Christmas Season has begun

It is official. The Christmas holiday season has begun. Sunday we put up our tree and decorated the house. Yesterday we looked at all of our school work and brought it to a STOPPING point. YAY!! We are setting all of our school work aside for the month of December and focusing on Christmas. Each school day we are studying a new Christmas Symbol.

• Advent Wreath and Wreaths
  
• Christmas Plants
  
• Star
  
• St. Nicholas
  
• Stockings
  
• Christmas Tree
  
• Ornaments
  
• The Nativity
  
• Colors of Christmas
  
• Carols
  
• Christmas Food
  
• Hanukkah
  
• 12 Days of Christmas
  
• Kwanzaa
  
• The Grinch
  
• It's a Wonderful Life
  
• X-mas
  

As we go through these I am going to try and blog about what we learn.

Today was the Advent Wreath and Wreaths. We have done these in the past at church but never here at home. It was interesting for me to see that the girls didn't have a clue about what it all meant. It made learning it all alot of fun. We plan on doing the lighting of the advent candles each Sunday night before dinner. This is something new for us but hopefully this will guide our hearts as we go through this holiday time. One thing that stood out to me the most in all that we studied today was this prayer that is in the material that we are used. This prayer is meant to be said after you light the Christ candle on Christmas eve.

"Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear you voice each day. We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us. We who are so blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom. We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence. We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light. To you we say, Come Lord Jesus." --Rev. Henri Nouwen

Here is a picture of our wreath. I was very proud. I think that it turned out better than I expected. If you know we at all you know that I am NOT a crafty lady. So this has been one of my finer hours in the wide world of crafts.