The "Saturday" 7

And just like that Christmas is over. 😢 We squeezed all the joy and fun out of it, though. 

1. On Sunday, we "jingled" the cousins. Last year I found an idea on Pinterest that involved a cute little rhyme about sharing Christmas cheer. My kids loved it, so I decided to try a new twist this year. I scoured Pinterest for hours and finally ended up making something up myself. Haha. I found (or made) a snack to represent each part of the Christmas story, and assembled them all in a bag to tell the story.

The angel who appeared to Mary: hot chocolate packet, baggie of mini marshmallows, and a glittery pipe cleaner.

This was supposed to be the door to the inn. See the little doorknob M&M? 😂

Sweet little Twinkie Baby Jesus swaddled in a napkin.

Animal crackers to represent the animals in the stable.

Lena glued cotton balls to applesauce cups for the sheep.

I was trying to think of some healthier options, so I made air fryer apple slices with a star cutout in the middle for the Star in the East.

I couldn't find gold chocolate coins anywhere, so had to settle for a gold-wrapped Twix as the wise men's gift. Haha.

Lucy designed all the verse cards in Canva, Lena helped me assemble all 9 bags, and Levi begged for Twix the whole time. Lena was the only one interested in delivering them to the cousins. It's supposed to be an "anonymous surprise," but I'm too afraid of someone calling the cops on me to drop in unannounced, so I warn everyone that we're coming to drop off a surprise. Haha. Most people weren't home that night anyway, so we just left them on the front step. And in a crazy twist . . . a delivery driver at Tyler and Rieley's house thought it was a gift for him (despite clearly being labeled "THEA") and took one before they got home!!! Lol. 

2. We had a mind-melting moment while we were looking up verses for the verse cards. I told Lucy to find the verse about how Jesus was born in the stable to attach to the animal crackers. She read Luke 2 and said, "it's not in there." I told her to try the beginning of Matthew. Still nothing. Finally we got on Bible Gateway to look up other versions. I figured it must be in the King James. Nothing. You guys. The word "stable" does not appear anywhere in the accounts of Jesus' birth in the Bible!! Where do we get that from?? The closest it gets is saying there was no room for them in the inn, and Mary placed the baby in a manger. So from that we've deduced he was born in a stable? Why a stable? Why not a barn? Or a pigsty? Or a pen? For all we know, Mary could've given birth in some relative's house, but they didn't have any cradles, so they hauled in the manger. Mind blown, I tell you. 

3. On Monday we had our annual birthday party for Jesus. This time Luke and Esther's kids were sick, so we had a small group, but we had fun. I made up a scavenger hunt (find something soft like the cloth Mary wrapped Jesus in, find something that smells good like the gifts the wise men brought, etc.), then used those items to retell the story. We played Nativity Bingo and painted some ornaments and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus before blowing out the candles on his cupcakes. Sometimes I worry that the Christmas story is old hat to these kids and I feel like I need to up the ante, but Pastor Chris actually addressed that in his sermon the day before the party. He said he feels the same way about giving Christmas messages, but if we don't tell the story to our kids/congregations who will? My nieces and nephews will know the story. And hopefully as they get older it will be more than just the story Aunt Sadie made them sit through each year before they got their cupcake. Hopefully they'll understand and appreciate the incarnation in a personal way. 

4. We had our immediate family Christmas on Christmas Eve. Justin had the day off, so we treated it like Christmas morning. I made overnight monkey bread, we made the kids stay in bed until 8:30, and then I preached at them for a little bit before letting them tear into their presents. 

Levi got very excited about most of his gifts, so it was fun to see him react. Look at one of the things he got excited about though . . .

I bought it for him, so I have no one to blame but myself! Lol.

I also found this random version of Connect 4 while trolling Target's website one day and knew he'd love it. You shoot out the circles instead of dropping them in. What could be more fun?

That night, we went to the Christmas Eve service at church as usual. 

Then to Niki's for appetizers, games, and cute babies.

I believe this game was called "Happy Salmon." It was intense. 

The kids and I spent the night at Niki's, per tradition.

5. Then it was Christmas morning!! We spent all day at Niki's since Justin's parents are in Florida so we don't have to party hop. It was a wonderful day of Dad's homemade flannel graph, opening presents, finding the pickle in the tree (Lucy was the winner this year!), playing lots of cards, eating lots of food, snuggling all the babies, and enjoying being together.

The Lions socks mom ordered Tristan didn't come in time, so this was the placeholder. 😂

Lucy was thrilled to get a bunch of books for Christmas. Good little librarian's daughter!

6. My goal for the two weeks of Christmas break is to deep clean my whole house. So far I've done a closet, two cabinets, and half of the playroom. Lol. It's not going great. But I'm trying to really purge and reorganize and clean things I've never cleaned before - like the walls. Who cleans walls? Apparently you're supposed to do that. Thanks, Pinterest. I told my kids that while I'm focusing on the deep cleaning they're responsible for the maintenance cleaning. Lucy's in charge of the kitchen, Lena's on laundry, Levi's living and dining room, and they each get a turn cleaning the bathroom. I made very detailed lists. So far, Lucy has done the best job of keeping up her end of the bargain. I think the one who works the hardest without being repeatedly reminded will get a reward at the end of the break. Don't tell them! Or maybe do . . . it'll incentivize them. Haha.

7. Not much in the way of pics and memes today. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!

Lena and Levi wanted to sleep together the night before Christmas. 💓

Levi had a bad flare up of his tics right around Christmas. The eye and head twitches were out of control. As evidenced by this freaky picture. Lol. The tics ended a couple days ago. It's so random. 

Living room darts

I might have shared this before, but I love it. 

I'll be back in a couple days with my 2024 recap and some goals for 2025. Stay tuned!