Christmas

Christmas this year was really special! We did a lot of preparation for Christmas at our house. We did a Jesse Tree for the first time this year. We enjoyed doing it and we'd like to continue this tradition! As our kids get older it's fun to see them grasp the reason why we celebrate Christmas. They seem to understand that Jesus' birth was the most important birth and worthy of a big celebration!!



Since we live so far from family, Christmas is always tough. It doesn't feel very Christmassy here for a lot of reasons. But, thankfully National Day is in December and so they decorate the trees. We call them Christmas lights...it's fun to see them!

We really enjoyed learning Christmas carols together this year! Each of the kids chose a favorite one. Joseph's favorite was "We Three Kings" and Faith's favorite was "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" They also learned "Away in a Manger" and the signs to go with it. On Christmas day, all of the kids sang it together. Here's a video of them practicing together:



When Christmas Eve rolled around we were all so excited! It was a busy day, but the most important part was getting ready for Jesus' Birthday party! We baked a cake and the kids wanted to be involved. Here are some pictures of our cake baking fun in the kitchen.

After dinner we got together as a group. The kids helped to tell the Christmas story and we all loved hearing them! They all looked so cute in their birthday hats! It's Jesus' birthday after all...there must be birthay hats and birthday cake!

After that we had our own little candlelight service. It's a tradition that I love in the States! We sang Christmas carols and took communion. Jesus was born to die so that we can live...the best news ever!

"...born that man no more may die; born to raise the sons of earth; born to give them second birth. Hark! the herold angels sing, Glory to the newborn king!"

Here's our family at the candlelight service. What a sweet memory!

On Christmas morning I'm not sure who was more excited about the presents, us or the kids. It was so much fun to see our kids so happy!

In the evening on Christmas day we gathered together another time to celebrate. The kids acted out the Christmas story...a nativity play. It was so cute! They each had a role and Joseph got to have two roles. He played Joseph and an angel!

Here are all of the actors from the play! You can barely see the 6 week old baby, Evi, who played Jesus this year! ;)

Joseph and Faith were dressed up for our Christmas gathering, so I couldn't help but take a few pictures. They're crazy kids and they sure do make life a lot of fun!