Family Fun Night # 5 Christmas Tree Night

We had our family fun night and it was all about the Christmas Tree. We read about the history of the Christmas Tree, sang "O Christmas Tree" and made 2 Christmas Trees, one out of our hand prints, one with paper punches that we put tissue paper behind and then we made ornaments for our Christmas tree. I don't have a lot of pictures, but here are the few that I do have. We had a lot of fun.

We visited Bethlehem

Every year our church has a wonderful hands on adventure called Walk Through Bethlehem. It is done so incredibly well and we have so much fun at it. They transform the church into the city of Bethlehem and have so many activities, food to taste and we even get to visit Mary, Joseph and Jesus. We always like to see all of the animals, there are camels, goats, donkeys and chickens. We love to see the baby Jesus in the manger, it is our first stop. Our favorite thing to do is to make bread. We like this the best because we get to eat it when it is done. We also made a coin with our initials in it. Attended a Hebrew lesson, made a beaded bracelet, and made a clay pot. It was a ton of fun and we are so glad we were able to go.

Chuck's Gift

Ok, so many years ago Chuck saw a piece of art from Pottery Barn. It was a map of the US that was made out of license plates. Each state was made out of its own license plate. He has always wanted it, but we never have wanted to pay $500 for it! So, I am making him one for Christmas. First, I got barn wood ( thanks Chuck) Then pieced it together, drilled it together, cut it to length, cut out the map of the US, and then traced the states for the license plates that I had. I then traced the state shape onto the license plates and then cut the shapes out with tin snips. I used gorilla glue and small nails to place the state in the correct place. I am not done. I think I have for sure about 5 more plates coming in. On top of the map I am putting the letters USA!

One last time

Hello Everyone!

I am writing to you all to request license plates. I know that seems like a crazy thing, but I am making something special for Chuck for Christmas and in order to do that, I need a license plate from EACH STATE in the US! This is a huge undertaking and that is why I am calling on all of my friends. I know you may have some old plates from the various places you have lived, OR, you know other people who live in other states who could possibly help. So, please see if you can help me and if you can, do a reply all so that we know which states are taken care of, and which ones I am going to have to travel to, in order to beg the first person I see for an old license plate!

These are the states that I already have: Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, California, South Dakota, Missouri, Florida, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Utah. I have been promised a few more, but haven't put those down because I currently don't have them in my hand!


Thank you all for your help and I can't wait to show you the finished product, once I get it together!
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Leave me a comment if you can help, or email me if you know my address.

New Lights

Well, last Thanksgiving Chuck spent the whole vactation putting in a backsplash in the kitchen. It wasn't fun! This year we had no plans to do anything, but on our way home from church yesterday Chuck asked if I wanted to stop at Menards and look at lights for the kitchen. I said yes! We have been needing new lighting in there for about 8 months. Both of the former light fixtures had plastic light sockets, which, when exposed to a lot of heat and moisture, crack. No big deal, yeah right. You can't put light bulbs in if you can't screw them into something. The one above the sink had been out for the longest and one of the five over the table was broken, with the four others following closely behind. We found some pretty nice lights for pretty cheap and he even installed them yesterday without too much trouble. We are amazed at how much more light we have now!

Early Presents

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. Unfortunately for us, they live in England and we have not seen them in a very very long time. They haven't even met our kids, but every year they send them gifts, and very nice gifts at that. Their package came on Friday and since we were putting up the tree and all, I thought, hey, Don's present can be the first one that they open this year. So they each opened their gifts and I was so tickled that they were matching England sweatshirts! Lily wore hers all day on Sunday, too cute! Thanks McKenzies! You guys rock!

The setting up of the Christmas Tree

We always set up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. Chuck is in charge of putting the tree together and putting the lights on, and I am in charge of decorating it. It was fun to have some helpers, and they were very enthusiastic also!