Less than two weeks until Christmas and what an exciting day it was ... the kids were so happy to have snow - even if it was only in the form of a dusting.
My husband and I finished up our performances in the Christmas Festival at church tonight. It was such an amazing experience to see all those months of practice come together so beautifully!
Devin all dressed for his performance at the Christmas Festival. He was excited to perform but, I have to say that level of excitement increased dramatically when he found out the Christmas Festival was going to be broadcast on television on Christmas Day. He asked us if we thought Chipper Jones might be watching him.
Today we attended a Christmas Party with some of our homeschool friends. The kids decorated sugar cookies and made ornaments. My friend, Jennifer, made all the cookies and butter-cream icing from scratch and they were beyond good. My kids could barely wait to get home and eat the cookies they had decorated with at least a pound of icing and sprinkles.
Tonight was Family Night at our house and for our activity we chose to go see a local Christmas light display and then head to our favorite local pizza parlor for dinner. The kids also got to see Santa and get the "official" picture.
The rest of our weekend will be a little crazy with several performances for Daune, Devin and I at our church for the Christmas Festival. Looking forward to it but, also looking past that to the next two weeks when our schedule begins to slow down!
As the days countdown what seems so quickly toward Christmas we enjoyed another fun day ... Lexi was invited to a Christmas Tea at her tutor's home along with one of Lexi's good friends. It was such a special time for them both. Their tutor is such a wonderful lady and she went out of her way to make this tea so nice. Our contribution to the tea were fresh baked Orange Cranberry Scones.
I decided to let Ava Mae have her best friend over to also enjoy tea while Lexi was away - though not as fancy the girls enjoyed all the sweets!
Today our symbol was the candles we have glowing in our homes this time of year and how they remind us that Jesus came as the Light of the World. I loved the bible scripture - "... I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness but, will have the light of life." John 8:12
We also made little gifts for all the choir and mission teachers.
My husband, Devin and I all had choir rehearsals tonight for the big Christmas Festival concert this weekend. It is going to be beautiful and if I can just get down the "Joy to the World" melody part my section has I will be set. We will have three performances this weekend and then on Christmas Day we can watch it on television on a local station, which I know the kids will think is so fun.
Today our Advent study was on the Christmas tree and it's origins. We learned how the shape of the tree can remind us of the Holy Trinity and that the top of the tree always points us to Jesus. We even learned about tree skirts and how they were originally used to catch melting wax from candles placed on the Christmas tree. We also read one of our treasured Christmas books The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston.
Tonight I enjoyed time with friends at our Homeschool Christmas Party. There were about twenty-five women in attendance and the gift exchange was the highlight of the evening. I loved the concept of praying before purchasing a gift that the present you chose would be matched with the person who God had intended it for. From other women who attended the party last year I was amazed by the stories that came out of the gift exchange. This year was no disappointment. I ended up receiving a gift from a friend, whose husband baptized my husband and I this past August, she chose a beautiful metal frame with the letters JOY cutout on the side. I loved the bible verse she chose to go with the gift and the fact that she mentioned how real joy is "Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last" which happens to be something the kids and I say all the time. It was so fun to see the gifts all the women received and how each woman knew the special meaning and why God had intended that gift for her.
Today was our December Field Trip to the Georgia Ballet's Nutcracker performance. It was a specific program geared toward school age children, so shorter in length with all the really good parts kept in - battle between the Mouse King and Nutcracker, Dance of the Snow Queen and all the dances from the Land of Sweets.
Afterward we enjoyed a fun lunch out with friends - one of the reasons my kids love our field trips so much!
