The Opening of the Presents

Santa found us!  It was a great day. 

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

One of my favorite traditions is our annual re-enactment of the Nativity.  We read it directly out of Luke and Matthew.  There are always a few moments that are pure Carrell.  (Like when Mary whips the baby doll out from under her shirt.) Here are the characters from 2010. (again- Danny used his iphone to take the pixs- sorry about the quality)

 

The Narrator

 The Shepherd (and little lamb)

Joseph

Mary

The Donkey

The Angel

The Wee Wise Woman

The other Wise Woman

We three queens of orient are...

After we have our play and sing a few songs we always finish off the evening watching "The Nativity."  It is a 5 minute long video of the nativity that it totally accurate.  I always appreciate Mary more when I see her face as she walks into the stable.  (And looks up at Joseph with a look that says, "You're joking...right?")  And I always, always get a bit weepy when I see the wise man who is discouraged because he has been waiting for so long ... and then he looks up and sees THE STAR and his lip starts to quiver.  

I am so very thankful for Jesus Christ and all he has done for me.  I love to remember Him at Christmastime.

Gingerbread Houses

We had to make our annual graham cracker gingerbread houses.  The girls decided it is way more fun with friends.  So I headed to the grocery store and bought loads of candy and the fun began!

  

Shelby and Annagrace are ready with the glue gun!

 

Emery and Abigail are using the frosting to glue on their candy.

 

Madi ate more candy than she put on her house- and loved it!

 

Claire actually is surprised that I'm taking a picture?

The finished products

 

Emery and Abby

Juliet and Claire

 

Annagrace and Shelby with their mansions!

Nativity Celebration

Our Church has a Nativity Celebration every year.  They open up the church for three days and display all of these beautiful nativities.  This year there were over 600.  It was amazing.

This was our contribution.

They also had a Messiah Sing a long and the place was packed!  (Really well done..)

There was so much hard work that went into this!

They had a great kids room where the kids could "be" in Bethlehem.  (Too bad it couldn't help Jake to be kind.)

We had a great time.  We're looking forward to next year!