The Christmas Story - Retold

Little Guy is 3 years and 2 months old

During the past month of Advent the Christmas story has been retold and acted out many different times and in many different ways. Perhaps one of the best renditions of the season is the one that happened after church on Christmas Eve.

 Here is what the set looked like during the church service.  

Baby Jesus and friends were just hanging out, minding their own business when... 

 The Little Guy decided to help the angels get closer to the action.

 He carefully flew each angel closer to the manger scene while blowing on their wings to make them flap so they could fly.

The gifts from the Wise Men were put within Baby Jesus reach so he could open them. 

After "fixing" the manger scene the Little Guy brought each person one-by-one to come and see what he had done.  He also spent a few minutes explaining the improvements.  His joy and excitement was overflowing!

Nativity Preschool Pack

It's naptime for the kids, well at least one of them is actually sleeping... so I am getting a few Christmas activities ready.  Have you seen the Nativity Preschool Pack from 1+1+1=1 ?
You can downlaod it here...
http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/Nativity_Preschool_Pack.pdf

Start of Advent

We are off to a bit of a slow start this year but we are preparing for Christmas.  I love the month (give or take) of Advent because it allows us to really take time to prepare for the 12 days of Christmas.  

The first thing we do is put up the tree.  This usually happens the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving so the tree is ready for the first Sunday of Advent.  If time allows I like to have a tree decorating party.  We will have cookies and hot cocoa with music to set the mood as we prepare the tree.  

 Once the tree is up we put out the manger scene.  The whole holiday is about the babe in the manger so we try to keep the focus on that.

 Here is our Advent Calendar.  The little sheep moves from pocket to pocket as we count the days until Christmas.  I like to start from the bottom and have the sheep move up as the days pass.

 I've collected a number of devotion books over the years but this is one of my favorites.  We have used it for Bible Studies at church as well as devotions at home.  Each day connects a symbol to the message of the season.  The symbols are ornaments which can be added to the tree.

Of course one thing that the kids really get into is the Advent Wreath.  This is the fabric one which has been well loved (used a lot).  There is a similar one here.  When the kids get bigger we'll have a wreath/arrangement with real candles to light at mealtimes but for now I'm happy with the fabric one.

There are more things that we do so I'll post again sometime soon with more ideas!

Unto Us, This Holy Night by The Wiggles

Here is one of our favorite Christmas songs. It may have been written for kids but it touches the hearts of Moms and Dads as well.
Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays from Signing Time

Merry Christmas aand Happy New Year!

Christmas on DVD

During the month before Christmas the Little Guy and I share many Christmas customs.  One that I have made a special effort on is getting good DVDs to help expose him to some of the things we aren't surrounded with here in Japan at Christmas time.
Right now he's watching The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky.  I love the DVD we have becuse there is just enough narration and movie-style filiming to help a child understand what is going on yet the wonderful ballet abilities are also showcased.  It is adapted by Peter Martins and preformed by dancers from New York City Ballet and the American School of Ballet.  I just noticed in the Amazon that it says Macaulay Caulkin (the kid in the Home Alone movies) is in there too.  Funny that I never noticed!
Another favorite is A Charlie Brown Christmas スヌーピーのメリークリスマス. Even though the story of the nativity doesn't get a huge focus the Little Guy still picked it out.
A few years ago I picked up the Original Television Christmas Classics DVD set. It has the Frosty and Rudolf that we grew up watching on TV in the U.S. It also includes "The Little Drummer Boy" which I would never expect to see on TV in Japan.
We also have The Wiggles Christmas DVDS as well as the Cedarmont Kids Christmas Carols sing-along DVD.
I'm thinking that it might be time to add some VeggieTales Christmas DVDs to the collection. Right now we just borrow the one that is in the little library at church.
The other one I want to get eventually is Rick Steves Europen Christmas.  I miss watching his shows on PBS!

The question of the day then is... What are your favorite Christmas DVDs adn movies?

Cookie Decorating

In English class on Monday we frosted cookies. It was the first time for the students (the mothers) and their kids to experience this wonderful Christmas custom. Of course cookie decorating with 2 yr olds isn't relaxing (or clean!) but we had fun!

Christmas Tree!

Our tree is finally decorated!!!

Though I doubt Baby Jesus and his family will be spending much time at the base of the tree this year. They're currently serving as station workers or something for the train!

This is the Little Guy's boat. He pulled it over for a front row seat once the tree went up. We've added the window decals at his height since he enjoys looking at them.
Getting in and out of the boat can be a bit tricky when your arms are full!
These are some of my favorite ornaments. We made hand and footprint ornaments to give to relatives for the Little Guy's first Christmas. At the time we thought his hands were big! They've doubled in the past 2 years!