Advent Calendar

Another tradition we have is that we give our children an Advent Calendar. The calendar is used to count the days down until Christmas. Our children gladly open the hidden windows to find a chocolate a day until Christmas day. This is another tradition we bring from our German roots. Thank you Oma!

At Christmas time we get out the Christmas Pyramid (carousel). From the angle which I took this picture you cannot see the wisemen, and the manger. The kids especially like watching the carousel spin when the candles are lit. Traditionally the pyramids show the scene of the Saviour's birth.

Joy To Everyone This Christmas

Joy to everyone this christmas expresses the hope that everyone feels love, peace and joy this Christmas. Please share this gift with your family and friends and spread the joy of Christlike love. Click here to view this video or click on the picture to watch the video.

Check Santa's Nice-O-Meter

Check to see if you have been naughty or nice. Enter your name and see what Santa has to say about your behaviour. Click here to find out or click on the picture.

Christmas Music

Okay I'm trying to get into more of the spirit of Christmas so I put together a modest collection of Christmas music and replaced the auto-music play on my blog for now with Christmas music. Hope you enjoy it. It has a heavy Josh Groban influence in the rotation. Let me know if I missed some Christmas classics and I will add them.

Elf Classic '08

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Ok, my kids gave me a hard time because I didn't put any dances out here with Julie and I. Here we are with the classic dance from last year's Elf Yourself.

Elf Yourself Country '08

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Which one do your like more, the Country or the Disco?

Elf Yourself Disco '08

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Gingerbread Houses

This is another activity that we do at Christmas time. This tradition mostly comes from our German side of the family. The traditional thing to do is to create your house like your home or village, then in the new year, you break apart the house and eat them. For information on Gingerbread Houses go here.

Snowglobe Fun!

Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Rejoice and Be Merry: Nativity Play

If you haven't seen this video or heard this song now is your chance. This is a new Christmas music video from The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love this song and the video is well done. This tells the Christmas story in a beautiful way.

Saint Nicholas Visited

December 6th, Saint Nicholas comes to visit early in the morning. If you leave our your shoes he is known to give out fruit, nuts, little gifts and candy. This is another tradition we have at Christmas time. This come from our German heritage. Saint Nick did visit our home as seen is this blurry picture I took with my iPhone.

Matryoshka doll - Russian nested doll

At Christmas time we get out our Matryoshka doll to display it. Our children like to take the dolls apart and put them back together again. The set we have now is the traditional peasant girl in a traditional dress. We used to have a more Christmas oriented set. Which included Joseph, then Mary, a sheep dog, a lamb and the the baby Jesus. This is just another one of our Christmas traditions.