Holiday time

Good Tidings of Great Joy

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem

The Angels visit the shepherd (and sheep)

May you feel loved and cherished this Christmas season

The shepherd and sheep on their way to visit Jesus

The Wise men travelled from afar to bring gifts to Jesus

 May you remember to love and cherish those around you as well

Baby Jesus eats the gifts the Wise men brought

I have been watching some beautiful biblical videos surrounding Christ's birth with the boys of an evening.  We read the scripture and then watch the video.  They are simple, quiet, short and just beautiful to watch.  They are made by our Church with the scriptural references from the Bible in Luke Chapter 2 written below the video.  Click on the first video link below to view: 

An Angel Foretells Christ's Birth to Mary

 (you can also go on to the next video by clicking on 'next' above the video)

They will bring the Spirit of Christ into your lives, I know they have brought me joy and have prepared me for this Christmas Season to remember the blessings in my life.

xXx

Getting to the bottom of the bag

She was so tempted

. . . but she didn't like the noise of the bag

She was a little timid at first

. . .and was inquiring if it was really ok

Then . . . she was hooked

Those crumbs were soooo worth it

December gone by...

Well here we are only a few days from Christmas and so much has happened in the past three weeks.  It has seriously got to be the busiest time of year.  I'm a little overwhelmed with trying to keep up with our events and blog about them so I'll just give a few highlights about the most important ones.

Toby graduated from Kindergarten, Ethan won an Academic achievement award for his year and Sam has graduated from Primary school by finishing year 6.  Sam performed his prefect duties beautifully at the school presentation day.  We also attended High School orientation in the same week.

Kindergarten party at the park after seeing the movie "Arthur Christmas"

Ethan's Achievement Award received at Presentation day

The 2011 school leadership team receiving their certificates, Sam on far right

James Bond came back for another visit, this time down the red carpet for the year 6 farewell, themed "Hollywood".

The three Wise Men made an appearance that week as well for our Relief Society Christmas party.  As we read the scriptures about the birth of Jesus Christ the children acted out the Nativity.  I was left with a wonderful feeling of simplicity and joy to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas.

It was Sam's last day in Primary School on Friday.  To send the year 6's off, the whole school forms an archway to the front gate and the school leavers have to run through.  It's a rather emotional moment for kids and parents alike.

To begin our first day of the holidays we had a little Christmas get together with Gabby and Neil in their new apartment.

Gabby had baked some delicious Christmas star ornaments for their tree, which we picked off one by one.

After our Christmas treats with Gabby and Neil we started our jolly holiday by visiting "Mary". 

I loved the umbrella's hanging on the ceiling, I was rather tempted to get myself a carpet bag and Mary Poppins umbrella (it was always something I'd dreamed about when I was a nanny in London many moons ago) but I managed to resist their hefty price tags.

It was the last day of their performance in Sydney and I have to shout out a very special thank you to Desley and John who made it happen for us.  It was a wonderful way to treat the boys after their hard work at school all year and to begin our holidays.  Thank you so much, we had a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious time!!

I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday season

Much Love the EarthWalkerfamily

xxx

xx

x

Surprises

Last Wednesday, in the middle of a really busy and crazy week, I had just come back from grocery shopping and was feeling a little low, maybe it was the constant grey skies or maybe my to do list that keeps getting longer and longer.  When I came home there was a package on my front porch, I wasn't expecting anything, but when I picked up the parcel and felt the weight and shape of it I knew immediately what it was and who it was from.  My heart felt so joyful and happy, tears came to my eyes knowing that someone would think of me.  My lovely blogging friend Caroline from The Simple Things had been making use of the many horse shoes she had lying around her place and I just so happened to admire her creations.  So she sent me an early Christmas present.  I'm afraid I couldn't wait to open this one, I was too excited, just like a crazy kid hyped up on chocolate opening presents on Christmas Day (and I hadn't even gotten the groceries out of the car yet), I ripped it open and started taking photo's of my beautiful new boot pull. 

Caroline we love your boot pull.  It has been used every day, especially by the boys, they really love it too!  School shoes, sand shoes, boots, you name it, the horseshoes are pulling them all off our feet.  Thank you so much my blogging friend.

oOOOo

'twas a night in Bethlehem

Friday evening began with Christmas Carols at the boys school and Saturday followed with our journey into Bethlehem at our church Christmas celebration.

We arrived at the gates to be greeted by a donkey and some baby chicks, plus many shepherds, angels and others travelling from Jerusalem.

We payed our taxes and entered Bethlehem, where we sat with our families and friends under the tented sky and listened to carols and the story of the Nativity.

It was a lovely way to begin the Christmas season and to bring the spirit.

A pink and grey day

Have you ever dressed your children in a set of clothes in the morning and then gotten dressed yourself only to find out you are wearing the same colours, top and bottom as your child?  I have done this many times, even when I was single and a nanny, the same would happen with the children I looked after.

As you can tell the title of todays post is pink and grey, and no, I didn't dress the boys in these colours.  What I did notice as I walked out the door this morning, in my grey skirt and pink cardigan, that I seemed to match my garden and the sky.

It's a very cool grey day today, but my Cape Chestnut tree is in full bloom once again.  Big bunches of spindly pink blossoms.  The grass is covered with the long skinny petals and the sky is so dull and grey.  I am so thankful for pink that can brighten up such a grey day.

I've noticed the Hoya's are flowering again in my back garden, another pink notch on my pink day belt.

I really do love sitting on my front porch and being able to spy on our neighbourhood goings on through the branches of pink and green without being seen.  I think I just saw a spot of blue sky too!  Is it time to change clothes again??

ooOoo