Mischief in Bethlehem again!

Things have been pretty calm in Bethlehem this year. Surprising as last year we had several incidents. Then suddenly I saw these two on top of the train. They were running away from a "bad guy"! So Mary is leaving Baby Jesus?!? What is up with that?And I am sorry but this is very suspicious to me. He is suddenly missing his whiskers and a piece of popcorn is there? Very very suspicious!

The Lost Spirit

One day I was sitting in my living room looking at the lights on the tree and wondering how to get more of Christ into our Christmas. My kids think too much about the presents on all these religious holidays and it bothers me. Yes, I know they are young, but it still bothers me. So I started looking around and I saw something.

First off, I love my tree. Yes it will never be featured in a magazine but it means a lot to me.A lot of my ornaments are homemade by family and friends from when my husband and I were going to get married. The tree is from my niece and the Santa from a client of mine (I used to work with people with disabilities).My friend put cute bows on a bunch of these cooking pig ornaments. She knew I that I love pigs.So as I am hanging them up it always warms my heart and I have wonderful memories of the amazing people that have touched my life. Like this one. My sister made them with two of my kids hand prints that were then made to snowman. They are one of my favorite ornaments on the tree. And when I see them they will always remind me of what a wonderful sister I have and how much I love her.So I am still thinking of how to teach these special angels that have been put into my care about the true meaning of Christmas.I look some more and notice I have a lot of stuff that is "commercial", as one sister would say.And this cute one likes the commercial aspect of it all. He HATES the stories of Jesus when he knows they are Jesus stories. When he found out I was going to be telling a story about the birth of Jesus tonight he groaned. (This is how he dressed for our ward Christmas party. He chose to wear the tie but whenever someone commented he would put his hands up to cover it. It was very cute.)And then some more commercial decorations.I do have A TON of Santa decorations. But these are from my mother-in-law and mean a lot to us because they came from her.So I had an idea of maybe how to at least help bring more of the Spirit into our Christmas.A family member of mine buys a new Nativity every year. This is one she got this year. I LOVE it. It is so beautiful.And this is one of hers also. I don't know why, but I just love it.So this year I have an idea for a Nativity that I want to make. A simple one with wood blocks and stickers, but the kids can play with it. And that is a good thing. :) And I hope to add more in the coming years and less of Santa.

So as I tell the story of the birth of Jesus tonight, I hope that somehow I can get a small spark into my children about what it really is all about. And hopefully next year it will be about Our Saviour and less about the man in the red suit.

P.S. I saw a picture once of Santa bowing down in front of the Nativity scene. It was very beautifully done. If anyone finds it, feel free to get it for me. he he. Or just let me know where I can get it. I know it has Santa in it but it just felt amazing when I saw it. And if you have any ideas, let me know.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Time to celebrate!

Guess who I FINALLY found? He was packed away in the car in this Leapster holder. Now what in the world do you think he was doing? I would like to think he was headed to the Temple to teach. And I took a guess at what else he could have been planning to do by the items he had packed away. First off he is living a little modern with the cell phone. I thought that was interesting, picturing Him with a cell phone. So lunch would probably be packed away in the mini backpack. He was probably going to teach construction and that is why he had the screw and the tape measure. A toy car for the children. And let me see......a game of dominoes with the Disciples. Sounds good to me. Alas, he looks a little shocked that I found Him. Poor guy. And the pacifier? Interesting...... :)

Oh no!

Has it really come to this? Someone has called the cops! I am guessing to help look for Baby Jesus as that is one of the manger sheep in that car. Now either the sheep is British or there is someone else driving because he is clearly on the wrong side of the car. I gave the sheep the suggestion that I was given, to go look in the Temple. Sigh....I just hope they find him soon. Poor Mary and Joseph. It must be hard not knowing where your son is and having the wisemen get a little funky with their dress.Here is what else is going on in the stables. I am not sure who the visitor is but....Jesus isn't there again. He must be off teaching or something. Love the modern visitor though.

What?!?

So in my quest to find Baby Jesus I found this. Hmmmmm, have one of the wiseman gone hippy? He is wearing a hair tye around his head like a head band. What is going on here? And yet, not Baby Jesus yet. This is getting very weird.

Case #1: Missing Baby Jesus

Remember Mary cruising around disobeying the laws? Crazy woman....

Well, I finally found Joseph! I was surprised that he had a crazed look in his eyes. The same crazed look that Mary had. Now I am beginning to wonder if she was looking for Baby Jesus and not actually crusining the joint. Poor Mary and Joseph. And did you notice next to Joseph is part of the babies manger. Gasp! I hope Pooh Bear didn't eat him.

Tsk, tsk, tsk

Mary has frequently been seen cruising in the house lately. It is not a problem as far as I can see. I am sure Joseph is at the stable taking care of baby Jesus. My problem came today when she repeatedly went over the red line which you see behind her. We recently put up that line to show to our toddler who thinks the kitchen is his domain. Our rule is that they cannot go over the red line. Mary unfortunately repeatedly kept going over the line today even after she was told not too.Of course she pointed her finger at her accomplice when I questioned her.And how is Joseph and Baby Jesus during all this? You tell me! The stable is empty except for one lone Wise Man. And he had no idea where they were. Upon further inspection I was unable to locate the rest of the party. I will fill you in on there where abouts and what they have been doing later. If they can be found........

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas. And Santa was very very good to us. Butterbean had opened 4 presents before anyone else could do anything. So she wasn't happy when I made her stop. Butterball then opened two presents that belonged to Butterbean before we noticed. So he was upset when I made him stop.And this is how Appleseed spent most of the time. It sounded so familiar. I wish I could find a picture from to show you. he heModeling our new sweaters. I could not get a picture of all of them together for nothing.And remember that reindeer food? The reindeer left something in return......poop.....complete with specks of glitter from the food. Butterbean was appalled and was positive that it was because she was naughty and it was their way of punishing her. Butterball wanted me to call Santa and talk to him about how his reindeer should not poop in our yard. Thank you so much "reindeer".

Christmas Eve!

Our sweet neighbor made my kids some reindeer food. We loved it. Appleseed got mad that I wouldn't let him eat it. Here they are feeding the deer.Butterball has been sick and so instantly changed his mind that he didn't want to do it. Then after I had thrown his all out for the reindeer decided he did want to. He was not happy that it was gone. Luckily his sister shared a handful. Then Mom made the mistake of making a big deal about it which set us off again. Argh tonsils and diarrhea!We got letters from Santa on the computer so I read them to the kids. Butterball was sooooo excited. His face lit up and it was so cute.Butterbean was so excited tonight she could barely listen to hers without interrupting.Then we checked out where Santa was and watched videos of where he had been. It was so fun and they loved it.Daddy wanted to start a new tradition of letting them open one present on Christmas Eve. They chose a present that one of the other had bought for them.Appleseed of course was so excited to eat the packaging.The same neat family that made the reindeer food gave us this adorable plate and cup. With the yummy cookie mix. Only problem was I lost my head and left the cookie dough out on the counter for 24 hours before realizing that hmmmmm.....it NEEDS TO BE REFRIGERATED. Wish me luck. I have already sampled them. he he. Oops.

Yearly Santa Visit

Santa drives by on his fire truck every year and they throw out candy. It is a fun tradition that I loved as a child. It is fun to now do it with my kids. This is how Butterball spent it. We had put on his winter clothes and then he would change his mind and rip them off in a fit. So he did not get to see Santa as he was in the house crying that he didn't want to go out there. Silly kid. Butterbean giving me yet another goofy face.Appleseed kept getting snow in his face which he was not too happy about.One of the neighbors. Way too cold for me.