After moving in our new apartment and settling in for a week, we felt like we needed something to help focus us on Christmas and get into the Christmas spirit more since it was only 3 or 4 days away. We invited some embassy families over to watch "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" with Jimmy Stewart, have refreshments, and visit. We wanted to access something from the internet, but we didn't have internet yet, so we pulled from our DVDs. We watched the short movie and then let the kids make baby Jesus and his manger out of playdough that I made. At the end of "Mr. Krueger's Christmas," Mr. Krueger gives the manger from his nativity set away to a little girl that had reached out to him and showed him love when he was missing his belated wife over the holiday. So the kids (and some adults :) ) made a manger out of playdough so they could remember the love that our Savior has for us as well as the love we need to show to others.
 |
| Rhea's manger and baby Jesus. |
 |
| Eating refreshments and making mangers. |
 |
| Kera, our adorable little friend. |
 |
| Simone, Marcus and little Dianna. They also live in our building and gave us a wonderful welcome when we moved in! |
Amy and Mario and Aimee and Brian.
The artistic Becca building the entire nativity.
Jessie, Kera, Savvy, and Rhea behind. Savvy of course is smothering Kera with hugs. She loves holding people that are small. :)
 |
| The next morning, I had Brian reenact what happened the night before. While watching the movie, in the dark, he looked over and saw this box on this side table with what looked to him like an assortment of chocolates (it's a nativity scene made of wooden peg people that the kids painted). Thomas was sitting next to it, so he asked him which one he liked the best. Thomas smiled, and went with it, and pointed to the walnut shell that was actually baby Jesus in his manger. Not being able to see what it actually was, and thinking that it was chocolate, Brian bit into it, a few times, trying to chew it before Thomas told him that it wasn't food. It was right in the last 30 seconds of the movie, so it was hard to pay attention to the ending because of the loud crunch of the walnut shell and Thomas and Brian laughing because he was "eating Baby Jesus." We all had a good laugh and a good time teasing him the rest of the night! |
Baby Jesus himself is still in tact luckily and I am able to glue the pieces of the shell back together. :)
Overall it was a very fun night that helped us feel more at home here in our new apartment and at home in Angola with people that have become our friends and "family" that we have here. We're grateful for their efforts in helping us have a smooth transition to moving here!
0 comments: