Maridel Willer

It’s the countdown to Christmas week, and when it gets this close, children can get a little crazy! Here are some ideas of things you can do to have fun over the next couple of days.

Give them a couple of dollars to buy gifts for family members at the dollar store, then let them wrap all by themselves when you get home.

Tour a few neighborhoods in your area to look at Christmas lights, then come home for hot cocoa before bed.

Read the Christmas story from Luke Chapter 2. Let your children illustrate their favorite part.

Go carolling with another family or two in your neighborhood. We did this spontaneously this past weekend and found that people were really blessed by having children sing carols at their doors.

Checkout a Christmas movie from the libary that you have never seen before. Some of our favorites that are less well known are “Amahl and the Night Visitors” and “A Perrcy Como Christmas”.

Clean out their rooms and closets to make room for new toys.

Let children help choose gifts to donate to a charity that provides presents for dis-advantaged families.

If the weather is nice, make time to go to a park that you have not visited recently.

If the weather is NOT nice, play board games together by the fire.

When something really frustrating happens in your life, do you realize it may be a gift in disguise? That’s what happened to me after my less than 2 year old computer died after a power surge during a storm last week.

Try to imagine a day without your computer, then 2 days, then a whole week…

My first reaction was to panic as I had a long list of things that I wanted to get done this week that required computer time. And then… how can I live without email?!

I chose to let God (and my husband, along with our amazing “techie” friend, Joseph Robinson - www.moriahcorp.com) restore my computer resources in His perfect timing.

I received the wonderful gift of a whole week without the “call” of my to do list, email and the internet vying for my attention. My children were blessed with more mommy time, all of my Christmas preparations were finished early and I read alot of good books in the quite hours of the evenings.

And - it only took me 2 evenings to get through the 250 plus emails in my inbox when I was back online at the end of the week.

What a wonderful Christmas gift!

All things do work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes for them.

Dear Maridel,

Praise God for Sisters in Christ like Kerry Beck and yourself. I for one, will ALWAYS say “Merry CHRISTmas”.

In 2004 one week before CHRISTmas, my 2 year old daughter almost died. She contracted a rare Strep Bacteria, they had to do emergency surgery and they only gave us a 50/50 chance she would make it through. As we stood at the Operating doors, I asked the surgeon if I could pray for him. He said yes, so I prayed for his hands, that God would guide him. I also prayed for the nursing staff helping him. After praying the Doctor told me he was a CHRISTIAN. She lived, Praise God and they also found a way in so they did not have to cut her neck open.

I have told my children that God searches this whole world for those who will stand up for Him no matter what. We want to be those found doing that. We love our God and His Son Jesus Christ, and we WILL be saying Merry CHRISTmas just as we always have.

Thank you, and I enjoy your e-newsletters. God bless you and keep you. Have a Blessed Christmas.

Love in Christ,
Debbie

Family traditions are a great way to make memories and capture the heart of your child… and what better time of year to create family traditions than December!

Here are some of our family’s “countdown to Christmas” traditions:

Lighting candles on an advent wreath every evening in December while we read a family devotion.

Going to see a live Nativity and a Christmas play at a local church.

Checking out a whole pile of Christmas books at the library and reading a couple of them each day.

Making ornaments and other holiday crafts (that I bought on clearance after Christmas the year before!)

Singing Christmas carols while my husband plays the music on his guitar.

Do you know our Christmas tree symbolizes hope and it came from Germany? It’s one of the more important Christmas symbols you can share with your children as you prepare for Christ’s birth. Your children deserve to have family Christmas traditions and understand how they prepare us for Christmas.

Do you know why we use poinsettias to decorate at Christmas time?
Mexico has a legend about a little girl who only had some weeds to bring to the Christ Child on Christmas Eve. Since she gave all she had, the weeds burst into red blooms in the church. Thus, the poinsettia became the Christmas flower, a symbol of giving unconditionally.

If you want to create family traditions that really keep Christ as the focus of your Christmas preparations, as well as your homeschool activities in December, Kerry Beck is a great resource for tons of ideas to do just that.

Kerry is well known in homeschool circles for her ideas on leadership education, but she has expanded her research to include Christmas & Advent Celebrations.

She can tell you the Christians origins of several Christmas customs, as well as ways you can incorporate these traditions into your family’s Christmas preparation and celebration.

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Here’s where to go to get all the information about Kerry’s Christmas celebration package and her free advent countdown. http://hclife.CCADVENT.hop.clickbank.net

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Keep Christmas Sane This Year 5 Thrifty and Fun Christmas Ideas
by Malia Russell

We all know that Christmas Consumerism is something we want to avoid. This time of year, everyone seems to be focused on gifts, and less focused on family. You do not have to “go broke” to have a fun Christmas. By planning ahead a bit, you can celebrate Christmas with very little money and still have a very special celebration.

Here are just a few ideas to help you get creative:

• Sit down with each family member individually and ask them what they love about Christmas. You will be pleased to find out that many of these are no or low-cost activities. If no one mentions certain holiday activities, it may mean it is time to get rid of them.

• In November, go through the entire house and gather up all the Christmas CDs, Videos, Books, Devotionals, etc and wrap them. Use what you have on hand. You can use wrapping paper, tissue paper, newspaper, or put them into a big pillowcase tied with a ribbon. If you do not have many of these, think about some books that have elements of Christmas (like the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, or many of the Little House books) and include those as well. Still do not have very many? Go to the library and check out their selections. Some of these can be just for fun, and some can be serious Christian devotional books for Christmas or Advent. Count how many you have, and how many days you have left until Christmas. Each day, allow the children to open a new one (or two, depending on how many days you have left, and how many items).

• Stop now and look through your pantry. Do you have things there you can use to make special treats for your family, or as gifts for extended family?

• Plan a night where you tell everyone to get into their warm pajamas for bed, then, at the last minute, wisk them into the car to go look at Christmas lights.

• Host a Toy Exchange with your friends. A lot of people have toys that are in excellent condition that they children either do not use or have outgrown. Plan a toy exchange where everyone brings toys they want to swap. Everyone spreads their toys around the room (we group by ages) and then everyone “shops” and takes what their family would like. If there are leftover toys in good condition, the host can box them up and take them to a charity.

Have a Merry Christmas!
Malia

Malia Russell is the blessed wife to Duncan, thankful mother to four children, ages 3-18 and an author, conference speaker and director of www.homemaking911.com. Visit her site for inspiration, encouragement and practical help in your roles as a godly wife, mother, homemaker or home educator.

My traditions for the weekend after Thanksgiving include decorating for Christmas and planning how we will be “homeschooling for the holidays”. We take a break from our regular schooling in December, but continue our learning with a holiday theme.

I just reserved a bunch of Christmas books at our library website for our literature studies, including a biography on Handel, the composer of the “Messiah” cantata. I pulled out another book I purchased last year on the history of Christmas Carols, and will plan to learn about 1 per week this month, including ALL of the lyrics.

The next thing on my list is to choose an Advent bible study and a personal devotion for both myself and my daughter. I have already downloaded Rachel Larkin’s “Discovering God’s Names” study (www.Rachel-Larkin.com) for my personal morning devotion and I have been searching for just the right study to do in the evenings when we light our Advent candles. Advent starts this Sunday and making a nightly devotion part of your holiday traditions is a wonderful way to keep your focus on Christ amidst the busyness of the next few weeks.

Christmas has come a bit early at our house as we have been getting packages of exciting things to review almost every week. We are blessed to be a part of the TOS (The Old Schoolhouse Magazine) Crew, a team of 100 homeschool families who are trying out products and sharing our thoughts to help others choose the right resources for their own homeschools.

I was really excited when I opened the box for the One2Believe Nativity set and saw how cute it and well made it was. My children love to play with Nativity characters and have broken several “dollar store” variety ones over the years. This is one that I won’t have to worry about leaving out for the whole month of December. It is very durable, made of 1 piece vinyl figures with no small parts to break off or misplace. The size of the characters is about 2 1/2 inches, so they fit nicely in a child’s hand and are alot of fun to set up.

The set includes a “Birth of Baby Jesus” mini-storybook and 17 PVC pieces (Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus in manger, 3 Kings, 2 Angels, 2 Shepherds, camel, donkey, 2 sheep, stable, tree, and a barrel of hay). It is designed for ages 3 and up.

I had never heard of One2Believe, so I headed over to their website (http://www.one2believe.com/) to see what other products they have. I found 12 other figurine sets, plus dolls and a bear that all have bible themes. These all look like great alternatives to what is available at a typical toy store.

Here is their company vision statement from the website:

One2believe’s passion is to help children learn important Bible lessons and to have them come to faith in Jesus. Our goal is to provide fun ways of teaching children about the greatest people who ever lived. Through the toys that we design children will learn and play out exciting stories about real people. Our toys teach children that there are real superheroes they can believe in!

One2believe has a great desire to support parents in their battle for their children’s hearts and minds. We pray that parents will take the lead by engaging their children in faith and get them excited about Jesus. In Phillipians it speaks about pressing on, at one2believe we believe that we will either influence the world or the world will influence us.

For food and shelter and for toil,
For all thy gifts from sun and soil,
For cares that help us to grow strong,
For thought that guides from right toward wrong,
For tears that cleanse and the need to be
Closer in our touch with thee,
For every care thy love bestows,
For every joy each glad heart knows,
For all good things we feel or see,
Dear loving God, our thanks to thee!

By Soveig Paulson Russell

My holiday preparation chore for this week was cleaning out my children’s closets and bedrooms and selecting toys, clothes, books and games that are ready for a new owner. They have birthdays right around Christmas, so it is really important for us to make space for the gifts that they will receive. I prefer not to wait until the new year, but go ahead and clear out the everything that that they no longer use or need. Here are some ways that I have encouraged them to let go of as many things as possible this month.

1. We talk about being a good steward of all that the Lord has blessed us with. It is important for them to understand what a blessing it is for other families to be able to get used toys in good condition. I remind them that a toy that has not been out of the closet at all this year could have been used by another child.

2. I tell them that part of being a steward is only keeping what you really use and need. Having more things than you have time to play with or room to store is a form of greed.

3. We sell some of the items at a consignment store or to friends with younger children. We have used this money to buy gifts for children in other countries through Samaritan’s purse or for local children through Angel Tree Programs. I also let them have some of the money for buying small gifts for each other and their grandparents.

4. This is an annual tradition for us and when we always set the goal to finish going through the whole house to de-clutter and clean before Thanksgiving. Our reward for getting it done is to be able to start decorating for Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving. (Much less stressful than hitting the stores for the Black Friday sales!)