The few months I spent putting our new Jesse Tree together paid off. (I suspect that Mr. Sloth had his doubts it was worth the time and effort). It was a lot of cutting and gluing but it's done and we have a tree for years now. We've been pretty good at doing it everyday, although we switched from doing it at night during Rosary time to doing it during the day. For one, some nights just getting a decade of the Rosary in is hard enough let alone a Bible reading and fighting over who's turn it is to put the ornament on the tree. Secondly I moved the tree from our dining room to the homeschool room. Since we don't have a dining room table and that room is in it's own corner of the house we never walk through the room, but we walk through the homeschool room all day. I started reading the suggested corresponding Bible passages but it was getting a bit long for 5, 2, and 1 year olds. As it turns out, I read the fine print and we actually had the Children's Picture Bible that they suggested using. All the right stories are in there and they are pretty short and have a picture which the kids love.
Another thing I wanted to do with the Jesse Tree is to have a "Jesse Tree Tea" this year. It seemed like a lot of work so I tried to convince some friends to do it with me but no one seemed interested. With time running out I was starting to think it wouldn't happen this year but then it dawned on me we have no plans on Christmas Eve so we could do the Tea as a brunch that day and it would help celebrate the day and the end of the Jesse Tree as well keep the little from bursting at the seams. After going over the blogs that more than inspired the idea I realized that not every symbol is represented, just use what you can. That I can do. So here's my list.
Adam- Apples with gummi worms for serpents
Noah- Animal crackers with deviled eggs for arks and rainbow goldfish for the rainbow
Abraham-....we'll see what I can find at the store,probably something "star" Isaac- bundle of pretzel sticks Jacob- ladder made of pretzel sticks
Joseph- colorful sprinkles in the shape of a coat on peanut butter bread
Burning bush-broccoli with cheese sauce on top
Moses-Milano cookies (and if time, with chocolate Roman Numerals..
Jonah-....if I can find whales
Root of Jesse-carrots
Davids Star- Star shaped cheese sandwiches
Bethlehem- "house of bread' loaf of bread...and we still get a free one from Panera this month how perfect. John the Baptist- honey which they can put on whatever or just eat
Angel-??
Mary- White flowers for the center of the table.
So it's really not so bad, and actually very little prep work. Our kids wont' drink tea or cider so we'll probably just have some sparkling juice as a treat. I'm sure you've guessed that those aren't our only plans for the week. We're not doing any school this week and most activities are cancelled so we should have enough time to get everything ready. Demand has been sick so we still have Christmas treats to make. If Mr. Sloth remembers to bring the gifts back from his office I have gifts to wrap. Demands Little Flowers group made fleece blankets for babies in need so ideally we'll be heading to our favorite LifeCare Center to drop off the blanket and some no longer needed baby stuff and maternity clothes. Demand and I haven't been back there to volunteer since Happy was born so it will be nice to get back there. We were planning on getting the last of our shopping done yesterday but with Demand sick we were forced to stay home all day. I'm sure a few trips to the store our in our future this week.
Here are the plans for Christmas day. First off,gifts. We wanted to keep it simple this year and not only cut back on the amount of gifts but only buy quality gifts that our kids will love not junk that I'll want to throw out in a month. The only toy that has batteries or makes sounds are the walkie talkies that I can't seem to find at the price I want so we'll see if those happen. I also tried to be more creative in the gifts we gave, not everything is a toy. I made a photo album for Happy of just pictures of him and I'm framing some pictures of Demand and her friends for her bedroom. Each of the kid is getting a pillow pet which they've been talking about for years....well not Pax, but he's still getting one. Demand is getting a pretty canopy for over her bed that I got for a dollar at a garage sale this summer as well as a pair of ice skates that I also bought at a garage sale for $5 brand new and in the box. Speaking of garage sale, for $5 I bought a giant tote full of boys action toys. Pirate ships, dinosaurs, soldiers, canons, things that shoot other things. It's insane! So the boys are both getting that toy. I'll just have a bunch of it out and set up Christmas morning. The kids are also getting felt boards (super clearance at Michael's this summer) and Happy is getting an inflatable bed for Traveling. Demand has had one for years and we love it! Pax was a little tricky as we have every baby toy we could want and quite honestly I don't want all we do have. So he's getting a pillow pet and the action figures as mentioned, as well as more wooden train tracks for Ikea train set and Wedgits. Wedgits are AWESOME!
I love the idea of getting the kids three gifts just as Jesus received from the Magi and once you add in the gifts from Mom and Dad, grandparents, godparents and eachother, it really adds up.
Speaking of gifts for each other, yes I'm going to keep writing. Here's the run down.
Demand: She bought Happy the "Nemo" book for the Tag pen (one of or favorite toys) and bought Pax a set of foam building blocks.
Happy: He bought Demand "Plum Pudding" for her Strawberry Shortcake collection which she has been wanting, and Pax a container of Dinosaurs.
Pax: He bought Happy a little "Mater" to go with his Lightening McQueen and Demand a four pack of "Hello, Kitty" puzzles which she already found under our bed, although she only thinks there are two puzzles. But she did want to make sure I didn't forget to wrap the puzzles and even requested the red sparkly wrapping paper.
Stocking stuffers. I thought long and hard about creative ideas that didn't involve stuffing the stockings full of candy and junk toys. We decided to give each of the kids their own pint of blueberries. They will love them!! And I don't care if they sit there and eat the whole container on Christmas morning. I'm also giving the older kids their own bottle of vitamins. They usually share a Trader Joe variety but I thought it would be a treat to have their own character bottles (Lighting McQueen and Tinker Bell). Each kid is also getting their own little rolling pin as I'm sick of them fighting over the one we have. And if I find them, Demand will be getting sticker earings. I will be giving them candy, don't fret, but I will give them an amount that I don't care if they eat it all in one day. Candy tends to stick around forever in this house. So that's our Advent rundown, I'll save the part where I have 25 people for dinner on Christmas night for my next post.
Another lovely aspect of this most wonderful home is that we finally have a proper place to hang our Christmas stockings. We really didn't have a places in our old home so we just taped them to the wall somewhere. All the stockings were made by "Mena" my mother except for Mr.Sloths. His was $1 clearance at Walmart and that's just the way he likes it. Mine of course was made.....a while ago, and Mena works on the stockings before each childs first Christmas. And, Mena, if you are reading. Happy cannot stop talking about his train stocking and how much he loves it. ....Till next time!
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