Every year my Mother in law has told the Christmas story with plush characters in a kid friendly way so they could understand it. From the time the girls were old enough to talk they have known the story and Grandma would ask them questions throughout the story so they were actively taking part in the telling.
Well this year the girls are getting so grown up that they decided to tell the story all by themselves! H was the narrator and J moved the characters around.
Grandma introduced them ...
They did such a wonderful job!
It was beautiful to see our little girls telling the story of Jesus birth. It was heartwarming to know that even at their young age ... they truly know and understand the meaning of Christmas!After the story they sang a few songs for us. Then we celebrated with birthday cake for Jesus (well actually this year it was just dessert, not cake, but we sang Happy Birthday anyway!) We also celebrated another special birthday on Christmas Eve ...
Christmas Eve is the day that H accepted the Lord as her Savior last year ... so we celebrated her first 'spiritual' birthday. We gave her a small book and CD called Mary Did You Know (she loves that song!). We are so proud of how much she has grown in the past year. She has such a kind heart and a helpful spirit.
Our Christmas Eve traditions then continue as we all go to our church for the Christmas Eve service. They always have 2 services, one that is 'kid friendly' and one that is more geared to the adults. So we went to the first one and it was great. The girls loved seeing many of the kids they know up on the stage performing or singing.
After church we all drive back to our house. Everyone spends the night at our house so that we can all wake up together on Christmas morning. My Mom, Bob's parents, his brother Aaron & sis in law Glenna and the four of us all slept over. We had to throw mattresses down and pull out all the extra blankets but it's such a fun tradition that we wouldn't even mind if there were 10 more people!In the evening we sit around and eat snacks like cheese & crackers and sweet treats. We drink some eggnog and talk and laugh. The girls are allowed to open one gift, it's a new set of PJ's for each of them!
Then we played this new game called Twister Hopscotch ...
Even Daddy played ...
Then we got the kids all settled in bed ... and all the adults brought out the gifts and filled the space under and around the tree. After that it was already past 11pm and we all were exhausted so most of the adults headed off to bed ... with visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads ...{{So these are our Christmas Eve traditions ... it's pretty much the same every year. Sometimes we throw in something new but most times it's the same. I love the 'feel' of Christmas Eve. I know it sounds silly but the whole day I felt as though I was on the verge of tears. Just the feeling of doing these special things year after year had me feeling very emotional (in a good way) and nostalgic. I am so blessed.}}
1 comment:
It all sounds so special! Thanks for sharing the pictues and traditions. (my girls got hopscotch twister, too!)
Post a Comment