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| Merry Christmas from the Paquettes! |
Archive for the 'christmas' Category
25
Dec
12
peace, LOVE, and joy!
11
Dec
12
live Nativity
We went to a live Nativity on Saturday night at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Taylor. It was very nice, and we will be going back next year! The only complaint from my kids was that they wanted it to go on longer! 🙂
The angel telling Mary that she is with child…
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Collecting taxes…
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No more room in the inn…but we have a stable…
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The shepherds visit the King
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| the wise men |
09
Dec
12
Wimberley Trail of Lights!
On Friday night, we went to Wimberley’s Trail of Lights for the first time! It was like a magical village full of lit up trails for the kids to run around in! I definitely recommend it!
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| going with dear friends! |
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| this was a pink wonderland! |
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| ella |
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| candyland! |
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| dinosaurs! |
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| exploring |
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| a magical door? |
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Every Christmas season, I like to incorporate one new tradition. Last year, we started the Shepherd Pouches. The year before, we started the Jesse Tree. The year before that, we started making birthday cake for Jesus to eat on Christmas morning. We also made an edible Nativity last year too, that we will do again. This year, we are going to start the 12 days of Nativity (for your neighbor!)
I found online a Dollhouse Miniature 12-Pc. Nativity Set
from Amazon. Now keep in mind, I have three children, which means I need 3 sets of nativities to give out, so I needed inexpensive. This set is also teeny tiny, so not good for little children. I really wanted a 12 piece set too, so I could incorporate the theme of the 12 days of Christmas. 🙂
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Each piece is wrapped or put in gift bags, and a tag is attached. Each of my kids get to pick a special friend in the neighborhood who they will deliver one piece a day for 12 days on their doorstep. The gift doesn’t say who it’s from, so each of my kid’s friends are going to open their front door each day from December 1st-12th and find a small gift waiting for them and wonder who it’s from! So fun, right? On day 12, my child will deliver baby Jesus, (and reveal their hidden identity!) Christmas fun (think secret Santa), and sharing the Gospel?!? Yes please! 🙂 Here is what I’m writing on each tag (which I adapted from Noel Piper’s Advent Calendar story):
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(bolded word corresponds with the nativity piece)
Day 1: Long ago, God made a promise about a little town named Bethlehem. Jesus is the King that God promised to send. In Bethlehem there was a place called a stable. In the stable there was a manger, filled with hay for the animals to eat. There were animals like a COW…
Day 2: …and a DONKEY.
Day 3: One day the animals had a big surprise. A woman came to stay in the stable. That was because the emperor commanded everyone to go to their hometowns and sign up for paying taxes. Little Bethlehem was filled with people, so there was no other place for the woman to stay. Her name was MARY, and she was glad to rest in the stable with the animals, because she was going to have a baby—very soon!
Day 4: Her husband, JOSEPH, was with her. Before they traveled to Bethlehem, an angel of God talked to him in a dream. The angel said, “This baby is from God. You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” This baby was the king God had promised.
Day 5: Out in the fields near Bethlehem, there was a SHEPHERD . . .
Day 6: . . . taking care of his SHEEP.
Day 7: In the sky, there was a very special star. Far away, a WISE MAN saw the star and said, “This is the sign that a special king has been born I must find him and worship him. I’ll bring him a royal gift of gold.”
Day 8: So he got his CAMEL ready to travel . . .
Day 9: . . . and he brought along another WISE MAN who had a gift of rich perfume, called frankincense, for the king.
Day 10: And another WISE MAN wanted to go with them too. So he brought a gift of precious oil, called myrrh, to give to the king.
Day 11: One night, an ANGEL of the Lord appeared to the shepherds. They were filled with fear. But the angel said, “Fear not. I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly, there was a multitude of angels saying, “Glory to God!”
Day 12: And the shepherds went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the BABY JESUS lying in the manger.
When Jesus grew up, he died and rose from the dead to save us from our sins. He is our greatest Treasure!
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My kids can’t wait to deliver the gifts in December!
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| Ella’s 12 gifts for her friend ready to go! |
25
Dec
10
our jesse tree
Merry Christmas! We finished our Jesse tree today with the star on the top of the tree to represent Jesus! The girls really enjoyed making ornaments this month for each day of Advent and we plan on doing the Jesse tree every Christmas season!
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| James did an awesome job building the tree |
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| I put signs above each ornament to remind the girls(and me) what each ornament symbolized. |
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Hope your day is filled with the light of the Savior!
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| Christmas Eve 2010 |
23
Dec
10
Star of Bethlehem
Almost every Christmas for the past 9 years, my dad, Dr. Rick Erickson, has been presenting the “Star of Bethlehem” to thousands in Texas. He finally has put it on the web so everyone can watch it! It is so fascinating and really will blow your mind. How can you NOT believe in God after watching this is my question?!? Like did you know God tells the story of Jesus’ birth and death in the constellations? If you have a spare 2 hours, I would totally recommend watching this (first hour) and this (last hour) on your computer! And I’m not just saying this because he’s my dad!
Here is a little article on him from the past:
“Dr. Richard Erickson, Professor of Medicine at Texas A & M Health Science Center and Director of the Division of Gastroenterology at Scott and White hospital Temple, will present his multi-media program The Star of Bethlehem at the Central Texas College Planetarium this coming Tuesday evening, November 25, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Dr. Erickson, who is an elder of the Temple Bible Church, is an amateur astronomer and loves both the physical and biological sciences. He is especially interested in teaching topics which help people to “reconcile” science and the Bible. He was naturally drawn to the subject of the star of Bethlehem when his daughter (THAT’S ME!) invited him to a presentation on it at College Station five years ago. He has been researching and teaching on this topic ever since then, and each year his presentation incorporates more of his findings.”
14
Nov
10
the Jesse tree
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| I’m going to have James build me a Jesse tree like thisone to put in our living room. |
Every year before Christmas, since having a family, I try to find more ways in which we can incorporate keeping Jesus at the center of our celebration. This year, God really spoke to me about the Jesse tree after seeing it online. I am studying Isaiah right now in Bible Study Fellowship and we literally just read and studied Isaiah 11:1, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” I love the explanation this one website says for the Jesse Tree.
“So what do we need to do to honor God on this day (Christmas) as well as the season? Why did we, and still to this day, need this child to be born? Why was it so important for God’s Word to become flesh? The answers to these questions are woven through the Old Testament in God’s promises, prophecies and miracles. Focusing on these and working on a better understanding will greatly enhance your Christmas season and hopefully help you to abandon some of the materialistic traditions that are dragging you down. Traditions like Advent wreaths and Advent calendars don’t necessarily focus on why the birth of Christ was, and still is, so important. The Jesse Tree is a way to help children and adults get a better understanding of what and why we are celebrating. Jesse was the father of King David. The idea of the Jesse Tree comes from Isaiah 11:1-9, where God promises a discouraged nation that the glory they remember from David’s time will come again. They will have another king from Jesse’s family, in whose reign the whole earth will know God. As a Christian, we see that promise fulfilled in Jesus, and so we use a Jesse Tree and decorate it with reminders of how God prepared the world for that kingdom.” http://www.jesse-tree.com
I found this website from the Reformed Church in America that has devotionals for every day this Advent season with scripture (they start November 28th) and how to make the symbols/ornaments for the tree, (and if you don’t feel like making the ornaments, you can download and print the symbols they have online for free!) Click here to see the symbols and scripture passages for each day. Click here to print the symbols out. Click here for devotions every day for the Jesse Tree.
I’m really excited to start this Christmas tradition with my family and will post the picture of our completed tree after Christmas! My goal is that each day we make the ornament together, (they post how to do that here), then read the short family devotion that goes with it.
28
Dec
09
our family Christmas morning
Our girls woke us up looking like this:
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| I love that Ella has this face before she evens seeswhat the gift is! |
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| We let Asher sleep in-much easier that way! |
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| Daddy is so proud explaining how the ipod shuffle works to his daughters!He is raising them to be music lovers like he is! |
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| Only my girls would be this excited over desk chairs! (Granted, they do have wheels!) |
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| The big reveal: their own art desk in the kitchen(for now)! |
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| Asher wakes up and sits on his present |
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| Daddy blows it up and Asher loves his new ball pit! |
27
Dec
09
happy birthday jesus cake
We started a new tradition last year which was to eat birthday cake for breakfast on Chrismas morning for Jesus! Last year’s cake was okay, but this year, I wanted to try even harder for more ‘meaning’. After searching the internet, I came up with this creation:
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| couldn’t be a party without party horns! |
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| blow out the candles! |
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| Three layers of yummyness! |
1st layer of cake = is brown for our sins.
2nd layer = is red for Jesus’ blood shed for our sins.
3rd layer = is green for life (ours if we confess with our mouth and believe with our heart that Jesus Christ is our Lord.)
Frosting is white = stands for Jesus’ purity & righteousness.
Gold Star in middle of cake top = star of Bethlehem = led wise men to Jesus. Star is 6 pointed =Star of David = Jewish nation in which Jesus is born.
Big Red candle in middle of star of David is Jesus.
We lit the red candle in the middle. Then each of us took our small candles and lit them from Jesus’ candle & carefully stuck in the cake. Let our lights shine before men! Then we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus!!
18
Dec
09
Merry Christmas!
Because Rilyn started kindergarten this year, we thought it would be appropriate to do a ‘family report card’ in lieu of a traditional letter. Enjoy!
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| the front and the back |
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| the inside |
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| our Christmas picture 2009 |
the paquettes 