Truth: December 12-16

Luke 2:1-7

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Day 12: Census

The boys helped me create different colored rice and then we added them to jars, along with a Mary and Joseph. We could find these two special people in the midst of the crowd! God knows all about us, even when we feel like one of many. The boys understood that a census means to count people. Caleb shook his jar when it was finished, but the lid wasn't on tight yet and rice went EVERYWHERE. Luckily, we had plenty more to make his craft again, and I was able to sweep up most of the rice (although I've been finding a piece here and there almost every day since). I was upset at first, but I remembered that that is not the spirit of the holidays to get irritated over a craft. We still had fun and no one got hurt!

Day 13: We painted Bethlehem. Joshua still remembers visiting Bethlehem (through the actors at Woodcrest Camp Ground) last year. I thought the book's take on this town was interesting! But, I don't want to share too much of the book. Here's Daddy helping Caleb finish up painting his.

We listened to the song "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" and one of the clips had a real live baby in a manger scene. Joshua said "Isn't that so cool that we got to see Jesus for real in that video?!?!" He's used to us showing them videos of themselves when they were babies, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to think that was actually Jesus!

Day 14: We talked about there being no room at a hotel for Mary & Joseph and no hospitals to give birth in. One of my friends posted on facebook that at least the innkeeper gave them what he had to offer. We talked about going to see a barn and how stinky it was. Would the boys give up their beds, rooms, hearts for Jesus to live? They quickly agreed!

Day 15: Each day we read the same scripture verses from above. On December 15, we talked about the manger and how it's a feeding trough for animals (not like a comfy crib we had for our babies). Caleb helped mix the dough and we formed our mangers (not nearly as pretty as the book's, but that's not really the point, I reminded myself).

 Then we baked them and painted them when they cooled.

I noticed Joshua had his head on the opposite side of ours. It is unique that he does things differently being left-handed!!!

 Once they dried, we hung them on the Christmas tree. These were heavy!

 I'm glad I thought to poke a hole through before baking them. :)

On December 16, we made baby Jesus. We were supposed to use a small Christmas ball, but what I had purchased was WAY too big for this craft. Rather than get hung up on the details, I used the same clothespin we had purchased for Mary & Joseph and felt that I had bought already for the cloths Jesus was wrapped in.