Weekly Wrap-Up: The Christmas Edition

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Happy Friday! We’re all in the Christmas spirit around here. After surviving Black Friday shopping (which was really a blast – I always enjoy the annual shopping trip with my mom and my sister), we spent Saturday decorating the Christmas tree. I’m a collector of Hallmark ornaments. I buy one (at least) each year and try to get something representative of our family. I couldn’t resist this year’s ornament, which represents a gift I got on one of my first Christmases. Remember these?

It even opens and has the little people inside! Actually, I didn’t get the full-sized version on Christmas that year. My mom hid it after buying it and either forgot where she hid it or forgot about it altogether. She discovered it about six months later and I got it “just because.” It’s still over at my sister’s house and all the grandkids have enjoying playing with it as well.

We’ve only got this week and until next Thursday before we’re off for Christmas break (because Josh’s birthday is next Friday), so we decided to stick to the “three R’s” and enjoy a fun Christmas study. We’ve been reading several books about Christmas, such as:

S is for Star: A Christmas Alphabet
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Holly, Reindeer, and Colored Lights
Santa Who?
The Christmas Path

We’ve really been enjoying The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It’s been such a long time since I’ve read it and it’s such a cute book. I’ve also really been impressed with S is for Star: A Christmas Alphabet because it has really focused on the true meaning of Christmas, including lots of scripture references, which surprised me.

We’ve also been working on memorizing Luke 2:1-14. Well, the kids are working on memorizing it; I’ve had it memorized for years, except for getting a little tripped up with the second verse a bit. The kids make fun of me because I always end with, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” said in my best Linus voice.

Earlier this week, I searched how to make a Christmas tree out of a magazine. It was funny because I found a link for making them specifically from a Reader’s Digest magazine, which is what I’d been planning on using. I thought it would be a quiet activity for the kids to do while I read that might also make a fun gift for the grandparents.

I expected the kids to like it well enough, I didn’t expect them to love it. I also expected it to take a few days. Josh finished his first one in one sitting and was asking for another magazine! He and Brianna finished the extra couple of magazines that I had, then, I had to go dig around for more for Josh. Lucky for him I love Reader’s Digest. He even finished Megan’s for her since she was the only one who didn’t enjoy making them. We have Reader’s Digest Christmas trees all over the dining room! Now, we just have to paint them and make stars for the tops.

In addition to that, we’ve been looking for ways to serve others as we were challenged to do by our church (and impressed upon to do by our God) for the Christmas season. (I’ll be updating my Top 10 post this weekend, as time allows.) We took a meal to a neighbor tonight. That was really cool because I had intended to take the meal to different neighbors, but they weren’t home. When Brian and Megan delivered the meal to the other neighbor, though, it was clear that God got the meal to exactly who He intended to have it tonight. I’m telling you, this serving others and letting God work through you thing could get addictive.

This weekend, more family time is on tap. I may even squeeze in a date with Brian!

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Kris Bales

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

16 Comments

I found one of those Fisher Price houses COMPLETE at a children's consignment sale FOR $5 a couple of years ago. I about squealed out loud! My daughter loves it! Since then we have purchased more of the wooden people and the school bus off ebay.

Such a week as this….so ready for another break already.

Thanks for hosting the wrap-up.

Love the tree magazine with Reader's Digest!! AND the taking a meal to neighbors 🙂

That ornament is great. I spent a lot of time playing with one of those when I was 5-6 years old.

Love the trees! What a great idea! 🙂

I love that you are immersed in the Christmas holiday. I still have to do my decorating and put up lights. I have been looking for good books that focus on the true meaning of Christmas and my library actually has S is for Star. So we now have it on hold. Oh, and it really jogged my memory but I DO remember that ABC/123 school house. Very cute ornament! Thanks again for hosting 🙂

Those trees sound so fun!! I may have to have the kiddos do them after we start our break.

La La La La – I can't hear you! Christmas is NOT almost here. Oh boy, I hope I can manage to limp through the season 🙂 I love the magazine tree, Tony would love to do that too. I'm excited to hear our serving ideas, that's something we're being intentional about also, but I could use some ideas 🙂

Love those magazine trees – what a great idea! Thanks for reminding me I really need to find and buy the Charlie Brown Christmas show – it's one of my favorites. 🙂

Those Trees are too neat!

We do the same thing…the older kids get the 3 r's in and we spend the rest of our time on what we call "Christmas school"! Sounds like a great week! LOVE your schoolhouse ornament! We still have the old original schoolhouse at my grandma's house that we played with as kids for my kids to play with when they go over there (my parents live there now).

Kris, I am wondering how you handle an 8 year-old girl with 3 little brothers who wants to go back to school because she wants to be around girls her age. This is our first year and I'm going nuys with guilt!
Thanks so much!
Nicki
Juiceboxes and Wipes
http://www.juiceboxesandwipes.blogspot.com
(Formerly Growing Blessings)

i wonder if I can find readers Digests at a Thrift store…. that might be something my boys might enjoy.

we are going to study Chemistry this month and will only take a week off, but we only do "2 Rs"
reading and research.
The boys chose chemistry (with extra science experiments) and we may still be doing science experiments on our 'week off'

Hey, I see you are at TopMommyBlogs. I just joined. if you get a chance, stop by and visit my blog.

I wanted to let you know that I bought "Pick and Draw" due to your review. It sounds fun- now I just have to decide which boy gets it in his stocking.

I love the ornament! Although, I don't love black friday shopping- brave lady! I wasn't planning on reading The Best Christmas Pageant *again*, but I might change my mind yet.

I really like the Hallmark ornaments that are toys from my childhood. I purchased the See and Say a few years ago. It actually works!

Samantha

Oh man — I love the Christmas ornament! I didn't have that school house, but I remember playing with it at school.

Kris Bales

16 Comments

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