Christmas Crafts and Our Tree

To make a long story short, we don't have any Christmas decorations, ornaments, stockings, anything.  No. Christmas. Anything.

To make a short story, a little longer... 

When we were packing all our stuff 7 months ago, before we started all our rotations, we were dividing our things into two categories, "Put in Storage" and "Taking With Us."  We had a huge box full of all our Christmas things and I thought to myself, "I don't want to haul this gigantic box with us, moving it around every three months."  

So I very cleverly, split it into two boxes.  

Actually, what I did was put only the bare essential Christmas stuff into a smaller box.  Just our stockings, the lights for the tree and some ornaments.  Then I marked it CHRISTMAS.  

But, (and this is how clever I am) I saved it until the very last to put into the storage unit, since we'd be back in the same town as the storage unit 3 months later.  So why haul it to Oak Harbor and back?  We'd just get the CHRISTMAS box from the storage unit right before we moved to our 3rd rotation (the one that spans the holidays).  

Well, here we are, in our 3rd rotation and we haven't seen or thought about that CHRISTMAS box for 7 months.  It's still sitting right there, near the very front of the storage unit, waiting for me to pick it up and bring it with us for Christmas.  Now, that's how clever I really am. (sigh)

My initial inclination was to drive back to the storage unit and get it, but that's an awfully long drive for Christmas stockings.  I guess we'd have to do some some Christmas crafts instead and just make due.  

So we turned on some Pandora Christmas music to get us in the mood.

We started with white paper.  Folded it just so.  And then cut it to pieces. 

 Then we unfolded our nearly shredded paper...

 to see what we'd created. 

Here are some of them. 

The largest ones we used to decorate the house with.  The smaller ones we put on our tree.

Oh, yes, our tree.  We just went to a tree lot this year.  The good thing though, was that James was with us again.  Yay!  No finals for him this year!

We picked out our tree and managed to scrounge up enough money to pay for it.  We were still 6 cents shy, but the lady took pity on me when I asked James if there was any change in the car.  We could have gone with a shorter tree or a fir instead of a noble, but it all worked out.  

 The tree.

We borrowed a tree stand from James' parents.  We also had to let the tree thaw and dry overnight.  I kind of liked it undecorated, in it's natural state.  It added a great splash of color to the rose/burgundy/brown room.  

So the next day was Sunday, but church was actually canceled due to snow and ice conditions.  We decided to have church at home.  A Family Home Evening sort of church.  

Taylor read from the scriptures.  She chose to read the Christmas story in Luke 2.  

Then Logan taught us about how Christ is the Light of the World.  While James strung the lights on the tree, which we also borrowed from James' parents, Logan read scriptures illustrating his point.  So the lights on our tree represent the Light of Christ, illuminating our lives.  (You should look up Light of Christ in the Bible Dictionary.  It's great.  Just saying).
  

Then we decorated the tree with our paper snowflakes. 

This is how our tree looks now.  If you look closely you can see the penguins the kids made out of empty toilet paper rolls.  

Okay, I'll make it easier for you to see them.  They were another little craft the kids did.  Just cut and paste, the old-fashioned way.  Or if you're like Logan, who didn't want to wait for the glue to dry, you can just use tape. 

The children also made a "service jar."  It's an idea they read about in a church magazine and went ahead and did it all by themselves. 

They came up with service ideas on their own.  Okay, I helped, but just a little.  These are some of Logan's: Give F.H.E. next.  Read the Scriptures.  Say Please and Thank You today.  Pick up brother/sister's room, (Logan really wanted Taylor to get this one so he could play and not have to clean up.  Turns out she did draw this one and on the same day, Logan drew one out that said, "clean your sister's room.")

These are some of Taylor's service ideas:  Speak only kind words all day.  Empty the dishwasher.  Write to your teacher a Christmas card.  

They put their strips of paper into a jar and eagerly  pull out their service each day.  They are having a lot of fun doing this.  I never have to remind them to draw one in the morning or to do their service during the day.  I wish we could keep this going all year long. 

Today's services are: For Taylor vacuum, which is usually Logan's job, so now he won't have to.  And for Logan, make someone's bed, which, it won't be hard to find an unmade bed around here.  

We hope you all are staying nice and safe and warm, wherever you are.  We also hope you're enjoying your holiday season.  We sure are.  

Let It Snow

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

But the fire is so delightful...

And since we've no place to go...

 Let It Snow!

 Let It Snow!

 Let It Snow!

"It doesn't show signs of stopping...

And I've bought some corn for popping...

 The lights are turned way down low...

 Let It Snow!

 Let It Snow!

Let It Snow!

"When we finally kiss goodnight...

How I'll hate going out in the storm! ...

But if you'll really hold me tight...

All the way home I'll be warm...

  Let It Snow!

  Let It Snow!

 Let It Snow!

 

"The fire is slowly dying...

 

And, my dear, we're still goodbying...

But as long as you love me so...

 Let It Snow! 

 Let It Snow!

 Let It Snow!!!"

 

 

Logan's New Bike

Way back in July, Logan had his birthday.  We got him a new bike.  The kicker was, that we were in Washington State at the time.  So he didn't actually get his bike until we were back in Oregon.  

After moving and getting settled Logan finally got his new bike in September!  He was so excited for his bigger...

faster bike.  He's a blur, he's so fast now.  ;)

He couldn't wait to try it out, even if it was just in the parking lot. We'd stretched the life of his old bike as long as we possibly could, but this one should last him awhile.  

James took him out on "real rides" a couple of times.  It was hard to find good places to ride in the middle of the city though. 

 

 Taylor thought it a novelty to ride her bike in the parking lot.  She's outgrowing her bike too.  Ugh, you want your kids to grow, yet at the same time, you don't.

 

We were able to make it to a park in Beaverton with "dirt bumps,"  so Logan was able to put his new bike through it's paces a little...

and wear himself out a little too.  

He was so excited about the kick stand on his new bike.  He also loves the hand brakes, grip shift and having a water bottle cage on his bike.  Most of all he's excited to have a bike that allows him to go on more bike rides with his dad. 

Taylor enjoyed the dirt bumps almost as much as Logan.  She's getting good on her bike as well. 

Our Thankful Tree

We all have so much to be thankful for and at this time of year it's something everyone (hopefully) is focusing on. 

Our family too, has a lot to be grateful for.  Our children have so much to be thankful for as well, so much so, that they've made a Thankful Tree.  

They traced out several leaves of different color construction paper.

They even added detail to them.

And cut them out. 

They thought of many things that they are grateful for and wrote them on the leaves. 

 Some of the things they are grateful for...

I think I should make some leaves and add them to the Thankful Tree.  I have so many blessings in my life.  I could never name them all, but I could try.  

In the meantime, have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  I hope you are all surrounded by family and friends whilst feasting and counting your many blessings!