This year we started the Christmas season with an Advent activity. We chose to do the Jesse Tree advent. Starting December 1st we opened one gift a night. Each night is a new ornament that has a bible story to go along with it. It goes through the Bible starting with the creation of the world and ending with Jesus's birth. It has been awesome to tell the story from the begining and show Avery and Alia how it all ties in from the Old Testament to the New Testament. We have
The Advent Jesse Tree book and like it. It is a few simple paragraphs to go with the ornament and then gives a Bible verse from the Old and New Testaments.
After Thanksgiving we headed to our annual tree farm and found what we thought would be the perfect tree. It was a Blue Ice, cute right? It looked amazing outside and was perfectly formed, however, when we brought it home and put ornaments on it it acted more like a shrub! All of the branches are connected at the base and when you put an ornament on any of the branches they all stuck straight out. Scott had to use the Christmas lights to wrap the tree to keep it from looking too crazy.
This year we made a wreath with a hula hoop. When we moved into this house I always thought that the space over the garage would be the perfect place for a large wreath but I was never willing to put the money into a large wreath. When the kids were playing in the basement a few weeks ago with a hula hoop the light bulb came on! It made the perfect base for a wreath.
It's a perfect fit!
Once the tree was decorated I asked the kids to stand in front of it for a "nice" picture. I guess we had a different idea of what nice looks like!
Nice!
These Plasma cars were by far the best gift this year. They are strong enough for adults and go pretty fast. Our house has been a race track all weekend! The most memorable moment was when Scott and Avery were on one car and Alia and I were on the other. We were chasing each other around and pinging each other with foam balls.
This was our birthday cake this year for Jesus. It was a chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse. Alia had fun baking it using the cooking utensils that Grandpa and Grandma Davis gave her for Christmas.
Probably a bit heavy on the mousse, but no one seemed to care. It was chocolatey and delicious.
