Advent: 7 December

"Mummy, is it Christmas today? Mummy, is it snowing? Mummy, is it my birthday?" And so starts my day!

Sundays are always a busy day in our house and today was no different. Steve was up and out of the house by 7.30am as he was preaching down in Watford and needed to prepare, and Zoë and Caleb had been up in the night several times each, so I wasn't fully refreshed after a good night's sleep - what is one of those?? I had to get all of us up, dressed, fed, then get the dinner on (always a roast on a Sunday) and get to church early to help set up for crèche. It was chaos, but we arrived on time with smiles on our faces; probably breakfast still there too and Zoë's hair wasn't brushed! We had a lovely morning once we'd arrived; I told the Christmas Story from the perspective of the Wise Men to five very attentive little girls who joined in the actions and remembered the story afterwards too! Success! :D

Jesse Tree Activity

We did yesterday's story at lunch today and then did the activity immediately after. The story was about Jacob and his dream, where he sees angels going up and down the staircase/ladder. Again God promises Jacob (as he has promised Abraham and Isaac) that "Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring." Genesis 28:14 This is exciting as Jesus is one of Jacob's descendants and it is through his birth and death that all peoples will be blessed.
Our activity to reinforce this story was a visit to a playground where there are plenty of ladders! Zoë is a little climber and we frequently visit playgrounds to burn off some of her excess energy. Today she climbed ropes, a mini climbing wall and learnt how to do hopscotch.

24 Books

Our book today was another Mr Men one - The 12 days of Christmas. Mr Muddle has a plan to try and remember correctly which day is Christmas and gives presents to his friends on the 25th of each month. But his plan is foiled by Mr Wrong...

Lolly Sticks

After our cold trip to the playground we came home, put warm clothes on and drank hot chocolate. (That was today's dairy treat for me!) I then got our Nativity Set out and we played with it while setting it up. I'm looking forward to retelling the story lots over the next 18 days using this characters.

Zoë wearing her 'cosy'

Jesse Tree Story

Tonight's story was the call of Moses. God speaks directly to Moses through a Burning Bush which despite being on fire doesn't burn up! He is told to go back to Egypt to help rescue the Israelites who are enslaved by the evil Pharoah.
I honestly have no idea at the moment what activity I can do with a 3 year old which will reinforce this story! The idea of playing with fire is scary to say the least!! All ideas welcome!

Mummy Time

I remembered to light my two candles this afternoon as today is the second Sunday in Advent. The candles are behind the fire guard as the children were still up when I lit them. It is slowly dawning on me that there are now only two more weekends til Christmas - I really need to get myself in gear and get card writing and present buying and food buying! But for now, I'm pausing and remembering what it's all about: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10