Christmas At Our House - Traditions (Part 1)

When my husband and I were married we both looked forward to creating special holiday traditions with our own family. When most of us think of family traditions, we think of Christmas. Christmas is definitely one of my favorite times of the year. I love the decorations, lights, falling snow, carols, and fun times together with the family. One of our favorite traditions we began with our children in order to help keep the focus of Christmas on Jesus' birth, was taught to me by a dear friend of mine. Mrs. Janice Hickman is a beautiful Christian woman who has been like an adopted Mom to me ever since I was in Bible college. As my husband and I were about to be married, we spent much time with the Hickmans learning all we could about marriage and family.

Mrs. Hickman and I during a visit on our last furlough (2-15-09).

The tradition Mrs. Hickman taught me was regarding the reading of the Christmas story which families often read on Christmas morning. In the Hickman family, often on Christmas Eve, the children all dress up as Mary, Joseph, an angel, shepherds, and the wise men. As they stand together with baby Jesus in Mary's arms, Mrs. Hickman reads the Christmas story. Mr. Hickman records the yearly tradition with the video camera. Now, this all sounds serious and formal but it is the funniest thing to watch the children either try to hold still and be serious, or the opposite while Mrs. Hickman sweetly reads the Christmas story! In the end, you have a precious memory recorded for the family to watch as the children grow.

Here are a few photos of our children from years past, as we have kept this family tradition.

Christmas 2002 (blurry due to being a photo from a video camera)

In 2003, we didn't need a doll to use as a baby Jesus, we had a baby Timothy to lay in the manger!

Christmas 2003

Christmas 2004

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007

On Christmas Day, usually in the evening after the presents have been unwrapped and sometimes just before the children go to bed for the night, the kids dress up with whatever material, towels, or t-shirt of Daddy's they find and come into the living room by the tree for pictures. After the photos are taken, we all sit down and watch the kids as they portray Mary, Joseph, and either an angel or a shepherd while Daddy reads the Christmas story.

It is a wonderful note to end our Christmas celebration, remembering that Jesus was born in a manger to die for our sins.

May the Lord bless you and your family this Christmas as you celebrate His birth.

I am linking this post up to the Baptist Missionary Women blog for their Christmas Blog Hop. Check it out!

Thanksgiving Missionary Dinner 2011

Our missionary Thanksgiving celebration began with everyone gathering at the Krasnoyarsk Baptist Church at around 12:30 pm. My morning started a "wee" bit earlier than that with our family arriving at another missionary's apartment around 10 am in order for me to bake the rolls so that they were fresh for the feast! It is always comical to see us driving in from the village with all of our "stuff" crammed in our car along with all of our family for different parties and activities . This time we carried in the deviled eggs (not completely put together to make it easier to transport them), mashed potatoes, container of cracker candy ( a yummy dessert that we love to make), an apple pie and the fixings for homemade rolls (yeast, milk, margarine, and salt). At least it was a bit less difficult than when we drove in for the Harvest party and every family member except my hubby, who was driving, had to hold a tray of caramel apples! Not to mention the bags and bags of other items squeezed in by our feet.

So, like I said, we all gathered together with eleven adults and seventeen children total for the day. I promised all of you that I would post photos but I was very negligent in taking any! Thankfully, one of the missionary wives took a few but when it came down to the food table we were all so busy enjoying the goodies that we sort of forgot the pictures and thought more about our appetites. 

Here we are all working on the last minute preparations to get the food on the tables.

Then it's time for prayer and food for the little ones is served first.

Little ones happily eating means its time for the adults to step up to the table. Yum!

Most of the adults enjoying the meal.

In my opinion, this was one of the best Thanksgiving meals we have ever put together. The food was delicious! By the way, the duck that we prepared was a big hit! Our daughter, Rebekah, was the happiest to find out that our duck meat was good to eat.  With all that time she spends caring for them, at least they taste good on the dinner table!

We pray you and your family had a very blessed Thanksgiving! We are grateful for the Lord's blessings on our family and ministry and for those of you back home who support us faithfully through your prayers and financial support. May the Lord continue to bless you abundantly!