Symbols of Christmas

As many of you know I love The Family Home Evening Spot. This is where I get alot of my ideas for lessons. Well once again she has posted a great lesson.
Every year the first lesson after Thanksgiving we give a lesson on the symbols of Christmas. We explain to the kids why we put a tree up, what the colors mean, and so on. This year I am taking my ideas from The Family Home Evening Spot and focusing on one symbol each week. I think this way the kids will remember them a little better and it gives us time for fun activities, and treats afterwards.

Family Home Evening Lesson

Christmas Wreath
Opening Song: 'Away in a Manger' Children's Songbook # 42
Opening Prayer: Daddy

Lesson: Mommy

Hold up a wreath or picture of a wreath

What is this? What does it mean? Why do we have wreaths at Christmas time?

Wreaths are like a circle. Which means no beginning 0r no ending. This symbolizes eternity - the unending cirle of life. The evergreen tree (used to make wreaths) means growth and everlasting life. Holly branches have thorns. When used in a wreath it symbolises the crown of thorns put on Jesus head when he was crucified. The red berries symbolize his blood that was shed for us.

Activity:
Make a wreath

Paper plate wreath instructions found here at filth wizardry very cute.

Coat hanger wreath:
Bend a coat hanger into circle shape. Secure tinsel with tape and wrap Tinsel around and around and around. Secure end with sticky tape. Add bows, decorations as you wish."

(This picture was taken by The Family Home Evening Spot. After our lesson tonight with the wreaths the kids make.)

Closing Song: 'Picture A Christmas' Children Songbook #50

Closing Prayer: Razy

Treat:

Wreath Candy using cornflakes and marshmellows

Hard Candy Wreath

Thanks again to The Family Home Evening Spot for the great ideas we find on the site. Go over and take a look. I know you will find something that your family will enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday!

The Santa Cam has been up and working....Look what Santa emailed meIf you click on the picture of Lil' E it will take you to a cool link that has Santa telling your child what list they are on this year. I did one for each of the kids. They got a kick out of seeing themselves on Santa's computer and their names in his book.

Team Edward or Team Jacob?

"Edward Ain't Got Nothin' on This"

Tonight is girls night out. I am off to see "New Moon" with my mother in law, sister in law, and some friends. JBody is getting off work early to watch the kids as I get to enjoy some girl time. We are going to eat dinner at a little Italian Restaurant near the theater. At 9:00 we're going to watch the first movie and then at Midnight we will watch the New Moon movie.

So question for my readers are you on Team Edward or Team Jacob? As for me I am Team Edward...JBODY* Edward that is. Are you off to see the showing or are you just not a fan?

*JBody's middle name is Edward so I can legitely say I am on Team Edward.

Adventure to the Pumpkin Patch

So I am going to have to play a little catch up. To begin I thought I would share some pictures from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch this year. The pumpkin patch has been a tradition for us since Lil' E's first Halloween. I remember that first year. We were living in Portland at the time. We headed out to the patch. The sun was shining. Lil' E was dressed as a cute little caterpillar. We took some pictures of him next to some corn stalks and pumpkins then DOWN POUR. Gotta love the Portland rain.

This year we had great weather. And like always the kids had so much fun choosing their very own pumpkin to take home and carve for Family Home Evening the next Monday.

Cousin Noah, Cousin Keenan, Lil' E, Cousin Mason, Doble, JBody, Razy

Daddy and the kids. Razy looks thrilled doesn't she?

Climbing to the top of the BIG pumpkin to overlook the patch

Wizard of Oz photo op

Touring the haunted jail cell.

Lil' E loves scary things

Doble was scared to go in, but his cousin Mason assured him he would be fine.

Pumpkin choosing time

Doble showing off his mad pumpkin lifting skills.

Razy and her pumpkin choice

What are your pumpkin choosing traditions? I would love to hear about them.

Wordless Wednesday

BELLA

The newest member of our family

Tackle It Tuesday

I am back and what better day to start back up than Tackle It Tuesday! I have been thinking a lot today about the little things and wondering why it has been so hard for me to keep up on everything. As I put the kids to bed this evening, I decided that I would straighten up the kitchen and dining room. Yes I know many of you if not all do this every night after you have dinner, but I have gotten into the habit of doing it in the morning the next day. After putting everything away in those two rooms I moved onto the playroom. For those of you who have been to my house you know that this room gets cleaned every couple of weeks. Three kids can do a lot of damage to a room and I don't have the energy or time to clean up after them ALL the time. This morning we had cleaned the playroom so I only had to pick up a few things. The living room was next and this room too just had a few things to pick up.

So why am I telling you that I cleaned up all these rooms. Well I have found that I have become somewhat lazy in picking up around the house. Small messes soon turn to larger ones and then before I know it I am spending 30mins to an hour cleaning a room when it should only take me a couple minutes. Yes I know my kids are old enough to help, and this is part of my problem. What is my problem you ask? CONSISTENCY. I have decided that I really need to be consistent in things.

I was not always like this. When it was just JBody, Lil E and myself, I was so much more consistent. I was able to stay on top of the household chores. I made time for scripture reading and writing in my journal. I did so much better on exercise and I actually had time to read or do other leisurely activities. Why am I not like that anymore? Did my days go from 24 hours to 16 hours just like that? No. I just have forgotten how to manage my time and be more consistent with the things that I think matter most. Yes I do spend more time running kids to school and back. Getting three kids ready takes more time than just one. Taking the puppy to go potty at various times of the day does take some time, but I am spending way too much time doing things that don't need to be done. FACEBOOK! There I said it. Yes I do love that I can keep up with my friends that I haven't seen in years, but geez this is ridiculous. And yes I do become obsessive when I am researching something on the internet. If I can't find what I am looking for in a couple of minutes than I need to just get over it and move on to something else.

You are probably wondering why I am talking about this when I started out talking about Tackle It Tuesday. Well for my tackle today I have decided that I am going to become more consistent. I am not going to jump right into it and try to tackle every little thing at once. Recently we were challenged at church to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. The challenge came at the end of August. JBody and I figured that if we read 2 chapters a day we could finish it buy the end of December. 2 chapters, easy enough. We have been really good with being consistent in reading the scriptures with the kids before bed even if it is only a few verses. However, my personal scripture study has been non-existent for the past couple of years. So this challenge has not been easy for me. I soon fell behind....WAY behind. So behind that I had to change from 2 chapters a day to 3. I was struggling with 2 how was I going to manage 3? Yes I am behind with even the goal of 3 chapters a day, but guess what, I have been consistent for over the past week with my scripture reading. I have been able to keep with my goal of 3 chapters a day and then some. What a change it has made in my home as well. I feel more motivated to keep things picked up. I get less irritated with the kids. Things seem more peaceful and less hectic. It really has made a difference. I really feel that because both JBody and I have been reading the scriptures the spirit seems stronger in our home. I know that it is not coming from just our commitment to personally read the scriptures, but with reading them together as a family and having family prayer, being consistent with Family Home Evening, and our personal and companionship prayers.

I am rambling aren't I? Well at least I am blogging again. Again back to Tackle it Tuesday...Next Tuesday I hope to report that I stayed consistent with my reading, but to add to that I am going to be consistent with going to bed with a clean house. That doesn't mean immaculate. It can still be lived in, but I (with the help of the kids) will straighten up the playroom and living room and I will not leave the dishes till the morning. And to add to that list I am going to be more consistent with laundry. Laundry to me is like getting into debt. Once you are in it, it is SO hard to get out of it. And one last thing...I am going to try to become more consistent with blogging again. No promises there. Small steps right?

Are you needing some consistency? What are you going to work on?