Day 1 & 2

Day 1 of our new Advent calendar had us get our Christmas cards ready to send.  I chose to make them this year.  It's a simple design - a postcard style with our sentiment on one side and a black and white photo on the other.  There really wasn't much that the kids could help with except lick the envelopes.  They thought it was a terrific way to help...so did I!

I went to the post office to buy Christmas stamps and they were out.  Can you believe it?  So, while at the grocery store I added 2 books to my order.  The stamps are kept in the cash drawer, but the only way for the cash drawer to open is to complete the transaction,  so there was no way to see the design that they had beforehand.   Wouldn't you know it - they are Santa stamps.  Whatever.

They are going in Monday's mail.  :-)

Day 2 - Tell the Christmas story as you put up the Nativity.   It was a sweet little time with the younger children.  As I carefully unwrapped the pieces, they each told me what they knew about the details of Christ's birth. 

 They even remembered that the wise men were not present at his birth - so we don't include them.  Ours is a bit of a mix and match set.   We also have a Playmobile Nativity for the kids.

When I read the side of the box of the Advent calendar it said there was a Scripture, prayer, and an activity for each day of Advent.  I assumed that each activity would help us focus on Christ, but it's not quite that way.  We'll stick it out to see how it is, but for the focus we want, we'll probably have to tweak it for future years.

We got our big tree this weekend too.  The boys went out into the woods yesterday and brought home a beauty.  We decorated it today.   The kids' excitement is contageous.

Daniel read some Christmas stories to his sisters while Eric and I strung the lights on the tree

Stay tuned for Day 3.