Pre-Christmas Catching Up - Christ in Christmas

Like many of you, I want my kids to remember the real reason that we celebrate Christmas.  It is sometimes a hard thing to do.  It seems they are just bombarded with Santa! Reindeer! Presents! Elves! pretty much 24-7.  They are on TV, they are at the store, they are at school, the library, everywhere!  Don't get me wrong, I love Santa and reindeer and presents (and well...you already know my thoughts on elves).  All I want is some sort of balance.  And let's face it, it's not just for the kids! 

This year, we took the kids to "Echoes of Christmas," which is a musical live nativity that they have at Liberty Park.  This was a our first time trying it, so we weren't quite sure what to expect.  We had to wait in line for about half an hour, but the kids had fun running around in the snow and playing with all of the other kids who were waiting in line too.  When we got to the front of the line, they put us in a small group and a shepherd led us around to the various stops on our journey.  At each stop, a part of the Christmas story was told.  The kids were SO good and so quiet as they listened to the shepherds, angels, wise men and innkeepers sing songs about the birth of the Savior and the parts they played.  The kids also (of course) loved that there were real live sheep, donkeys, and even a camel!  

Preston had his phone and took some pictures, but for some reason (maybe the cold) his camera was freaking out and putting weird lines through the pictures.  Here is one picture that wasn't too bad...it is one of the three wise men singing with the camel in the background. 

I thought that it was pretty good, especially since it was free!  I am not sure who the group is that puts it on, but they had heaters at each stop and had hay bales for the kids to sit on.  It was fun to hear the well-known story told in a new way.  We might try to make it a tradition.

On the ride home, Cora said her favorite part was " when I saw the baby Jesus, oh and the camel."  Arden liked the angel that sang to the shepherds, and thought the donkey was soooo cute!  Dax liked playing in the snow while waiting in line best.  *sigh*   Hopefully some of it soaked in a little.  I enjoyed myself at least.

We also braved the crowds one night and headed to Temple Square to see the lights, which is always awesome:

Here is Dax in front of my favorite red tree:

When Preston and I were first married, one of the guys in our neighborhood was the groundskeeper for the Ogden temple.  He told us once that the big red cedar tree on Temple Square has more than 75,000 lights on it, which is more Christmas lights than they have at the entire Ogden temple.  The lights generate so much heat that they only light the tree up every other year. I am glad it was a red year!

Awwwww:

We were lucky enough to have lots of helpers with the kids grandma and grandpa were there, but somehow escaped my camera.  Val and Josh weren't so lucky!  Aren't they pretty?

 Amanda and Matt also helped out.  Cora had a great time pointing things out to them:

The Monday before Christmas we always act out the nativity story for FHE.  We don't have real costumes, so we sort of wing it.  Every year the girls have a "discussion" about whose turn it is to be the angel and whose turn it is to be Mary.  We got it figured out and made it through without any major mishaps.  Here is the "after" picture.  Cora was the angel.  Dax was a shepherd, though he didn't want to wear a robe so he is a shepherd with a dinosaur skeleton shirt...oh well.  Preston was Joseph and Arden was Mary.  Baby Jesus was played by a doll, which is lucky since our Mary doesn't look like she should be trusted with the real thing.  I read the story from the bible and also acted as the wise men.  My costume, if you are curious, was a robe and a princess crown.

It isn't perfect, but the kids had fun and for at least 5 minutes they weren't thinking of Rudolph.

I will try and finish up the Christmas posts before New Years!