Last year, as mentioned before, was our first Christmas here in Chattanooga which wasn't a big of a deal except that it was my first Christmas spent without my immediate family. I wasn't sure what it would be like, and while it was different it was such a neat experience. Christmas as "the mom" of the house is an almost magical experience. Even though I had experienced Christmas as a mom, I wasn't THE mom. We still went to my mommy's home where she prepared all the meals and did all the little things that you never realize she does to make Christmas such a wonderful day. I wasn't sure if it was going to be as magical this year but it was indeed. I again woke-up bright and early to get the cinnamon rolls started because who doesn't love to wake-up Christmas morning to the smell of cinnamon rolls baking? And while those were baking I got the biscuits (cut-out in Christmas shapes) and gravy cooking. I had some redeeming to do after last year's Christmas breakfast. Last year I tried this overnight omelet thing that my mom usually makes (and is wonderful) and let's just say we didn't even attempt to eat it because it looked so gooey and soggy - gives me the heeby geebies just thinking about it. And that was followed by a cinnamon strudel thing that was too sweet even for me (and believe me that is sweet)! But rest assured this year's Christmas morning breakfast was great! And the cinnamon rolls were fantastic if I do so say so myself! Much of the rest of the morning is told in the pictures below so I'll let it do most of the talking.
But one of my favorite new things we did this year was a Nativity Scene scavenger hunt. A couple weeks before Christmas my mom sent the girls a Nativity set that they could touch and play with (because my Willow Tree Nativity is off-limits!) But I intentionally did not leave the baby Jesus in the cradle/manger because Jesus wouldn't have been around until Christmas Day so He was hidden and we told the girls we would be playing a game Christmas morning to find Him. A couple days before Christmas the girls found where I hid him (in the kitchen cabinet with the canned goods) and figured Jesus had been found - game off, though we left Jesus in the cabinet. But Christmas morning they discovered that ALL the nativity figurines were missing except the manger - what would be going on? After we ate breakfast we started the hunt. I won't go through the whole thing but it consisted of reading passages of scripture about each of the "characters" of the Christmas story and then having to find that character. We started with Mary, then Joseph and then the donkey they would have rode to Bethlehem. They took those three figurines to the manger and then found the shepherds (outside) and when they brought the shepherds to the stable Jesus was magically in the cradle. Madeline was mind-blown how Jesus could have possibly gotten from the kitchen cabinet to the stable - it was a Christmas Miracle! I loved this activity because we read through the whole Christmas story and got us focused on Jesus! We ended with "Happy Birthday to Jesus" and a prayer of thanks.
Well I suppose that's enough talking with no pictures because I know what you really want is to just see the pictures so here they are:
1 comment:
Haha...Scott and I went and took pictures of that crazy house of lights too! It cracks me up.
Love the new shirts...Brett should wear his to work sometime :)
You are such a good mom! I am always amazed at the things you do for your kids. Christmas breakfast looked great!
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