Advent began on Sunday. For years, we have enjoyed reading a Family Advent story series by Arnold Ytreeide. The first book in the series is Jothan's Journey, which we read last year for the third time. J and B knew the story quite well but it was all new to K's memory.

This year is the next book in the series called Bartholomew's Passage. So far the story is seen his village destroyed by Roman soldiers, separated from his entire family, his long walk as a prisoner to Caesarea, sold as a slave to a foul Roman, where through his grief ,he makes a mistake causing the master to order his hands to be cut off.  There is always a cliffhanger each night and a short essay about God's plan of us in times of trouble or distress.
Each night, the boys light the purple candle in the Advent wreath on the coffee table. This week's candle is the Hope candle. Then we read the story and off to bed they go.

The last 2 days of school we have done an Inductive Bible study on the Advent. The first day was on the  prophecy of Jesus being born in the village of King David, Bethlehem. I could see the benefit for K immediately as we read the Scripture verses several times looking for the key words to highlight, circle or draw a symbol around them. There are questions about the verses that we need to search for the answers.

Today, I had both boys do it together and K was teaching B the different symbols to use and special colors for each symbol. It showed me how much he had recalled. We read from 1Samuel 16:1-13 today about the anointing of David and how the LORD chooses not by outward appearance but from the person's thoughts and intentions. Good discussion followed about what GOD considers important.

We have the Playmobil manger scene out for Kenny to re-enact with it. The ceramic manger scene will be set up next week with a new piece finding it's way to the stable each day.

We only have 6 more days of regular school work. Starting on the 15th, we will be studying the meaning of our favorite Christmas Carols in addition to our Advent study.

Last year we played the 12 days of Christmas with our best friend's family. K, S and D have best friends' in their family so each day we would deliver a 12 days of Christmas ornament to their house with a real symbol of that specific day. Like a can of pears with the Partridge in the Pear tree ornament- it got more challenging as the days progressed.

 It was so much fun to try to keep our identity a secret. So we would go at different times of the day and hang it on the backdoor. Only one time, the Dad was home in the middle of the day so we hung it from the side mirrors of his van. WHEW- we almost got caught that time. The 11th day was Christmas Eve and we found out they would not be home Christmas day so we followed them to their car after the Christmas Eve service and sang a few Christmas carols to them- they are better singers than we are so we all sang together. It was a great memory and the boys are asking if we are doing to again-- only we need a new family to surprise!

J will return home from college on the 18th. We will take in the Christmas lights downtown and take photos of all the pretty lights.We will make a Gingerbread House like we did at Aunt Stephanie's house in FL in January. We had never made one before and all of us enjoyed decorating it very much, but not as much as we delighted in eating it.  

We have our puzzle started for the winter season. It is inside of a large school display board, which is easy to move on and off the table for meal times. G/G Ryer started us on this tradition and we love to work on it as a family.

I always bake many dozen cookies. I like a great variety of cookies so bake them all. Last year was my first time making fudge and I have watched several episodes of the "The Food Network" when they were teaching about making fudge. Mine should be better this year. J is our candymaker, she learned how to make it at a homeschool conference and entered candy several years in the Fair.

I am hosting my first cookie exchange in 4 days and I am excited to see my friends for a Ladies Night out. Years ago, when I was the leader of our homeschool support group, we always had a Christmas party and then after that group ended, it was the Tapestry of Grace Coop Christmas party. I like to party with my friends so now we will exchange cookies as an excuse to get to see each other and have fun!

Hope you have learned a little about our CHRISTmas plans!