Voss Adventures: December 2015

Saturday, December 26, 2015

A walk in a winter wonder land

We started our hike with the intention of hiking the trail to Sandia cave but after seeing the snow and ice we opted at not hiking a trail with drop offs. We decided to hike up the road instead.

I had to take a selfie of Joseph and me. They were both such troopers in their carriers.

At one point on the hike I asked Jamie if I had Joseph or Peter and we couldn't tell with them all bundled up. That doesn't happen often but it was pretty funny at the time. Jamie figured it out from the clothes we had dressed them in earlier.

Eva did an amazing job hiking the whole way!

We are so impressed with Kai and here he is smiling away with his mommy.

Jeremy and Christy enjoyed the mountains as they don't have to many where they live.

Mom did a great job hiking the trail. She was one of the few who didn't fall at some point on the hike.

I love this shot of Jamie with smiling at the kids hiking (you can see them in her classes).

Just as we were leaving a storm rolled in and huge snowflakes began to fall. We where walking in a winter wonder land.

Friday, December 25, 2015

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Advent Traditions 2015

As a child I celebrated Advent with my family by a nightly unwrapping a piece of a Nativity set and reading a Christmas story. I have such special memories of this time, the anticipation of Christmas and the focus on Jesus it brought.

I wanted to do something similar with our kids, so a few years ago I came up with 25 symbols of Christmas, made them into ornaments, put them into little cloth bags numbered 1-25, and gathered Christmas picture books about Jesus that coordinated with them. I add a new Christmas picture book each year (a tradition David's mom does and I love) so we're growing a little collection. This year's is "Humphrey's First Christmas" about a grumpy camel who meets baby Jesus and has a change of heart, and it looks adorable.

This year the kids' Sunday School worked through the "Jesse Tree," which is the story of the entire Bible, focusing on the promise and coming of Jesus. They started in the summer, making an ornament each week. On the Sunday before Advent, the kids got to take these ornaments home with a little booklet describing the meaning of each ornament, with a Bible story coordinating. Amazing, right?! They were so excited!!

So this year I swapped out our ornaments in the little bags for the ones the kids made. In years past, we had these bags hanging from our mantel, but with the two littlest members of the family being in total "seek and destroy" mode, these became an immediate target. We decided to put them in a bowl instead. In one of my brighter moments, I even marked each story in our Children's Bible with a post-it numbering which day/ornament it went to, making the nightly Bible story readings so easy. I decided to wrap all of our Christmas picture books up and just let the kids choose and unwrap one each night. I'd seen this idea on Pinterest, and it was a big hit. It felt like "pre-gaming" for the kids, ripping the wrapping paper and seeing a book inside that I had put aside for an entire year.

Each night in December, the kids have taken turns opening an Advent bag with both of their Jesse Tree ornaments inside. We read the corresponding Bible Story from the "Jesus Calling Children's Bible," (it had all the stories in it,) then we hang the ornament on our tree. They also have taken turns unwrapping a Christmas picture book and we read it aloud together.

I love this Advent tradition!

Our basket of picture books, the Jesus Calling Children's Bible, the booklet Hope Church sent home with the kids, and the bowl of our ornaments in numbered bags. Our little Advent station!