Krinke Fam!: Getting Ready for Christmas

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Getting Ready for Christmas

This year amidst the crazy school parties and holiday bustle, I decided to try something new. Each night we read a single scripture and focused on one or two verses of a Christmas song. We covered the Christmas story from the prophesies of Jesus birth in Isaiah, Micah and Psalms, all the way through the story of the Wise Men visiting young Jesus in Nazareth in Mathew chapter 2.

In all I prepared 24 "Christmas Devotionals" to try and do one each night. Life happens, and we didn't get to do all 24 individually. In fact, we ended up having a caroling night with 5 songs and scriptures to catch up at the end. And there was at least one other night we did more than one song to keep up. But this is a tradition I look forward to keeping next year and beyond.

We listened to Amy Grant's "Breath of Heaven" while coloring pictures of Mary riding the donkey.

The kids made paper animal hats to listen to Brian Stokes sing "The Friendly Beasts." When their animal sang they got to hold the phone. They were all so excited. It's the little things...

Jacob was a cow for the whole evening.

And we read this story about the wise men journeying to visit baby Jesus. We read by the light of the Christmas tree all cuddled up on the couch. This one was likely one of the kids' favorites.

I think one of my favorites was dancing along to this video on YouTube after reading the story of Elizabeth's baby jumping for joy inside her womb when Mary came (Luke 1:39-41 and 44). We will always remember Daddy's dance moves as he was "leaping for joy."

Of course, these 5 minute devotionals were not the only preparations for the holiday. School parties seemed to be never-ending. I was only able to attend two, since they all happen on the same day. But I did at least poke my head into Amber's class for a hug.