A Few Things Christmas

We have had a crazy week. We started out the week with 3 of us getting the flu at the same time. It's not so easy to take care of sick kids when mom and dad don't feel good either! Hopefully we are done with our fair share of being sick for the year.

Other than major recovery of both our bodies and our house that got neglected for several days, we have been doing quite a few Christmas things this week. I think it is so fun to spread Christmas all month long. Here's what we've been up to:

The Friend Magazine has sort of an advent calendar this month that is really cool. It is called "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus". Each day of December until Christmas, there is a different story about Jesus that you read and then you can color in the little scripture to mark that days reading. If you have a gospel art kit, there is a picture that can go along with each days reading. (somewhere on the church's website, they have all of the gospel art pictures). We've been having so much fun reading every night after dinner. It's a fun way to remember why we are celebrating Christmas. We've been enjoying it so much, I might want to make this a yearly tradition.

I am the primary chorister in our ward (I know....obviously a calling of desperation, but we'll save that for another day). Anyway, our primary got asked to sing at the ward Christmas party this year. We are singing The Nativity Song. I got up last Saturday morning and had this perfect vision of the kids holding up posters of the nativity as we sing about that part in the song. So, I found cute pictures, projected them on to the wall, traced the images onto poster board and started coloring. 6 1/2 hours and a halfway colored wise man later, I knew I was in way over my head. Luckily, my very talented and generous friend/neighbor came to my rescue. She took half home and brought back these beautifully finished posters. Then, as if that weren't enough, she came to my house and helped me finish my half! They really turned out great. I can't wait to show the primary kids! They are going to be so excited! (Thanks, Brittany - you really saved me!)

Bria has also been up to some good deeds this week. http://www.northpole.com/ is a way cool website. It has these good deed calendars that you can print - it helps kids know if they are doing enough to make it on Santa's good list. We started a little late, but Bria is doing incredible! She washes her hands probably 5 times more than she normally does. Last night, instead of the 2 hour song and dance (literally) that she does before bed, she went right to sleep. I am seriously impressed! It's working so well, we even added our own little extra incentive - a piece of gum for every 2 days of good deeds. If all goes well, we may have a very smooth ride this December! (hmmm..famous last words...)