Christmas books for read-aloud

After the first term (or trimester) of our first school year finished last week, I was searching for good Christmas books to read to the boys. Below are a few favorite (more could be added as a few more books will be picked up from library next week):

The Advent Jesse Tree
We've been using this book for our Advent Jesse Tree devotion starting from December 1. Although it has been a challenge to have both Daniel and James sit, follow directions, and pay attention for 20 minutes, the book has helped me a lot by having scriptures, devotions, and even hymns for each day all in the same place.

An Orange for Frankie

A very sweet Christmas story that made me cry while reading it to my boys. We just read it for a second time tonight (Christmas Eve) while peeling and eating oranges, and it made my eyes moist again.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

A simple yet beautiful and heartwarming story. Love the illustration too. I bought a copy, either to keep or to give away as a gift.

This is the Star

Read like a poem, constructed like "This is the house that Jack built". Very nice artwork too.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

We had the movie before I bought the book (both were from library book sale or garage sale, I believe), so we had watched the movie before  read the book. The movie did a pretty good job capturing the spirit of the book, but, not surprisingly we still found the book more enjoyable than the movie. It took me about a week to finish the read-aloud (one chapter a day).

The Light at Tern Rock

A beautiful story that keep you in suspense till the last chapter.

Counting down to Christmas begins! --With a Advent Jesse Tree

Celebrating Christmas was something relatively new for me, a young Christian (11 years young in the Lord) who grew up in Communist China with nil exposure to Christianity. All the Christmas traditions, secular or religious, were pretty foreign to me too.

Several years ago, we began  hanging Christmas lights, setting up Christmas tree, and getting gifts for our children. Our family almost always participates in carols and children's Christmas play at church. Sometimes we have get-together with friends or with my sister's family. But overall, our Christmas is quite low key. My husband and I don't exchange Christmas gifts. My sister and I don't exchange Christmas gifts. Let alone our friends and extended families in China.

This year, I want to keep it low key in regards to gift exchange (at least among adults), but feel the need of starting some meaningful and fun family traditions for Christmas. Something centered on the true meaning of the season. A couple of hours online searching and surfing landed me on two words:  Jesse Tree. I got excited about the idea behind it (Old Testament prophecies pointing to the coming of Christ) and really like the visual symbols (symbols tracing the heritage of Jesus from the beginning of creation) that kids can understand. Starting out the planning late and being not crafty at all, I somehow managed to make an Advent calendar with the kids and set up a Jesse Tree the night before December 1.

Our home-made Advent calendar. I made the paper pockets and outlined the numbers. Daniel and James did the coloring of the numbers and helped with gluing the border on the poster.

Nativity scene. I bought this set on Wednesday (11/30) night, the night before our Christmas countdown.  Because the poster is not big enough and has no room for number 25, we made a separate mini poster for 25. While making it, I joked with the boys, "Oh, there is no room in the inn. There is no room on the poster for 25!" Daniel colored number 25 with rainbow color. Can you see it?

Jesse Tree with the Advent calendar and the Nativity scene. I bought a 2-feet Christmas tree at Michael's. Yesterday, the children and I made the first ornament and hung it on the Jesse Tree. As we count down to Christmas, we will do a daily devotion with scriptures,  prayers, and songs, and will make and add more ornaments to the little tree.

Update: Here is the Jesse Tree after we put some maybe not all the ornaments.

Veteran's Day Parade

These were pictures from several weeks ago, Veteran's Day Parade that Daniel's Cub Scout pack had participated. It was a fun and meaningful event, although we had to wait for our turn forever.

An unforgettable Thanksgiving

Peaceful Thanksgiving morning. While washing and cutting vegetables to take to our fellowship's annual Thanksgiving day hot pot lunch, I remembered the load of laundry that I had put in the washer earlier.

"Daniel, please go and check the laundry. Put the load into the dryer if it's done." One minute later, Daniel cried from the laundry room, "Mom, you better come and take a look! It's hard to explain."

Drying my hands on the apron, I walked toward the laundry room, "What's hard to explain? What's the matter? ... Oh, NO!" Our laundry room was flooded with half-inch deep water! The carpet of the hall way next to the laundry room was soaking wet too, while the washer was still running. I called out to Guibo, "Honey, come quick! The washer is leaking!" Then, we frantically took actions to stop the washer, search for a bucket, scoop water from the floor, and throw sheets and towels on the laundry room threshold and the wet carpet. One package of training diaper, leftover from James' potty training, was put into good use for absorbing water.
When we pulled the clothes off the washer, I noticed that a piece of folded paper towel was stuck in the washer's water outlet.
"Could it be this that has caused the leakage?" I asked Guibo.
"Who knows. But you really need to inspect all the pockets before you put the clothes in." He thinks that I'm often absent-minded, and I am sometimes. So I didn't say anything, believing that it could be my fault, although I was mystified at why somebody would have paper towel in his pocket. Tissue paper, very likely, but why paper towel?

After we finished phase one of the disaster recovery, dear hubby graciously volunteered to stay home to do  phase two work, so the kids and I could go to the hot pot lunch at Olivia's house. The kids and I (and everybody there) had a good time and tons of yummy food, but the disaster zone was always on my mind. I did call Guibo around noon and knew that he was still working on it.

Long story short, by late afternoon, the situation was largely under control. While Guibo and I were blotting the carpet and the padding with paper towel, Daniel came to us,
 "Dad and mom, I have to confess. I did it."
Quite puzzled at his confession, I asked, "You did what?"
Daniel: "I put the paper towel in the place where water comes out. I want to know what would happen, and then I forgot about it."

Oh! Mystery solved. Even though the disaster recovery was not all done yet, and our dryer was not working after the flooding, I was actually very delighted with Daniel's confession, and I let him know this clearly and right away.

It does take courage and integrity to admit one's wrongdoing when nobody is even suspecting, doesn't it? My little guy is far from perfect (in fact, he often drives me nuts!), but at that moment I am proud of him. It is truly a Thanksgiving moment.

By the way, the act of sticking paper towel into the water outlet is a typical Daniel exploration. One time when he was about two and half years old, he put a Lego block on a burning candle which caused smoke filling the bathroom and triggered the smoke detector. Because the Lego block was melted beyond recognition, it took me many days to find out what had happened.

The Reign of Law in Education

I've been reading Home Education by Charlotte Mason (1842-1923) with a yahoo reading group for over a month now. It's definitely not an easy read, partly because of her Victorian style of writing. In fact, somebody has complied a sentence-by-sentence modern English paraphrase as an  attempt to make Charlotte's words accessible to modern parents. 


Anyway, something in last week's reading was so enlightening to me that I have to quote it. 

It is a shame to believing people that many whose highest profession is that they do not know, and therefore do not believe, should produce more blameless lives, freer from flaws of temper, from the vice of selfishness, than do many sincerely religious people. It is a fact that will confront the children by-and-by, and one of which they require an explanation; and what is more, it is a fact that will have more weight, should it confront them in the person of a character which they cannot but esteem and love, than all the doctrinal teaching they have had in their lives. This appears to me the threatening danger to that confessed dependence upon and allegiance to Almighty God which we recognize as religion––not the wickedness, but the goodness of a school which refuses to admit any such dependence and allegiance. (Vol I page 39)

Although my children have not been confronted by the fact that some nonbelievers are living a more righteous life than some believers, this fact has indeed been one of the stumbling blocks for a few of my non-believing friends and acquaintances.

As for this superior morality of some non-believers, supposing we grant it, what does it amount to? Just to this, that the universe of mind, as the universe of matter, is governed by unwritten laws of God; that the child cannot blow soap bubbles or think his flitting thoughts otherwise than in obedience to divine laws; that all safety, progress, and success in life come out of obedience to law, to the laws of mental, moral or physical science, or of that spiritual science which the Bible unfolds; that it is possible to ascertain laws and keep laws without recognizing the Lawgiver, and that those who do ascertain and keep any divine law inherit the blessing due to obedience, whatever be their attitude towards the Lawgiver; just as the man who goes out into blazing sunshine is warmed, though he may shut his eyes and decline to see the sun. (underlines were added by me) Conversely, that they who take no pains to study the principles which govern human action and human thought miss the blessings of obedience to certain laws, though they may inherit the better blessings which come of acknowledged relationship with the Lawgiver. (Vol I page 40)

Reading this was like having a light bulb went off for me. I have not read elsewhere that explained so clearly why law-biding lives are often more blameless and accordingly more blessed than pious lives. A quote from Francis A. Shaeffer seems to strike a cord with what Miss Mason was saying. (No, I have not read Shaeffer's book. Just saw the quote a while back and was able to locate it.)

When I say Christianity is true I mean it is true to total reality--the total of what is, beginning with the central reality, the objective existence of the personal-infinite God. Christianity is not just a series of truths but Truth--Truth about all of reality. And the holding of that Truth intellectually--and then in some poor way living upon the truth, the Truth of what is--brings forth not only certain personal results, but also governmental and legal results.  (A Christian Manifesto, page 19-20)