DAY 8:  Make a Christmas Ornament

On day 8, the kids painted a ceramic Christmas ornament.

It was fun to see how they all decorated theirs differently.  Megan painted a peace sign on her snowflake, Tristan made his bell look exactly like the one on the picture, except he painted a crack in it like the Liberty Bell, and Josyan painted his green tree blue and then green again before adding ornaments.

Later that afternoon, we all went down to the fire station with our neighbor Julie for a tour of the old New Braunfels fire station, only the 4th station in the state of Texas.  It was so cool to see the old engines and learn some of the history of firefighting.  The kids even got to sit on one of the old ladder trucks, but Megan was the only one who would try on the old hat.

DAY 9:  Thank you note to Jesus.

For Day 9, the kids made a picture of all the things they are thankful for (in lieu of a letter).  First, we talked some about the difference between Santa and Jesus–Jesus gave Himself for us, Santa gives gifts.  Jesus offers the gift of eternal life to all, but Santa’s gifts are conditional–only the good children get gifts.  We talked about how Christmas is about giving, not getting, and that we should be thankful for what we have.  I love hearing the kids talk about what they are thankful for.