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Christmas Day 2013

As I've mentioned, one of the concerns with doing the gift-giving portion of Christmas on St. Nicholas Day is what to do with Christmas morning. The kids don't know the difference, but Isaac and I are still working out how to make the morning meaningful, in a Christ-centered way.

Eating breakfast (gingerbread waffles) by the light of the Advent "wreath."

After breakfast, Isaac read the whole Christmas story (from Gabriel appearing to Mary through the coming of the wise men) from the Jesus Storybook Bible. I printed off this paper nativity and had the big boys help me move the characters towards the stable at the right time.

Daddy reading.

The angel appears to the shepherds in their "field."

Totally into it.

Levi wanted most of the people to be facing baby Jesus. 
(I love the wise man riding the camel in the front.)

Isaac thought perhaps we should've let the boys color the paper before acting out the story, but I rather liked the simplicity of it. Later I discovered a whole paper nativity set in the boys' take-home Sunday school papers, so I didn't actually need to print off a new one, but it was only 3 pieces of paper and 10 minutes of cutting. And, like I said, the boys were enthralled. I was completely satisfied with our morning.

The whole set, with the added layer of our wooden nativity in the background.

The rest of the day was almost comical in its non-Christmas-ness. Taking advantage of what we thought would be one of our last baby-less days, Isaac and I slipped out during nap time to see a movie (!), and when we returned, his mom had heated up an entire Bob Evans turkey dinner (which was surprisingly tasty) at our house. A very relaxed and pleasant day indeed!

Silas enjoys a Christmas cookie during the story-reading.
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