We tried something new this year during the month of December called Candle Hour. We burned one tall red candlestick w/ 24 dots (white-out) down one dot each night while we read part of the Christmas story. We read from Bible and other Christmas books and we sang songs. I have never really had an advent calendar and wanted one that was meaningful. So I made this list of all the characters and places in the Christmas story (donkey, innkeeper, heavenly hosts, sheppard's field, star, etc) and the girls drew each part of the scene each night. Here they were in our home before we packed them up to take to AZ; Emily's on the left and Ashley's on the right. We did it at night after Aaron had gone to bed, otherwise he whines loudly that he can't color (read:eat) the markers too. Some of my favorite memories include the first time my whole family sat down together with scriptures open and read from them together, the sheppard family of 9 that Ashley made complete with 3 girls named Hannah, Sariah and Mirium who all took turns holding baby Jesus, the night we were drawing cattle and oxen to be in the stable and Emily drew a whale instead, Ashley making the heavenly host be our family of 5 all holding different musical instruments, Emily naming her donkey Gilbert, and Ashley learning and loving the song "Far Far Away on Judea's Plain" so we sang it 8 times in a row.
Lest you think differently, most nights went like this- Bryan is putting Aaron down when I call for candle hour. There is about 15-20 minutes before everyone comes [this is now the time I would usually put them to bed]. We would light the candle with one of the girls being the O.C.L. (Official Candle Lighter) which occasionally we would forget who did it last which resulted in a big fight, sing a Christmas song which half the time the girls don't know but we tried, then I pass out Bibles and there is Ashley getting mad that Emily might be having her Bible and Emily being reluctant to start. We read the few versus about the person or place we will be drawing and I launch into teaching mode where I ask questions, draw conclusions and am really excited about what I am talking about, and Bryan goes into bored mode and sometimes leaves or starts playing with his cell phone and then I get mad he is distracting the kids. We then get out markers, paper and talk about drawing. Emily either starts right away and Ashley tries to copy her style but can't exactly and ends up crying & is carried off to bed with her picture not finished. Or Emily gets distracted by trying to sneak another bedtime snack, I get mad and Ashley is left to her own creativity and ends up making it the wrong size and then she launches into crying and wailing and is again carried off to bed in tears. Poor Ashley wanted to do it but it was too late and she was tired.
All in all I think it turned out positive and I love the girls' Nativity scene posters. The Anna and Simeon night was where I was touched the most. The two people who came to Mary and Joseph as they presented Jesus at the temple. For some reason the regular nativity story is almost routine to me but hearing two more people testify of Jesus being the chosen one was powerful to me. I also was touched by the fact that all these people (Mary, Joseph, sheppards)were just regular people doing their own things and God used them as his tools. He is doing the same for us now. At the end we finished with the wise men and on the 24th we talked about what our gift to Jesus would be. I think we give to Jesus as we are kind to others. As we did Candle Hour we got to have a regular reminder of what Christmas was all about. It made it easier to keep the focus on family, love, and sharing and less on the presents and I liked it a lot.
What: 2 mile hike
