Joseph

Song: "When Joseph Went to Bethlehem" Children's Songbook, p. 38

What kind of a person was Joseph? He is described as a "just or upright man" (Matt. 1:19). He must have also been kind-hearted and merciful, because he planned to "put [Mary] away privily" (Matt 1:18-19) with compassion instead of have her possibly stoned to death under the Law of Moses (Deut. 22:21) or at the very least have her reputation damaged if her condition was made public.

(Annunciation to Joseph, by Joseph Brickey)

Plus we know that he was close enough to the Spirit to receive revelation about what he should do in his predicament. He heard from the angel, "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary they wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21).

One significant thing to note about this experience, is that Mary didn't reveal the sacred truth of the origin of her unborn child, which could have easily been justified in her situation. She "kept all these sayings in her heart" (Luke 2:19), meaning, she kept sacred things sacred, even when (as far as she could tell) her reputation and future were in jeopardy.

("Grace of God" by Jay Bryant Ward)

A father is responsible to teach correct principles to his children by example, Joseph was an example to Jesus of being spiritually sensitive and kind. Joseph hearkened to divine guidance through the ministrations of angels and by dreams. He protected Mary and Jesus by obeying the instructions from the angel in taking them away from the danger of Herod's army, and fleeing to Egypt, and then back to Nazareth when the danger passed. Joseph was a carpenter, and we know that Jesus followed the same occupation.

Joseph was a valiant servant of the Lord and the one chosen to watch over, protect, and raise the Savior of the World. Let's try to be obedient like Joseph in doing all the Lord commands us to do.

When Joseph and Mary walked around Bethlehem and realized there was no room at the inn, how do you think Joseph felt? His wife was pregnant and almost due; where would she be able to lay comfortably? Where could he lay their new baby? He probably saw the manger, and wanted to prepare it with soft straw. 

How can we be like Joseph?
(Show manger). Does this manger look soft? We should be like Joseph and make it soft for the baby Jesus. (Show "straw"). Each piece of straw we put in the manger will represent one kind thing we do for someone between now and Christmas. The more kind things we do, the more straw there will be for the Baby Jesus. Then on Christmas Eve we'll put Baby Jesus in His little bed, and He'll sleep that night on a mattress made of love. I think He'd like that, don't you?

Other options: Read "The Last Straw" by Paula McDonald, or written out on this website, to introduce our manger service activity.
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For a list of the rest of my Christmas Devotionals, see this post.

Mary

Song: Mary's Lullaby (Children's Songbook pg.44)

What kind of person was Mary? We learn in 1 Nephi 11:15 that Mary was "beautiful and fair above all other virgins" and we know she was a model daughter because the angel Gabriel told her she was "highly favored" by God (Luke 1:28).

"As there is only one Christ, so there is only one Mary. And as the Father chose the most noble and righteous of all his spirit sons to come unto mortality as his Only Begotten in the flesh, so we may confidently conclude that he selected the most worthy and spiritually talented of all his spirit daughters to be the mortal mother of his Eternal Son." (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, pg. 85)

("Annunciation to Mary" by Joseph Brickey)

What did the angel tell Mary? "Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:31-33).

The thing that I find interesting about her character, is that her question to the angel, "How shall this be?", didn't imply that she didn't have faith that she would/could actually carry and mother the Son of God. It was that she wanted to know the process: How could a virgin give birth? Unlike her cousins' husband, Zachariah, who basically wanted proof that his barren wife could conceive, Mary had complete faith in God's power, and answered, "Behold the handmaid (servant) of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" without hesitation.

However, she was probably scared. In Jewish law, a woman could be stoned to death if she was pregnant, but not married (Deut. 22:21). People who knew Mary, but did not know of her angelic visit and her divine calling most likely judged her harshly and thought she had sinned. Mary undoubtedly endured persecution and false judgement, but was willing to do the will of the Lord. Before the angel Gabriel left, he gave her a sign that must have bolstered her faith and given her comfort after this life changing announcement. The angel told her about the miracle of her cousin, Elizabeth. This elderly woman who had never been able to have children, was now 6 months pregnant! This information accomplished two things: first, adding another testament to the amazing power of God, and second, giving her someone in whom she could confide her incredible news who would understand, love, accept, and help the young Mary come to get a glimpse of what was about to happen in her life.

("Mary's Visit to Elizabeth" by Carl Bloch)

Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, and as soon as they saw each other, Elizabeth's baby "leaped in [her] womb for joy" (Luke 1:44). She knew Mary was pregnant with the Son of God, and she was excited for her. They rejoiced together and Mary said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God and my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name" (Luke 1:46-49).

After the baby, Jesus, was born, Mary "took all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). Some believe this to mean that she didn't understand what was happening to her. But I think that she was surely raised and taught all about the coming of the Messiah, she was visited personally by an angel, and she just delivered a baby without ever knowing a man... she didn't believe. She knew. And she also knew that everything that was happening was so very sacred, so instead of sharing aloud, she kept her thoughts "in her heart" and pondered.

How can we be like Mary?
I think it is important that we take the time to recognize the hand of God in our lives - and often. But this doesn't mean shouting or sharing these experiences with the whole world. We should take all of those things and "ponder them in our hearts." It is when we stop, when we are still, and open our minds to these special experiences, or bouts of personal revelation that we learn the mysteries of God.

Activity: Go see the lights and nativity at Temple Square, or find another activity that lets you bask in the spirit of the season. Take the time to really be in the moment, feel of the Spirit, and "ponder in your heart."

Other helps:
Watch the bible video... An Angel Fortells Christ's Birth to Mary
___________

For a list of the rest of my Christmas Devotionals, see this post.

Symbols of Christmas

Since we are going to be hanging the mini story books from our advent on the tree, I decided to have my first devotional all about the symbolic meaning of the Christmas tree and our decorations on it.

Song: "Joy to the World" (Hymns 201)
Pictures: Resurrection, Atonement, 

Trees/Red/Green:
Every autumn, what happens to the trees outside? (The leaves change colors, then die and fall off.) But there is one kind of tree that keeps it's needles all year... the evergreen tree. 

Look at our tree. What shape is it? (Square? Circle? Triangle?). And where does the top point? (Up to heaven.) This reminds us of the person we celebrate each December: Jesus Christ. What color is the tree? (Green.) The fact that this tree stays green, seeming to live forever, reminds us that Jesus also lives forever because he was resurrected. That's why green is a Christmas color. (Show a picture of Jesus Christ resurrected). 

But it gets deeper. 

This "undying" tree reminds us of another tree spoken of in the scriptures (The tree of life) and luckily we have more than just a verse in the bible (Genesis 2:9) to give us insight. Nephi shares his vision of the tree of life and Elder Bednar (at our Stake Conference in 2010) said it was one of the crowning episodes in the Book of Mormon. We first read about the vision in 1 Nephi 8:10, about a "tree whose fruit was desirable to make one happy." Later, we learn that the tree symbolically represents Jesus Christ, and that the fruit brought forth by the tree represents His atonement. (1 Nephi 11:7).

("Tree of Life" by Yongsung Kim)

What is another color of Christmas? (red). (Show a picture of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane). What is Jesus doing in this picture? Read D&C 19:16-19 (or Luke 22:42-44). What color is blood? (red). When we see red, like the red ornaments on the tree, we can remember Christ's love for us. He loved us so much that He died for us. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). 

(Let the kids add the red ornaments to the mini tree)

We learn a different perspective from Alma. He compares the word of God to a seed, and tells us if we plant that seed in our hearts (not casting it out by our unbelief) and let that faith grow by nurturing it then it will grow up to become a tree (Alma 32: 28-36). If we nourish the tree.. it will bring forth fruit - symbolic of the blessings of the atonement (41), and it will become a grown tree, "springing up in you." (Alma 33: 23). 

Now this is my favorite part. Elder Bednar rephrased this scripture, and since we know from Nephi that the tree represents Jesus Christ... "Is that tree planted in you?" or "Have ye received His image in your countenance?" "Do you act like Jesus?"

Stars/Lights:
One of the most exciting signs of Christ's birth was a new star in the heavens. 

Most of us hear or tell the familiar story of the wise men that followed the new star in the east to find the Christ Child at Christmastime. But there was another story, happening on another continent at that time. (Act out the story with your family as you tell it. Throw paper balls at Samuel? Nerf arrows?)

Around 6 years before the birth of Christ, Samuel the prophet was preaching to the Nephite people, "...and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born. And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you" (Helaman 14:2-5). You are 4 years old - try to imagine you heard that prophecy. Would you believe him?

("Samuel the Lamanite on the Wall" by Arnold Friberg)

Those who didn't believe Samuel threw stones and shot arrows at him as he stood on the wall, but they could not hit him because the Lord was protecting him. Some of the people believed him, but most did not. They tried to capture him, but he jumped down from the wall and was never heard from again. Samuel bore a strong testimony of Jesus Christ even though many people were trying to hurt him.

Five years passed, and the wicked Nephites said that the time for Jesus' birth had already passed.

Read 1 Nephi 1:6-8: "And they began to rejoice over their brethren, saying: Behold the time is past, and the words of Samuel are not fulfilled; therefore, your joy and your faith concerning this thing hath been vain. And it came to pass that they did make a great uproar throughout the land; and the people who believed began to be very sorrowful, lest by any means those things which had been spoken might not come to pass. But behold, they did watch steadfastly for that day and that night and that day which should be as one day as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been in vain."

Then the wicked people did a really terrible thing. They set apart a day to kill all the people who believed Samuel if the sign didn't come. (3 Nephi 1:9) The righteous people were probably very scared. Try to imagine you are 9 or 10 years old - what would you do? Would you deny your testimony and go with the wicked? Or would you stand up for what you believed and possibly die? Then the day came for the believers to be tested. And that night the sign came. (3 Nephi 1:15). There was a day, and a night, and a day with no darkness - letting everyone know that Jesus Christ was born.

(Painting by Damir Krivenko)

Then about 34 years later (imagine you are about 44 years old), another sign happened in the land. When Jesus died, there was a night, and a day, and a night with no light. (Turn off all the lights in the house. I had my hubby read the words of Jesus Christ to the kids in the dark). The Nephites were probably very scared, but at the end of the darkness, Jesus appeared to them and said, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world..." (3 Nephi 11:10-11). The very first thing he says is "I am the Light" - the light that saved your life when you were 10. Everyone fell to the earth.

("The Light of the World" by Howard Lyon)

(Turn all the lights back on.) Christ is the light. The light (or star) in the sky testified that he came into the world, and the light went away for three days when he died. When we see lights on our tree, or Christmas lights on houses and buildings, we are reminded of Jesus Christ, too!

Candy Canes/Shepherds:

Jesus Christ has many names. Read John 10:2-5, 11. What is Christ's name in this scripture? (The Good Shepherd). What is the job of a shepherd? The sheep need someone to protect them and care for them. Jesus is our shepherd, and we are like the sheep.

("The Good Shepherd" by Simon Dewey)

The candy canes are shaped like a shepherd's staff and they are symbol that Christ is the Good Shepherd. What colors are the candy canes? (red and white) We already know that red represents the atonement. White represents purity. Jesus never sinned, so He was perfect. Because he was perfect, he was the only person who qualified to pay the price for each of us.

(Let the kids hang the candy canes on the tree).

What can we learn?

When we see the Christmas colors of green, red, and white, or when we see other symbols of Christmas, such as evergreen trees, lights or candy canes, we can remember that all of them represent Jesus Christ and the blessings that come from following him. We can be His sheep and follow Him. We can allow Him to change our hearts, and we can utilize the atonement in our lives. We can truly feel the magic of the Christmas season when we see the true meaning of all the symbols that surround us. 

_______________

For a list of the rest of my Christmas Devotionals, see this post. 

Christmas Advents (and a free printable!)

Before I start up with all of our mini devotionals.. I wanted to show you all of our Christmas Advents. (I love advents: Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween...)

Here are two of our advents.. the Santa one I downloaded from this site (you have to sign up, but it's free). I liked that I could save printer ink by letting Harvey color it, but as you can see.. coloring is not really his favorite thing. That took about 15 seconds and he was done. In case you can't read the poem...

Santa's beard is very bare,
On his chin, there is no hair.
So each day add a puff of white,
When they are all on, he'll come that night.

The tree advent is actually 2 different advents combined. First I found this adorable tree advent (again, you have to sign up, but it's free), but then when I saw this candle one (print pages 24-26), I decided I liked how it incorporated Jesus, so I printed off the candles to use instead.

Anyway, you look up the scripture written on each day, then figure out what name of Christ it mentions, then add that candle to the calendar. Harvey loves them both.

I made our last advent two years ago, and I love it because it's so versatile. You can put whatever you want inside the muffin cups. In the past, I've added a piece or two of candy, and a little slip of paper with a fun activity or craft written on it. This year I only put activities in a few. I also added a cotton ball for the Santa beard advent.

I know you only see 12 spots, and that is because I just replace the opened spots with higher numbers as we go. You could certainly fill 2 muffin tins from the beginning, or you could buy a tin that has 24 spots. I just like the size of ours. Oh, and I printed the circles, laminated them, and stuck them over the holes with putty. You could also print them on magnetic paper, or add magnets to the back once you've laminated them.

Do you want to make one? Wendy (the designer of these cute scrapbook elements) said that since the products I used are now discontinued, I could share my creation with you. Merry Christmas!



Here is an alternate link to download the file: Muffin Tin Christmas Advent

I need some new ideas for activities to put inside mine... what are your favorite traditions to do at Christmastime?

Putting Christ Back in Christmas

I have always loved advent calendars and doing fun activities with Harvey... but somehow I kind of missed incorporating the real meaning of the season into our month long adventures together. I mean, we always do the nativity at our annual Christmas Eve party with Justin's family, but we desperately needed something more. I have felt inspired and have been working on our Christmas Devotionals since September. I can't wait for Christmas this year! Not because of gifts or Santa or even homemade caramels, but to teach my little ones about the most important thing they could know: that their Savior was born, and that He gave them the most precious gifts of all.

First, I was inspired by Jen Lund, who does her own rendition of a Jesse Tree with a devotional and special ornament for each day of the month. I loved the idea of unwrapping a symbol or piece of the story each night, but I wanted to stick to the story and characters of the nativity instead of the traditional christian Jesse Tree subjects. She has shared her devotionals (scroll down to her Christmas section), and I've incorporated several of them into our devotional advent.

Then, I found A Christ-Centered Christmas by Emily Freeman. I loved how she came up with a special message and tradition for each of the figures in the nativity. She chose 7, and I added several more.

Last, I found this adorable advent story book set. This year we are going to use it as the foundation for our devotionals, talking about or expounding upon several characters or subjects in each mini book. I did switch a couple of the days around to better suit my family, but for the most part it flows perfectly. I bought a 2-foot Christmas tree, and we will hang all of the mini books (and a couple of other ornaments that go with devotionals) on it. For a little more than half of the days we will do something in addition to reading the mini book. Some of the days have a devotional, other days we will read a children's Christmas story that pertains to that day, or do a simple activity. For each of these days, I have a tiny figure to add to our Christmas scene.

My intention is to introduce each character in the nativity and share their story. Granted, the only sure information we have is from the scriptures, so I have taken liberties with some of the characters (like the innkeeper..). But every character has their own special message to encourage us to come unto Christ - just like they journeyed or searched to find that baby in a manger so long ago.

I'll be back each day (well, the days we do more than just the mini story book) to share what we have done. I can't wait to get started!!

Here are the links to my devotionals...
The Evergreen Tree
Mary
Joseph
The Donkey
The Star
The Wise Men
The Camel
Bethlehem
The Innkeeper
Baby Jesus
The Shepherds (coming soon)
The Angel (coming soon)
The Lamb (coming soon)

Thanksgiving

I continued the tradition of getting a family picture before we left for Thanksgiving Dinner at the Keetches.

The newest members of my Thanksgiving decor. I have been looking for Pilgrims for a long time, and I finally found a wooden set at the Wood Connection. I had to put them together, but I love how they turned out! I also found the adorable printable scripture to complete the shelf.

After we ate a delicious dinner, Russ took us outside to hit the turkey pinata he brought. (What a great idea! We loved it!) True to Russ fashion, he duck taped that turkey until it was almost not recognizable and let everyone go at it. Everyone got plenty of turns, but the treats inside got pounded right out of their wrappers!

Harvey: (I love his face in the first one!)

My mother-in-law, Karen:

Me:

And Justy:

Spooky Graham Houses

So.. I totally fell off the blogging bandwagon. I'm noticing a trend here... (haha. Story of my life.)

Anyway, here's one of the little activities we did as part of our Halloween Advent... so fun!

12 Days of Halloween (take 2)

I'm getting excited for our annual Halloween Advent.

Here's what I've got planned for this year:

• Make a spooky gingerbread house
• Eat Pumpkin Quesadillas for lunch
• Drink Halloween Hot Chocolate
• Make a Pumpkin Mosaic
• Play with slime
• Make brain jello
• Visit a pumpkin patch
• Play with Halloween Ice Ghosts in the sink
• Paint/carve pumpkins
• Go to a Halloween party
• Watch a scary movie
• Make pumpkin luminaries

Do it with me!! It will start on October 20th and end on Halloween! :) If you need more ideas, check out my list from 2010, the Kids Page, or scroll down to Halloween in the Holiday Page.

Pioneer Day Fun

To celebrate July 24th (aka Pioneer Day in Utah) we headed over to Justin's parents' house for a barbeque and fireworks. I volunteered to bring dutch oven peach cobbler for dessert. Yum!

I also brought materials for the kids to make their own edible covered wagon (found the idea on Secrets of a Super Mommy.) My pictures are terrible, but you get the idea... The kids liked making them, and we all thought they turned out pretty cute, but the kids didn't eat them and they ended up in the garbage. Just sayin'.

But my favorite part of the night were the games. I brought fabric strips for a three-legged race, and we had a race between the adults, and a race for the kids. It was so fun! (Okay, so this video is like a minute and a half long, and most of it is just "race prep", so if you just want to see the actual race... it's the last 20 seconds. :)

Then we did stick-pulls (because that was one of Joseph Smith's favorite games); some of us got really intense!

And then it was time for fireworks.  

I can't wait to continue these traditions every year. We also have a couple of ancestors who either knew Joseph Smith or were part of the Willie Handcart Company. I really want to put together something like a children's storybook to share these with my kids - and the other cousins. Hopefully next year.

Our Barbeque

Let's go back in time a little and do a little recap of our annual 4th of July Party.

The end of June was a little crazy. We left the last week for California and after spending 10 fun-filled days in beautiful San Diego we drove back just in the nick of time to pull off our barbeque. As in, we pulled into our driveway at 11:30pm on the 3rd of July. (Lots more about the trip later..)

Luckily, Justin flew home that morning so he had time to mow the lawn, weed the garden and clean off the back patio. Because I didn't have a ton of time, I didn't make any new games for the party. (My plan is to make one game each year until I have a variety of things for everyone to do).

And you know what? I took like 5 pictures of the whole event.

I did manage to get a pic of the red velvet cupcakes I made to celebrate the summer birthdays in our family.

I was running a little late, and the cupcakes weren't decorated when everyone arrived, so after dinner I talked some of my cute nieces into helping me decorate them. I love the little star sprinkles.

We also set up the bean bag game I made last year. There are three different colors of bean bags (4 each), so you get 4 throws and add up your points. After everyone has had a turn, you can either decide a winner or go as many rounds as you'd like!

After I took the pictures the kids complained that we hung the tarp so the middle holes were being blocked by the post, so we had to move it, but you get the idea. :)

I love fireworks. And although I like having pictures of fireworks to enjoy after the fact, I decided to take three pictures and then set my camera down to just be there and enjoy it all for real. Not just from through the lens. It was great!

I know I'm way late, but I hope your holiday was fabulous!

Daddy Candy Gram

Like a month ago, candy bars were on sale at the grocery store so I stocked up. I knew I wanted to do a candy gram for Justin on Father's Day, even if I didn't know what I wanted it to say exactly. In the end, it all worked out and I only had to run back and buy a couple more specific bars. I wrote most of it myself, but I also got help from this site. :)

Here's what Harvey and I came up with...

Jud loved it.

I think Avery was a little put out that it wasn't for her.