Advent

It's hard to believe the first week of Advent is almost over! This is one of my favorite times of year - I love the excitement and hope as we prepare for Christmas. We are establishing some traditions in our little family and are using an Advent Devotional this year that was created by another Raleigh PCA church. It has been great!
You can find it here - http://www.ctkraleigh.org/advent/

We also pulled out Josiah's little nativity set on Sunday. If you remember last year, he was mostly interested in the donkey. I was curious to see what would capture his attention this year! Well, in 2-year-old boy style, here's what happened.

We set up everything. He correctly identified Baby Jesus, the shepherds and the animals. We talked about Mary & Joseph, the angel, and the star over the stable. It was a delightful Norman Rockwell-esque picture of a child learning and playing. Then it got violent. Mary body-slammed one of the sheep off the table. A shepherd threw the cow overboard. The donkey started pulling Joseph around in its cart. The angel was pressed NONSTOP to play "O little town of Bethlehem". Next everyone took a spin in Josiah's cement mixer. After dinner I found this sight...

Apparently the entire crew needed a ride in the fire truck. Awesome. So I guess we'll be looking for pieces of the nativity all over the house for the next month. At least he enjoys playing with them!