Manger Mondays: Advent Link Up Week 3

I can’t believe the third week is over already! Time is really flying; and life is really hectic!! Next week will be our final Manger Mondays Link Up, to wrap up our Advent celebrations and let you report on how your final week before Christmas went! I didn’t think our Christmastime schedule was terribly busy, but it has been. Our afternoons are quite short, once homework is finished and dinner is had before it’s time for bed. Plus we seem to have things coming up every afternoon/evening that have either taken me out of the house or all of us out of the house. So, this week we ended up doing our Truth in the Tinsel activities about every other day. As I write this, we should have done Day 18 today. Instead, we’ve not done past Day 16. So, we’ll have some catching up to do, but it’s all good. 🙂 We’ve had some really good family time, shared some love with our neighbors, and have enjoyed a few local favorites before they shut down for the month of January (that happens a lot around here).

So, without further ado, our week 3!

I honestly don’t remember a whole lot about the week itself. I know we talked about the manger, Bethlehem, the stable, and the census (don’t think it was in that order, but there you go). We had a really great talk the day we learned about the census. The craft was to put some colored rice into a jar and then put two marbles in the jar to represent Mary and Joseph among the throng of people crowding into Bethlehem for the census. The girls really seemed to grasp the concept that even with all of those people – and no one seeming to care who Mary and Joseph were, or Who she was carrying – God saw them and knew they were special, and provided for them. And seemed to really transfer that idea to themselves. We talked about how even when we feel all alone, or lost in the crowd and like no one cares, God cares, He sees us, and He knows us. I really enjoyed this day.

Can YOU see Mary or Joseph (white marble)??

The other day the girls really seemed to enjoy and grasp well was the day we talked about the swaddling clothes (Day 16, I believe). We talked about how Mary wrapped Jesus in cloths, and how this was important because this was going to be how the Shepherds were going to recognize him. The girls really loved their “babies” and couldn’t stop snuggling them and talking about more ways to make him more comfortable, etc. Even now, they go to him several times a day, fix his blanket, etc. Butterfly Girl in particular is really enamored with her baby.