Ramblings

~ Dec. 9, 2008 - Christmas Happenings

I don't know about you, but I am having a wonderful holiday season!!! I like to plan some kind of memory maker each week throughout December. Now the challenging part is to keep it as economical as possible.

One of our favorite memories was Zoolightful, which was an event at the zoo. They had some nice decorations. But they also had some fun activities. In one of the buildings they had someone dressed up in holiday attire (I don't remember what they were dressed as though) and painted the children's faces. There was another building where they had paper, crayons, and a relief shape for the children to do a rubbing of. Then we went to the cafe, I cannot remember if we had to buy the cookie or if they were included but I think they were included, and they got to decorate a cookie with frosting. We rode the train, which was decorated too. It was a very fun event, unfortunately they have not had it in recent years.

Rhema always has a beautiful light display. We usually go see these. It is a free event. They do sell hot chocolate and what not and I believe that they have a donation box if you can do that. The lights are gorgeous. They have part you can drive through and then part that you can walk through. I love the light covered bridge! This year they said that the lights are set to music. We didn't go anywhere last year, so I am determined to do some things this year! We will be doing this one this week! Whoo hoo!

We did something new this year. It is called the Bethlehem Walk. This is another free even hosted by a local church. They only do it one weekend (Thursday through Sunday) of the year and you have to make reservations even though it is free. When you arrive, you check in with someone dressed in period costume (my extended family went together so I made reservations for 15 but only 11 of us were able to come) and then they take you into a waiting area where they are performing some Christmas carols. We really enjoyed the fun they had with the 12 Days of Christmas as they had a person for each day and had them have some kind of prop for their part.

When it is your group's turn, someone else in costume comes to get you and takes you to another area where you are introduced to the walk. They hand each participant a piece of paper with a name and description of either family members and/or occupation. Then your guide, in our case "Cousin Daniel" comes in and tells us that we are going to Bethlehem to pay our taxes. The next, approximately 45 minutes, is spent walking outside and encountering different aspects of the nativity, from Roman soldiers to angels to arrive at the town of Bethlehem to pay our taxes. Once outside the town, where you can find several snacks, you are time warped to the resurrection. The end of the walk bring you back inside a town area where they have different activities set up and even cookies and hot drinks (cocoa and hot cider). There is a place to make a bookmark stamped in Hebrew, a rag doll, grind some wheat, pet some bunnies, fill out a comment card, sign the guest book and you can leave a donation if you'd like. It is set up very nice and was an enjoyable memory made this year. When I asked my extended family what they thought, all agreed it was very nice and would do it again (all except my dh who really isn't into all of my Christmas memory making but goes along with me--what a dear).

Next week we are going to try another new event for us. We are going to go to the Christmas Kingdom. They are supposed to have over 1000 inflatables ranging in size from 4 ft to 20 ft. Most of it is a drive-thru event BUT there is also an area to walk through that has lights and more inflatables. They also have a carriage ride or hayride both for a fee. This is only their 3rd year but they already have over 1000 inflatables. It should be pretty neat.

I'll post more later about some of the other, smaller things we do throughout the Christmas season since this post has gotten so long. I hope these things will get you to looking around your area for some things you can do to make memories this season!

Blessings,
Michele ºÜº

☺ Dec. 17, 2008 - You've been tagged

Posted by Anonymous

Michele,
Great posts. We have been doing a fun Advent Calendar that I made this year also. I picked and choose activities from around the internet. Some include traditions we always do and some are new. Check out my blog for what we have been doing. http://debbiesdigest.blogspot.com/

I am tagging you for a fun Meme that I was tagged for. Check out the details at my blog
http://debbiesdigest.blogspot.com/
under the post
Meme - I've been tagged

I hope you participate. Leave me a comment if you do.

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About Me

(Me and my dd, Tiffany on an easy to climb tree limb on vacation in VA in 2007.) These are my ramblings on homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind.