toffee. The kids are still holding out for sugar cookie cut-outs and peanut butter cookies. It is a good thing we give so much of these treats away!!!

Day 18

Christmas Party with friends

Our friends, the Killianys, hosted a Christmas party at their home along with Sarah's parents, the Swansons. Incidentally, this is the same family I mentioned above with the spiritual birthday photos. We had an amazing evening singing and worshiping with them and many other familiar faces and then enjoyed some sweet fellowship afterward. 

Day 19

Christmas Card Making

I love glitter. It is always worth the mess. Shiny things make me happy. Very, very happy. This is what my table looked like this morning since I let the kids leave the mess overnight so they could make more cards today. So worth the sparkles!

Day 20

Santa Claus Visit

Since we ended up at the mall today, and there was NO ONE waiting to see Santa, we surprised the kids with a visit. The children are certain this was not the REAL Santa. Their explanations for this were varied and hilarious including the fact that he was much too short to be Santa, his beard wasn't long enough and Santa absolutely has to be at the North Pole this week. Lukas kept giving me a look like I was crazy to even ask that question. I'm still not sure what is behind that look. Let it be known that I purposefully didn't dress them up for this year's Santa visit because they would have caught onto the surprise, and, had their been an extensive line to see Santa, there wouldn't have been a surprise. Also, Ava chose her crazy outfit today. When you are 7, you can wear anything. 

I make no promises about my future posts other than to say that days 21-25 will get posted either in increments or all at once. Haha! Check back soon!

25 Days of Christmas: Days 9-15

I know, I know. I'm super behind on my 25 Days of Christmas posts. This is because we visited friends last Saturday, and someone who shall remain nameless was asked to pick up my camera bag (because my hands were full with other stuff), and that someone left it there. 30 minutes from our house. On the way to our Day 10 activity. Argh. Our friends are coming into town tomorrow, and they'll be dropping it off. I am going to go ahead and post the last week's worth of activities. I took some photos on Lukas' camera. I'll post pics from my camera in a separate post soon. I know there are some good ones on there! So here's me catching up.

Day 9

Live Nativity

These photos are the ones I want you to see. Our church, Coshocton Christian Tabernacle, has done a live nativity in the past, and they brought it back this year. We aren't just talking Mary and Joseph in a stable with a few animals standing by. We're talking the entire Christmas story from birth to judgement day. You know what, you just need to see the pictures. It was fantastic! We enjoyed it so much that we drove through twice in a row!

Day 10

Roscoe Village Tree Lighting

I don't actually have any photos of this since this was the day my camera was left behind, and we didn't have Lukas' camera with us. Every year, Roscoe Village, a historic canal era town, hosts a tree lighting complete with candles and "Silent Night" each Saturday in December leading up to Christmas. It is beautiful, peaceful, and breath-taking. All those people singing "Silent Night" while holding candles standing beneath the giant tree is a sight to behold. I doubt any camera could have captured it. It was a beautiful evening (even if it was absolutely frigid!). If you are local, they'll have another one this coming Saturday!

Day 11

Movie Day

Generally, we watch one movie on a movie night, but I knew this family would need a lazy Sunday afternoon and evening. We watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the afternoon and The Santa Clause in the evening. Two of our favorites this time of year!

Day 12

The Legend of the Candy Cane

Do you know this book? It's a nice story that gives some meaning to this simple Christmas candy. We read it every Christmas. After we read it, we add candy canes to our Christmas tree.

Ava thinks it is funny to wear Lukas' old PJs. :)

Day 13

Felt Mitton Ornaments

Left to right: Lukas, Kendra, Ava, Eric

Aren't these absolutely adorable? I saw them on Pinterest, and I loved them. I couldn't find the tutorial when it was time to actually do the craft, but it was pretty self-explanatory. The kids did all of their own sewing, which they absolutely loved. I have been thinking about adding some basic hand sewing into our schedule anyway, so why not have fun making Christmas ornaments while we're learning?

Day 14

Christmas Lights??? Shopping sprees???

We were supposed to go driving to look at lights yesterday, but it didn't happen. Eric and I were in Columbus Christmas shopping. The kids were with my parents shopping in Newark. We all got back to their house between 10 and 11. We got home at 11:30, and we promised to look at lights together another night. The kids looked at lights with their grandparents, so they still got to enjoy them!

Day 15

Charlie Brown Christmas

Very shortly, we will head to church for choir rehearsal. Since Ava has dance on Thursdays and it makes our evening schedule tight between dance and choir if we have dinner, we have dinner after choir practice. Tonight, we will eat in the living room and watch Charlie Brown Christmas. Don't you just love it when Linus reads the Christmas story? Did you know that the producers wanted to cut that scene, but Charles Schultz insisted it be kept in the script?

I promise I'll be better about posting in the next TEN days!!! That's right! 10 days until Christmas!!! Can't wait!

25 Days of Christmas Days 6-8

Day 6

St. Nicholas Day

 Lukas coloring a picture of St. Nicholas

Ava was sitting right next to me. Don't you love her "Laura" braid (she calls them Laura braids after Laura Ingalls Wilder).

St. Nicholas Day is not a day that we necessarily celebrate since we are not Catholic, but the real St. Nicholas was a pretty phenomenal man, so we take the time to read The Story of St. Nicholas each Christmas. This year, we went a little more in depth discussing how some of the legends began and how St. Nicholas is celebrated throughout Europe. At the end of all this, I thoroughly expected my 10 year old to ask about Santa, but he did not. He still believes, and I'm okay with that. 

Day 7

Frosty the Snowman

So, I didn't take a photo. I thought about taking a pic of the TV screen, and I thought about taking a pic of the DVD case, but the case actually has a bunch of Christmas specials on it, so I didn't. We watched Frosty whilst enjoying dinner in the living room. And, if I'm telling the truth, we had a bump in the road on the 7th, so we watched this on the 8th. And, since I'm telling the whole truth, you should know that I can quote half the lines in Frosty the Snowman, and I am most proud of this feat.

Day 8

Family Game Night

We let the kids decide between Wii or board games, and they both agreed on Wii games for this evening. That's right, the children AGREED. We played MarioKart, Super Mario Brothers and Lego Rock Band. It was a fun evening! We should do this more often!

Check back to see what fun things we do over the weekend. We've got some great things planned!

25 Days of Christmas 2011 Days 4-5

Day 4

Legacy of Love Christmas Program

The kids at our church ministered last night by performing the musical, Legacy of Love. Lukas had a significant speaking part and a solo. Ava had a beautiful solo, which she got to sing with her Daddy since Eric had the one adult part in the play. Here are a few more pictures from the performance.

You needed to see the full view of the famous Christmas sweatshirt.

Day 5

Angel Ornaments

Top left: Ava, Top right: Lukas

Bottom left: Eric, Bottom right, Kendra

It was a pretty big deal to the kids that we all make one of these, so we did. We had to modify the instructions, which you can find HERE (I found it on Pinterest, of course), because I didn't have the beads with faces, and I wasn't planning to go buy them just for this craft.We used marbles, which meant we also had to modify how the string was attached a little and trim the top of the cone shape so that there was a little opening. It worked. They turned out beautifully and will soon be hanging on our tree (the kids will hang them in the morning since the glue needed some time to dry).

25 Days of Christmas Days 1-3

If you look in my archives for last December, you'll see posts about our family's 25 Days of Christmas celebration. This is year number 7 of 8 that we have started celebrating with the kids on the first of December with little things each day. Some days the celebration is bigger, but most days it is simple. Here is what we have done so far this month.

Day 1

Paper chains

I thought the kids might have outgrown this Christmas countdown, but, after discussing whether or not we would do it this year, I have concluded that there is a possibility that we will be making paper chains to countdown the days until Christmas until the children are married and begin to do it with their spouses and their own children. I'm good with that. I love seeing paper chains hanging around the house this time of year.

Day 2

Movie Night

This movie is hilarious. I love it. Eric loves it. The kids now love it. It is one of the few movies that make my very short list of quotable lines. It may not have anything to do with the true meaning of Christmas, but it is good for a laugh! Or many, many laughs. 

"You see gum on the street, leave it there. It's not free candy."

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."

Day 3

Finnish Star Craft

You can find this craft HERE. Fair warning, don't do this with 7 and 10 year olds. Maybe 12 year olds could handle it with direct instruction. My sister kind of warned me, but I wanted to do it so desperately that I did it anyway. The star at the top is the one I did out of random scraps just so I knew how to instruct the kids. The one on the bottom left with the plaid green/red and matching red accent paper is Ava's. Eric helped her. I helped Lukas with the blue star. He chose an accent paper that doesn't show up very well in the photo, but it looks perfect in person. Ava used 2-sided paper, which was the only scrap of 2-sided Christmas paper that I could find(2-sided paper is probably best for this craft). I love them all. If you decide to try this, you can use paper or fabric. I would love to do a bunch of these with fabric for another year. Another FYI...the tutorial isn't very specific about how large your strips should be. Ours were 12 inches long and 3/4 inches wide (my first one was 1/2 inch). They're huge. My sister's other warning was that making them small made them much more challenging, so we went with big. I love them, so it's all good. But...they will not be hanging on the tree since they would kind of take over the landscape.

Check back again soon for more 25 Days of Christmas highlights!

A Perfect Weekend

I have been sitting here staring at the screen trying to decide how to begin this post. Last week was a tough week for us. Some issues arose that left us feeling like we needed rest and relaxation more than ever. The Lord knew what our family needed this weekend more than anything, and He provided accordingly. We have had the most blissful, fun-filled weekend together. It is as if God looked down upon us and knew we needed this blessing. Of course that's what He did! I went to bed smiling last night, and tonight, I shall do the same.

Two things were going on this weekend. Coshocton's Canal Days Festival was on the courthouse square (can someone explain to me why this doesn't happen in Roscoe anymore?), and Roscoe Village was having Coshocton Appreciation Days and allowing all county residents free admission to their tour. Yep. Free events. You know we were there!

We started our Saturday with a phone call from my parents asking us to meet them for breakfast. That was a nice way to begin our day! I'm so glad that living here allows for more opportunities like that.  Living in my hometown rocks. Seriously. It. Rocks.

We headed to Roscoe Village, a restored canal town, and got our free tickets for the Living History tour. I seriously had no idea what was inside the visitor's center since I think, as a teenager, I didn't really appreciate it as much as I do now. Fellow Coshoctonians who have moved away and only visit, check it out. My kids very much enjoyed the hands-on crafts, dress-up clothes and toys as well as the exhibit hall downstairs. Ava made a quilt square, Lukas painted a wooden top and both kids got to dip candles (all complimentary for Coshocton residents for the weekend only).

The only downside to our adventure was that we didn't realize how much time we needed in order to do the entire tour and see the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum. We only planned to stay until 4 because the Canal Days parade began at 5, so we decided to get through as much as we could without rushing and to return Sunday afternoon instead of worrying about getting it all done at once.

The tour was well done. The kids got to see a blacksmith making hot dog roasters and a weaver making rag rugs for special orders (I had no idea they made such things on order in Roscoe!!!). They also learned about 19th century printing, medicine, broom making, schooling and, of course, the canal itself. 

As I mentioned, Canal Days was also this weekend. We didn't go to most of the festival during the day, but we headed to the parade in the evening. It was fantastic. They really stepped things up for the bicentennial celebration. The floats were well done. The parade lasted over an hour. We very much enjoyed it!

After running home for a quick dinner, we returned to the courthouse square in time to hear the Texas Tenors perform. They were apparently on America's Got Talent, but we've never really watched that show, so we weren't familiar with them. I expected a mediocre concert. I mean, it was free to attend, so I didn't want to get my hopes up too much.

Their first number was an old country-western song. It wasn't bad, but it didn't really impress me either. Their second number? O Sole O Mio. Done perfectly. PERFECTLY. My jaw dropped. My eyes bugged out. I was stunned. Eric laughed at me. It was AMAZING. They did an incredible rendition of Danny Boy with inspirational lyrics included, and my sweet little girl asked her daddy to dance with her during it. Watching my husband dance with our little girl in the twilight on the court square will be forever remembered as one of my favorite moments ever.  Adding to the effect was her southern belle gown that was bouncing back and forth as she danced. It was...unforgettable.

The Texas Tenors also did an arrangement of You Raise Me Up similar to the Selah arrangement but with pipes not unlike Josh Groban's. Wow. Sitting under the stars, listening to the cicadas singing along with great music, enjoying small town life, running into old friends...it was a perfect evening. PERFECT. Blessings from Jesus were everywhere.

After what could not be described as anything less than a difficult and challenging week, this weekend would have to be described as blessed, peaceful, joy-filled and beautiful. I could probably come up with a few more adjectives, but you might stop reading while you rolled your eyes.

I am loving living here. I was never one of those people who wanted to get out of my home town. I loved living here. I loved having roots that ran the depth of several generations. I always loved coming back and visiting. Now? I just love living here. I enjoy the slower pace of life. I enjoy being closer to my parents and running into uncles and cousins at at the grocery store. God is amazing, isn't He? Who knew that bringing me home could be one of my life's greatest blessings?

Civil War Encampment

I believe I have mentioned once or twice that Lukas asked to study the Civil War for school. I have to tell you, he couldn't have asked to study anything more appropriate at this point. The timing is perfect with the county where we live coordinating our bicentennial celebration with Civil War events and activities since it is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War's commencement. We attended our second Civil War event yesterday, and it was incredible. I have always wanted to go to a Civil War encampment, and I knew they held one here in Coshocton for the past few years (maybe longer. I don't really know), but this year, we made it a priority to go since Lukas was asking to learn about it. I am so glad that we did!

If you are not a lover of history, this is the way to learn about the Civil War. I am a lover of history, so I ate it up, of course, but I can't imagine a better way to make history come to life than to go to an event such as this one. The people who participate are experts on the Civil War, and they are anxious and willing to share their knowledge with you. The kids were able to learn so much yesterday, and I had a great time learning a few things too.

At the beginning of our day at the camp, we stopped by the blacksmith. Neither of our kids had ever been to a blacksmith's shop, and none of us had ever seen a portable blacksmith! Ava was completely enthralled. We sat and watched and asked questions for 10 or 15 minutes, and then Ava asked to go back again, so I sat with her for another 10 minutes while Eric and Lukas went off to something else. 

After that, we weaved in and out of a few tents learning about the lives of soldiers and what they did all day each day(Euchre, anyone?). The kids got to lift a musket and learned that the bayonet was actually used rarely as a weapon. As one soldier told us, "Once it got stuck in someone, it was just stuck, and so was your musket." Good point. The bayonet did have lots of other uses, however, such as this one:

At 11, we knew there was going to be a ladies tea. My understanding was that we would be able to observe the ladies who were in Civil War period dress taking tea. Ava and I were quite surprised to discover that we were actually invited to participate! My girl loves tea parties, and this was like the ultimate tea party with fancy tea sandwiches, tea cookies, scones with Devonshire cream and, of course, tea. If I had known in advance that we could attend, she would have been dolled up in her southern belle gown. The Bicentennial Committee sponsored the tea, and they did an amazing job!

In the afternoon, we picnicked by the battle field (Not that Ava and I needed much to eat) and then watched the battle. One of the encampment participants explained how things usually went during a typical battle, which was interesting. The kids thought the cannons smelled awful, but they were pretty fascinated by the whole thing. The only downside? The Confederates won!

We meandered through the rest of the camp, saw a leg being amputated, learned about Civil War era toys and games, talked to some ladies about artillery and one particular cannon and headed out for the day. We were there for five hours. Next year, we just might have to attend the Civil War ball if they do it again. Wouldn't that be a blast? Maybe you don't think so, but, as I told my best friend via text, I'm a history nerd. I love it. 

As we were driving down the hill from the encampment, the kids immediately began discussing their plans to play Civil War when we got home. Lukas donned a ball cap that he thought most resembled the shape of a Civil War soldier's hat, and Ava wore her southern belle costume. Lukas grabbed a toy pistol as well. They were all set and even got their cousins to play along. I think we will be able to recover from this past year of history not going so well. If they're playing Civil War, I guess the history bug might have bitten them a little. Here's hoping!