chocolate nativities

every year we make a christmas built treat with the pinker family. it started off as ginger bread houses, then progressed to tim tam cabins and now we are on to chocolate nativity scenes, which we found the idea for here. (cannot reccomend enough reading this post before starting, as although i have listed what you need here, it is so much easier to assemble your scenes with instructions, than trying to work it out from my pictures.)

you will need: 

1 Block of Cadbury Chocolate (or a ribbed chocolate block)

3 thin Blocks of Dark Chocolate

1 Packet of Starburst Babies – for Baby Jesus

1 pack of Mini Flakes – for Jesus manger and decoration

1 Packet of Jelly Babies for Mary, Joseph and the Three Wise Men 

1 Packet of Chocolate Melts

1 Packet of Changs Noodles – for the hay

1 Pretzel Star or Frozen Cereal Star

i actually cannot tell you how excited i am that the original poster was an aussie, so for once in our lives everything is available to us instead of having to find substitutions.

so then we built! maddie and uncle theron teamed up 

and so did joseph and aunty dom and it was a war, with an instagram poll to determine the winner.

i must admit, the stables were pretty impressive and the way they were all mapped out, to be assembled with melted chocolate was awesome. the kids loved making them!

i love this photo of joseph too. he caught me trying to get a decent shot of his nativity and quickly jumped in to photobomb it. what a cutie!

they looked so cool when they were finished and i would say that's another activity well executed. they loved it!

happy days!

are we ready to receive him?: a young womens christmas lesson

today i gave a special christmas lesson to our young women. we have been focusing on personal revelation this year, how to receive it, how to recognise it and what to do with it. i felt like this would really resonate with the girls and let them know that it's something for everyone! as we spoke about each person, i set up my nativity on the table in our classroom. i also told the girls that i am sure to always place jesus and his parents at the centre of the nativity, as they are truly the centre of christmas. it was a great lesson and i could see them thinking a lot about each thing we spoke about.

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Opening Hymn – Silent Night (LDS Hymns 204)

Our lesson today is about how each person mentioned in the nativity story prepared themselves to meet Christ. Each person received a witness, personal revelation if you will, to prepare them for His arrival.

We are going to start with two videos and then we will talk about each person.

NATIVITY VIDEO

WISE MEN SEEK THE CHRIST CHILD VIDEO

Read Luke 2:1-20 (Nativity story)

Mary – How was Mary prepared?

She had lived a pure and virtuous life, she was visited by an angel to tell her, she had great faith, which is why she accepted what the angel said without a question

Joseph – How was Joseph prepared?

He had chosen a virtuous woman to be married, an angel spoke to him as he slept to tell him of Jesus’s arrival, he accepted what the angel said and took Mary as his wife even though she was pregnant prior to their marriage

The Shepherds – How were the shepherds prepared?

They lived a simple and righteous life. They were dedicated to caring for their sheep, meaning they had great love for them and I would assume for others. The angel spoke to them and although they were visibly afraid, they followed his instructions and went to see the baby.

Read Matthew 2:1-12 (Wise men arrive)

The wise men – How were the wise men prepared?

The wise men were well respected and educated men. They had wealth and servants and knew of prophecies that had been made concerning a Saviour who would come. They had studied the skies and watched and waited for many years knowing the signs that would be given. They were perhaps the most well prepared for him.

Were any of these people frightened? Yes! Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. Why? Mary was pregnant and unmarried, Joseph had a pregnant fiancée, the shepherds thought someone would attack their sheep. But everyone watched and listened to prepare themselves for Jesus. Personal revelation is not always something we want to hear or something we can prepare ourselves for, but once we have it, we can change ourselves and prepare to do what we have been instructed to do. It doesn’t mean it won’t ever be scary though.

What can we do to prepare ourselves and allow Christ to enter our homes and hearts?

Study the words of the prophets as the wise men did, pray for guidance and understanding, love others as he did and keep Christ at the center of our lives. Where there is light, darkness cannot be. Allow the light of Christ to fill our lives each day throughout December by drawing slips from our jars and always, by continuing to read the scriptures each day once the month is over.

Share experiences from the advent calendars.

Bear testimony and witness of the Saviour.

Close with O HOLY NIGHT VIDEO

christmas decs are up

i am a sucker for beautiful, traditional christmas decorations. we bought a new tree this year. a beautiful full green tree from myer with frosty tips like a real snow edged tree. it looks absolutely stunning, especially with the gorgeous decorations we got (snowflakes, birds in glass domes and deer heads from target australia, red and gold balls from big w australia.) and the twinkle lights from kmart australia. they are brilliant, with a button for multi function twinkling.

i must stop and confess here, doug and i stayed awake until 3am ish putting all the decorations up, 1. because we love to see the kids eyes when they wake up and they are just there waiting for them and 2. let's be honest, any one with even one child knows how much easier and faster it is to put them up with no little hands in the way. sad but true.

i love to set up my nativity scenes, including the first one i purchased, the original willow tree... my last big spend before doug and i got married... which my dad made a creche for (not without grumbling i might add) he said it would never be happening again - 

until i bought the large size willow tree holy family and my mother convinced him yet again. what a good man he is.

this is my newest and i love the way it looks, tall figures with a word of inspiration across the base. super cute.

and my mini one that came with the pictured book from deseret books (which is still available here and worth every cent!) i love nativity scenes so much, because they remind of us of the true meaning of christmas and bring such joy to our home, as well as giving us the opportunity to teach our children. madeline moves between them, touching the figures and telling me about baby jesus. what a sweetheart, having children at christmas truly brings magic to your home. 

the road to bethlehem

on monday night, we went to the seventh day adventist road to to bethlehem for the first time for one of our december family home evenings... one of my friends goes every single year without fail and this time we decided to give it a go with some friends from church - it was amazing! (you can read more about it here - and follow their website ready to go next year!)

basically, the road to bethlehem is exactly what it's called, you book your tickets online (don't worry - it is free, but they have had so much interest the last few years that it's been necessary to allocate tickets to ensure everyone can get through) and show up to your allocated booking time, where you are met at the gate by roman soldiers. you then begin to walk the road to bethlehem - starting with mary being told that she will bear a son, josephs reaction, the three wise men commencing their journey, cesear telling of his desire to "worship" the child, the shepherds being visited by the angels... before entering the bustling marketplace and finally seeing joseph and mary in the stable with their baby and the angels singing their praises.

it was such a wonderful experience and one that really tells of the true meaning of christmas and enables the spirit to be felt strongly by those present. it's basically a live nativity and because of this, the busy, bustling, crazy preparing and present buying that is so easily associated with christmas just fades away.

i think the market place was my favourite part, there were so many children from the church dressed in robes, haggling, shouting, calling and running - it really felt as if one had just jumped back two centuries and fallen into the time of christ. they did such a wonderful job!

the marketplace, with all its bargaining and bustling...

in the final scene prior to exit, mary and joseph are proudly showing off their baby - and what an adorable baby he was! fast asleep and not even stirring even under the bright lights and the choir of angels singing for him. 

and the best bit? we were shuttled to and from the church from a local school carpark, so my pregnant feet didn't even have to walk anywhere haha. i am so totally going every year from now on... what a blessing it was to participate and watch the greatest story ever told.

christmas decorations

i love christmas.

so much.

and the bit i love the most, i must confess is the setting up of my multiple nativity sets! i discovered last year - a wonderful gift shop at a centre, not too far from our house (i don't think i should publicly announce where... you'll see why in a minute...) that ever so kindly make their amazing nativity sets half price the day that they reopen after the christmas break. i love it! and that's how i managed to persuade my lovely husband to let me purchase this beautiful jim shore "babushka-esque" nativity set. and the willow tree large nativity set you can see below last year. i was so excited to open them this year, because i had never actually had them out of the box - and especially to put the willow tree in the custom made stable that my ever-patient and long suffering father "whipped up" at mine and mums insistence. i know it was no easy feat and i hope he knows how grateful i am. (i am sure he would have enjoyed it more if he could have heard all the people complimenting it as they came to visit over christmas!)

so... saying that - and showing these two off, i can't wait to see what i am going to score this christmas!

p.s. if you happen to live in perth, send me a message and i'll email you the details! totally worth it, but i highly doubt they'd appreciate me publicly declaring their sale!

after christmas shopping...

yesterday we did some opping with dougs parents - i have managed to get his dad addicted over the years he has known me and i am so proud... we were hitting up the local gsi and doug found this amazing babushka doll, genuine and all - still with the russian tag on the bottom!! what a find. i was so excited it wasn't even funny... so we snapped it up - and the best bit? they only wanted $5 for it! :) thank you! i would go as far as to say that this was my op-shop find of the year, which is a pretty big call considering that there's only a few days left! 

we also went to the shops to buy some things for dinner and i came across this store at innaloo shopping centre that had all their christmas things for half price!! i am a sucker for beautiful christmas decorations, mainly of the nativity description and nearly died when i saw these ones. we snapped up this jim shore one above, the willow tree one below (not the background though - totally getting dad to knock one of those together for me, i am sure he'll be furious thrilled!) he made the one for the smaller set i have and it is beautiful, so i am sure we can get another out of him...

we also got these adorable koalas as a nativity! we cracked up when we saw them and had to have them. what a day full of bargains. just the way i like it.