Before Christmas - A Very Long Post

Christmas is coming up and a friend just emailed to ask what I am planning to do with my family to celebrate Advent and Christmas. I have been praying, planning and preparing for Christmas for a while now, so here are my ideas:

BEFORE CHRISTMAS

1. Each time I've been to the library lately, I've been on the lookout for picture books that present the Christmas story. I read them to the kids along with all the other library picture books we get, just to lay a foundation in my kids' minds as to the reason for celebrating Christmas, before the idea of presents looms too large in their minds to fit anything about the baby boy whose birthday we are celebrating.

Our favourite Christmas story book so far has been This is the Star by Joyce Dunbar, illustrated by Gary Blythe. You chant or sing it to the rythmic tune of "This is the house that Jack built" - which, incidentally, we also borrowed in picture book form, during the same library visit. The illustrations, from oil paintings, are magnificent and the verse is lush. An excerpt:

"This is the Christ child born to be king
While hosts of heavenly angels sing.
These are the wise men come from afar
Who also saw and followed the star,
Bearing the gold, and fragrant myrrh
And frankincense, the gifts that were
Placed by the manger warm with hay
Where-in a new born baby lay.
This is the ox and this is the ass
Who saw these wonders come to pass
At the darkened inn where the only room
Was a stable out in the lamplit gloom
For the donkey and his precious load
Who trudged the long and weary road,
Looked on by the angel shining bright,
Who came to the shepherds watching by night
That saw the star in the sky."

2. Starting next year, we will incorporate a chronological Bible study into our homeschooling, supplementing the Bible story reading that Jeff does over dinner most nights. In order to align our studies with the Christian calendar of festivals, we are starting with the New Testament, with Jesus' birth, and starting our readings the fortnight before Christmas. This will be instead of Advent-type activites using a calendar or Jesse Tree (I plan to have us reading though a selection of events from the gospels over the next 14-15 weeks, culminating in reading the passion story just prior to Easter. After a short break, we'll be reading through the very end of the gospels and the beginning of Acts as we celebrate Ascension and Pentecost, then through Acts and the beginning and end of Revelation around the middle of the year. We'll spend the second half of the year working through the Old Testament stories of God's coventant people. I hope to have us ready for the New Testament stories of Jesus' birth again just before next Christmas! We'll be repeating this chronological study of biblical events each year, I hope. I will need to change the progression slightly, including more or fewer stories according to the varying dates of Easter each year.) I am constructing some sets of relevant colouring pictures for the kids to work on each day, which will go into their Make-Your-Own Bibles, using (among others) images from the wonderful Calvary Chapel resources.

The order of events and readings in our our pre-Christmas Bible studies is:
A Saviour is Promised - Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; Jeremiah 23:5; Micah 5:2-5a
Zacharias and Elizabeth - Luke 1:5-25
The Angel Gabriel Visits Mary - Luke 1:26-38
Mary Visits Elizabeth - Luke 1:39-56 [An interesting aside is that Mary was possibly present with Elizabeth at John's birth, considering Luke 1:26, 39 and 56.]
The Birth of John the Baptist - Luke 1:57-79
The Angel Visits Joseph - Matthew 1:18-25 [I am not quite sure where this fits in chronologically, but it seems a good point to include it here, so as to avoid confusing interruptions to the story of John's birth.]
The Trip to Bethlehem - Luke 2:1-5
The Birth of Jesus - Luke 2:6-7
The Angels Appear to Shepherds - Luke 2:8-14
The Shepherds Visit Jesus in the Stable - Luke 2:15-20

I'll include here my plans for Bible stories in the first few days after Christmas, also:
Jesus is Presented in the Temple as an Infant - Luke 2:21-24
Simeon and Anna Prophesy - Luke 2:25-38
The Wise Men Travel to Jerusalem and Meet Herod - Matthew 2:1-8 [Given Herod's later order to kill boys aged up to 2yo (Matt 2:16), the location of Jesus' family in a house rather than the previous stable (Matthew 2:11) and the description of Jesus as a child rather than a baby (also Matthew 2:11), it seems highly likely that Mary, Joseph and Jesus lived in Bethlehem for some time after Jesus' birth, notwithstanding their visit to the temple in Jerusalem for ceremonial purposes. It was possibly a year or more after Jesus' birth before the Wise Men reached Bethlehem. We'll be pointing this out to the kids if they ask about it when they see nativity scenes, etc.]
The Wise Men Worship Jesus - Matthew 2:9-12
The Escape to Egypt - Matthew 2:13-15 (perhaps also 2:16-18)
The Return to Nazareth - Matthew 2:19-23; Luke 1:39-40
The Boy Jesus Visits the Temple - Luke 2:41-52
and then on to Jesus' baptism and ministry, etc.

3. Memory verses to be learnt over the Christmas period:
Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counsel[l]or, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
and Luke 2:11
"Today in the town of David a Savio[u]r has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

[Which brings up another point, I do wish they would publish a NIV translation with English/Australian spellings and punctuation. It would make copywork so much easier in the future! How does one use pieces for copywork when they have spelling "errors"?]

4. I am working on teaching the kids some of the songs we sing in church, and in December we will be learning some Christmas Carols, notably "Away in a Manger". We'll be listening to them some time each morning, I think, from a variety of Christian Christmas Carol CDs we have in our collection. I'm not so fussed about teaching them the more worldly Christmas songs, such as "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - I think they'll learn them by osmosis from trips to the local shops.

5. Decorate the tree. We started our married life resolutely using real pine trees, but do have a realistic plastic tree, which is more kid-friendly. Last year, the kids loved helping Jeff put it together, and ladening the lower branches with ornaments, while I held baby Samuel and took photos. Jeff's brother and sister-in-law have made a tradition of giving us a new ornament each Christmas. Maybe another year we'll do something crafty and make some of our own ornaments, but this year we'll be too busy with visits to relatives.

6. Select, buy and wrap presents. This could take another whole post (and probably will) but I'll just briefly state that last year we gave each of our kids at least one book, one CD or DVD and one toy. We also add one outfit of clothing, if it is really needed. The rest of our ideas we list as suggestions for grandparents and assorted uncles and aunts to give. Last Christmas, the kids didn't get too much that was not suitable, and there were some nice surprises, especially the harmonicas from Granny and Gramps. KMart just had a toy sale and Target is having one this week. Duplo and Fisher Price Little People feature heavily as good toy choices. I do have a rule about books: nothing which does not state the author's name on the cover, I prefer editions with the original illustrations if possible (although I am flexible with this - I like Robert Ingpen's work on some classics such as Treasure Island) and abridged or paraphrased versions are not acceptable (if we have to read an abridgement, I'd rather select it myself because I am very picky.) Before I wrap the books, I will be covering them with contact, so they last.

7. Plan our holidays - because Jeff has 2 1/2 months off study, we need to make the most of this family togetherness, rather than getting frustrated by unspoken expectations about what will or won't happen. So this Sunday, Jeff and I will be comparing our To Do lists for the holidays, although already some things have been scheduled, such as visits to Jeff's mum & step-dad and to my brother and his family, and the Baptist church camp that Jeff will be speaking at. We need to make sure Jeff gets his fill of woodwork (so I can have my new desk!!) and I get to do some regular exercise without having to take the kids to the gym creche, as well as having lots of family time just having fun, out and about!