Merry Christmas!

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Merry Christmas from the Smiths!

"It's 24! It's CHRISTMAS EVE!!!"

That was Moses' exclaimation this morning upon opening the last door on the advent calendar. After trying for the last 14 days to convince us to open number 24, the morning finally arrived!

We started a new tradition this year- opening presents on Christmas Eve morning. It is so nice and relaxing- we aren't rushing them through it to put them to bed tonight, and/or we aren't rushing them through it so that we can get them in the car tomorrow. This way they have time to actually enjoy their presents. AND, it means that tonight at our Christmas Eve service, we can really celebrate the true meaning of CHRISTmas without rushing to be somewhere or do something else.

At 31/2, Moses was really into opening presents this year. And surprisingly, ZuZu really got into it, too:



























Merry Christmas Eve! :)

My little theologian

Every day since Thanksgiving, I have tried to do something Christmas-y with Moses. One day we put up and decorated a tree in his room, one day we made a Rudolph craft with handprint antlers, etc. Today we focused on Jesus. First I read the Christmas story to him, and then we made a book together using construction paper and nativity stickers.

Below is his first publication:

The Christmas Story- As told by Moses O. Smith

The angel says "obey."


Mary and Joseph; Mary on the donkey.

Baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph- they all together. The cow says "moo." And the donkey looking at Baby Jesus. MOOOO!

The shepherd and the angel and the stars in the sky. And shepherds. The lambs.

The three guys. Three camels. These are wise mens. The camels. Coming in the castle. [Editor's note: He watched "The First Noel" today, and it shows the wise men going to Herod's castle. I think that is what he is referring to-- or else he is referring to my poor drawing of a tent...]

The big star. Mary and Joseph and an angel. In the hay a baby lay. They're bringing presents for Jesus. The shepherd's playing with the camel- no, with the candy cane. The angel was happy.

The end. :)

How do I decide?!

We took the kids' for pictures today... and I have no idea how to decide which ones to put on our Christmas card! We even had an impromtu family picture (Glad Kurt and I were dressed accordingly! We've learned with our kids to always try to coordinate, just in case we have a cry-er and we end up being in the pictures somehow).


Both kids were angels all day, which made it all the more fun. We actually got to stay at the mall for a couple hours and shop!


Here are some of my favorites: