Merry Christmas!

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                                                              Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!

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Wordless Wednesday ~ Welcome home

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Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

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 © 2008 - 2021 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Advent Christmas book list

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A new season of Advent is upon us! I don’t know about you but I am very much looking forward to slowing down and settling into a season of waiting. I really wanted to have this post up earlier last week, but last minute “stuff” derailed that. But what matters most is that we are ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Reading aloud is a huge part of our day in our homeschool. At Christmas time we add in a family read-aloud to prepare our hearts for Christmas. I love this special time when we sit down and read from our Advent devotional. Several years ago I borrowed Unwrapping the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp form the library to use for our daily ready. This year instead of borrowing I have added this book to our Christmas book collection.

Unfortunately, I am missing a box of our Christmas books. I am hoping the box is just hidden on the top shelf were I can’t see it. Instead of wrapping the books in wrapping paper or kraft paper, this year I am choosing to keep our books into these  12” x 16” muslin bags that I have individually numbered for each day. We are storing our book basket next to our Jesse / Advent tree. 

 

Each morning as part of our morning Bible time we will read our Greatest Gift devotional. At night after evening chores are done, one of the children will put the Jesse Tree ornament onto our Advent tree in our front library. Since Micah is a proficient reader, I may have each child take turns reading a story each night.

I’m excited to share the Christmas picture books we will be reading for the next 27 days of Advent. The books that we don’t have in our personal collection are marked with an (L) because I found them at our local library. I look forward to adding them to our collection over the next few years). Let’s dive in!

November 28: {1st Sunday of Advent} The Giving Manger

November 29: Christmas Is…

November 30: The Gift of the Magi

December 1: Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree

December 2: Snowflake Bentley

December 3:  Waiting for Christmas

December 4: The Gifts of the Animals

December 5: {2nd Sunday of Advent} The Legend of the Christmas Cookie 

December 6: {St. Nicholas Day} Who is Coming to Our House?

December 7: The Beggar and the Bluebird

December 8: Stephen’s Feast

December 9: Joseph’s Donkey

December 10: The Spider Who Saved Christmas 

December 11: The Nutcracker 

December 12: {3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete Sunday} The 12 Days of Christmas

December 13: An orange for Frankie 

December 14: The Last Straw

December 15: Arthur’s Christmas Wish        

December 16: The Greatest Gift of All 

December 17: Nine Days to Christmas (L)   

 December 18: The Stable Where Jesus Was Born                                                                             

December 19: {4th Sunday of Advent / O Adonai} Dasher

December 20: 5 More Sleeps ‘Til Christmas

December 21: The first Christmas stocking (L) 

December 22: The Little Boy’s Christmas Gift

December 23: Silent Night, Holy Night

December 24: There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve

photo credit

 

Do you have any special plans for Advent this year? I would love to hear about your family traditions. 

© 2008 - 2021 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author.

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Family Advent Traditions with The Giving Manger from WorthyKids ~ a TOS review {Giveaway}

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Disclaimer: I received a Complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.

Another Friday down friends! I am so glad you have popped on the blog today as I have a special review and giveaway to share today. As you know the Advent season is quickly approaching and I am excited to share with you how we will be celebrating the season this year. We are adding to our family tradition of reading Christmas books each day and we are going to incorporate random acts of kindness with the help of The Giving Manger from WorthyKids.

The Giving Manger is a beautiful hardcover book written by Allison Hottinger and illustrated by Emily King. The whole package comes with the book, a wooden manger, a bushel of straw, and a resin baby Jesus wrapped in white.

The Giving Manger helps to teach kids random acts of kindness all the while putting Christ at the center with the story of Anne and Ben who along with their parents are in the story. The father tells the children that starting on December 1st they family would start a new tradition and that there would be one more gift under the tree. As expected the children, Anne and Ben, were thrilled at the thought. However, come December 1st both children were a bit disappointed to only see a simple wooden manger on the table that Father had carved.

And the King will answer and say to them, “‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” 

~ Matthew 25:40

 

 Father explains to them that this Christmas they will celebrate God’s greatest gift to the world, Jesus Christ, by loving and serving others. Each time they performed a random act of kindness or served someone else a tiny piece of straw would be added to the manger. On Christmas day the children awakened to see a tiny baby Jesus in the manger resting on all their straws of kindness. 

 As we prepare for Advent I love this book and everything that it stands for! Especially now during the time when media outlets are stressing consumerism and pressure to spend now because there may be shipping delays. The Giving Manger puts the focus back on the real meaning of Christmas, Jesus Christ, and serving and giving what you can to others.

I also love how the paper piecing illustrations fit this story so well. I love how the images sort of pop off the page! We have our manger set up front near our two most used rooms so we can see it each day as we prepare. My two youngest, McKenzie (12) and Micah (7) are excited and are already thinking of ways to bless others this holiday season. The book even includes service ideas for “Manger Moments” in the back of the book.

Now for the fun part! How would you like to win your very own copy of The Giving Manger? WorthyKids has graciously offered for me to host a giveaway for one of my readers. To enter simply fill out the form below.

Entry-Form

Be sure to click on the banner below to read the thoughts of 28 of my CrewMates who also received this set. Some of them are hosting giveaways as well so you’ll increase your chances to win.

 

Company ~ WorthyKids

Product ~ The Giving Manger 

Format ~ Hardcover book set that includes a wooden manger, bundle of straw, and a baby Jesus 

Price ~ $39.99 

Ages ~ all ages

 

 Find WorthyKids on these Social Media Links: 

 Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

 © 2008 - 2021 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author.

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Wordless Wednesday ~ Merry Christmas Adam

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Wordless Wednesday

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Merry Christmas 2019

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Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We hope this letter finds all of our family and friends happy, healthy, and blessed by this Christmas season. Our family has had an amazing 2019 filled with exciting trips and equally exciting news and events!

Highlights of our year:

~ Marie graduated in May from Liberty University, Magnum Cum Laude, and secured an IT Software Engineer job at shipyard. She is currently on track to move out to a new apartment complex in early 2020 and to return to school for her Masters degree.

~ Madison officially graduated high school in June and is attending the University of Oklahoma on a 4yr-Air Force ROTC scholarship. She is excelling in her Physics major and thriving in college life, including making the Dean's List for first semester. 

~ Mikayla is a Junior in high school and striving to secure a collegiate scholarship to compete college gymnastics. She has not narrowed down a school quite yet, but we are prayerful that will come within the next few months or at least by signing day November 2020. She is competing her third year as a Level 10 and working hard to attend JO Nationals in WA State, her birthplace, in 2020.

~ Montana is an official teenager and in 7th grade and has really stepped up to be my right-hand girl since Madison left. She is doing great in school as well, when she wants to. Yes, I have another Madison on my hands, but this time I am prepared and know how to challenge Montana so she is most successful and challenged. She is still playing softball with the local Christian school team and loving it. Montana also enjoys drawing and creating and reading.

~ McKenzie is in 4th grade and doing great! Math and Science are her two favorite subjects with spelling being her least favorite. We have officially gone Gluten Free for her and it seems to be helping curb the side effects that she experiences from her diagnosis last year of Gastroparesis ~ delayed stomach emptying. She has grown about 2.5 inches since last December so this is great progress. This year she is competing Level 7 for gymnastics.

~ Micah is in Kindergarten and officially a beginning reader! While school is not his favorite thing to do, I have figured out what works best to complete his daily lessons while leaving plenty of time for play with his beloved cars and action figures. Micah joined Cub Scout Lions in September and plays Shetland baseball in the Fall and Spring. Next year he wants to try wrestling, oh my!

~ Mr. M has been home for since mid-November and we are all enjoying this time together before he heads back to Mississippi. He has just a few short months before he returns back to VA permanently for his next set of orders, yay! He has picked up some new hobbies while away including fishing/crabbing and flying drones with his friends.

~ I am busy holding down the fort, managing the house and educating the kids with my trusty color-coded planner(s) not far from my side. For 2020 I am pursuing my journey to complete my Court Reporting studies to become a freelance Stenographer. I actually started reviewing my Theory in November and I am writing cleanly at 40 WPM. I hope to gain a scholarship to an online school in March/April when I am fully ready to start speed building. 

~ We added a new four-legged family member when Montana got a Russian Blue kitty in early December. She finally decided to name her Smokie even though I think she looks more like a Maggie. Smokie is a great addition to our family, everyone just loves her! Plus, she doesn't aggravate Marie's allergies so that is a huge plus. Max and Mollie are doing great as well. They are full of energy and love to play, especially with Micah.

 From our house to yours we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

© 2008 - 2019 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author.

 http://astablebeginning.com

Wordless Wednesday

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 http://astablebeginning.com

Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday ~ throwback

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Wordless Wednesday

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On the 1st Day of CHRISTmas….

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Merry Christmas to you and yours! 

Now that Advent season is over we welcome Christmastide and wait for the Epiphany, my family and I will celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas in an edible way. My children learned so much when we learned about the Plagues of Egypt earlier this year so I decided to add a food theme to the Twelve Days as well. 

The 12 Days of Christmas is not just a famous song about someone who receives gifts for 12 days from their true love. However, it was used in the early days when the church was persecuted to teach the children the love of Christ in a decoded song. As a time of celebration, the 12 Days of Christmas starts on Christmas Day and lasts until January 5th, also known as Twelfth Night.

So without further ado I hope you will follow along with us…

On the FIRST Day of CHRISTmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree (the birth of Jesus Christ). Tonight we enjoyed pears with whipped cream topping.

©2008 - 2016 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author. 

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Wordless Wednesday

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Preparing our Hearts ~ Our Advent reading selections for 2016

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It’s Advent season and we are loving every minute of it! I am a few days late in getting this posted but I love sitting down with the children each night and reading from our Jesse Tree Advent devotional. Today I want to share with you our reading list for the next 28 days of Advent.

This idea of reading children’s books is not my own but that of Jessica who blogs at Shower of Roses. She has even made homemade labels to put on the outside of the wrapping paper. I didn’t use ribbon this year but I do love the look of the solid brown kraft paper. The wrapped books are stored on our tiny bookcase next to our big tree this year.

Each night after reading from our Jesse Tree Devotional one child gets to unwrap the book and then I read it aloud. The same child then puts the Jesse Tree ornament onto our Advent tree in our front library.

Here are the 28 books that I have wrapped up for the 2016 Advent bookshelf. The books that we don’t have in our personal collection are marked with an (L) because I found them at our local library.

November 27: {1st Sunday of Advent}The Story of Christmas

November 28: The Gift of the Magi

November 29: Little Blue Truck’s Christmas

November 30: Waiting for Christmas (L)

December 1: How Many Miles to Bethlehem?

December 2: The Remarkable Christmas of the Cobbler’s Sons

December 3:  The Christmas Tree Alphabet Book

December 4: {2nd Sunday of Advent} The Gift of the Christmas Cookie (L)

December 5: The Legend of the Candy Cane 

December 6: {St. Nicholas Day} Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins

December 7: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

December 8: The Legend of the Christmas Rose (L)

December 9:  The Sweet Smell of Christmas

December 10: The Pine Tree Parable

December 11: {3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete Sunday} An orange for Frankie (L)

December 12: The Polar Express

December 13: Lucia: Saint of Light

December 14: The Christmas Bird

December 15: The Christmas Story

December 16: Nine Days to Christmas (L)

December 17: The Stable Where Jesus Was Born (L)

December 18: {4th Sunday of Advent / O Adonai} If He Had Not Come

December 19: The legend of the poinsettia (L)

December 20: The first Christmas stocking (L)

December 21: The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

December 22: Guess Who’s Coming To Santa’s for Dinner?

December 23: O Holy Night

December 24: The Night Before Christmas

We are also incorporating Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas {not an affliate link} into our Morning Time Recitations. I LOVE this book! Each day in December you read the pages for the day and count down to the days of Christmas. Each story ties into Jesus' family tree and everyday you will begin to unwrap the greatest Gift as you trace the family line and heritage of our own forever family, within the family of God.

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—

    yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root...

In that day the heir to David’s throne

    will be a banner of salvation to all the world.

The nations will rally to him,

    and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.

~ Isaiah 11:1,10 {NLT}

Do you have any special plans for Advent this year? I would love to hear about your family traditions. 

©2008 - 2016 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author. 

 http://astablebeginning.com