Advent season

It's been a busy week in the Smith house, especially for me! Lots of fun Christmas-y activities going on around here - Chad's work party, ladies tea w/ church friends, neighborhood Moms' fondue night, etc. I think Chad is ready for all the celebrations to be over so he isn't stuck home with the kids so much. Ha! Well, he'll be getting me back later this week ... he is having a wisdom tooth pulled... so (as he said) - I will have 4 kids later this week. ;)

The kids are enjoying this season so much. I am enjoying watching them enjoy this season! Here are a few little peeks at what is happening around here:

I keep finding Carter lying under the tree looking up at it from that angle. He did the same thing during his first Christmas - he'd just roll his way under the tree and look up at it. He always seems to find a unique way of looking at things. Seriously. I'm hoping that he is always someone who can see things from a different angle, so to speak. You need those outside-the-box thinkers in this world! (Just please, please, Carter, do not decide to grow dreadlocks and eat food out of dumpsters or something.... )

Yes, even five-month olds can get into trouble with the Christmas tree :)

This year we started a new tradition, the advent wreath. Last year my sister-in-law gave me a copy of the notes that she uses to do the advent wreath with her kids, so I thought we'd give it a try. I made this little wreath with dollar store items. You are supposed to use purple and pink candles, but all we could find is ivory ... so, I figure it's the meaning that counts, not the candle color, right? (This would have bothered me in the past, but this year my expectations for myself are WAY lower... and more reasonable, I might add.) Anyhow, each candle represents a different part of the Christmas story, and each Sunday evening we read a portion of the story from the Bible and talk about it and how it relates to the candle that week. In a very simple way. (Attention spans around here are not too long ... :) ) So far we have covered the prophecy candle, the Bethlehem candle, and the angel candle. It is going better than I expected. Audrey really gets it and enjoys it a lot. Carter really wants to try to blow the candles out. But so far we have been able to keep them both engaged in some way.

At the end of the time Chad breaks out his guitar and we sing a song related to the week's theme. This past week was the angel candle, so we sang Angels We Have Heard on High and Silent Night. (Making up hand motions really makes the kids enjoy this a LOT. Especially Carter, he is really into the hand motions!)

I am really glad that we took on this "tradition" with the kids. Lately I have been praying that I would find everyday ways to build into my children's hearts in a spiritual way, and this has been a great way to remind us all to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas - the birth of Jesus.