25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Tree Campout

Pull out the sleeping bags and maybe the air mattress and have a camp out under the lights of the Christmas tree!  Take the opportunity to name a blessing in your lives for each light on the Christmas tree!  If you have little ones like I do that probably would never go to sleep, maybe just read the Christmas story or watch a movie together under the lights. 

25 Days of Christmas: Nativity Decorating

We have lots of nativities around our house during the Christmas season.  For our family, they are a simple way of reminding us what we are celebrating.  I try to pick up a new one every year so we can keep building our collection. Some of them are within reach of little hands and others are up high. I love the idea of the Fisher Price or Playmobil sets and hope to pick one of those up after Christmas.

One of my favorites ... this set was Hal's grandmother's 

I picked this one up for $5 this year just for Drew

Don't you love the dust that decorates this table as well. :)

25 Days of Christmas: Happy Birthday Jesus Party

We have been reminding big brother all month that his birthday is over and that is now time for baby Jesus’ birthday!  This year I picked up a “Happy Birthday Jesus” plate for us to use.  We are making a birthday cake with candles on Christmas Eve to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.  At the age of 3, this is something that he really can understand and will give us something to build on in the future!


Does your family have a birthday party for Jesus?  Share your party ideas by leaving a comment below!

25 Days of Christmas: Behold the Lamb

We are over half way through our 25 Days of Christmas series!  Most of it has gone according to the plan I had put together with a few curve balls thrown in.  Today is one of those curve balls.  Last week at the women's Bible Study I attend through my church, we were asked to bring something to share in regards to the Christmas season.  My new friend Brittany shared with us from a post she had put up on her blog several years ago.  I was BLOWN away by this information.  Oh, how marvelous and thorough and complete the mind and plan of God is!

Behold the Lamb- Brittany Bonner

The prophet Micah foretold the birthplace for the coming Messiah seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Micah said that the Messiah would be born in the little insignificant village near Jerusalem called Bethlehem. The actual location of the birthplace of Jesus Christ is also found in the prophecy of Micah, the location was Migdal Eder which in Hebrew is the “tower of the flock”.

“And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:8 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” Micah 5:2

Migdal Eder, the tower of the flock mentioned in Micah 4:8, is the watchtower where the priestly shepherds would watch over their flocks in the shepherd's fields there at Bethlehem.

This tower is where they would watch over their flock from the second story and where they birthed the newborn lambs in the lower portion of the two story tower there in the fields of Bethlehem. In the lower portion of this watchtower that the birthing of the lambs would take place, ewes were brought to give birth to the lambs. In this shelter the priests would bring in the ewes which were about to lamb for protection.

The shepherds would wrap the newborn lambs in swaddling clothes to protect the body of the lambs, keeping the new lambs without spot or blemish, they would then be laid in a manger until they had calmed down.

These were not just any flock and herd.

Migdal Eder was the watchtower that guarded the Temple flocks that were being raised to serve as sacrificial animals in the Temple. The shepherds who kept them were men who were specifically trained for this royal task. They were educated in what an animal, that was to be sacrificed, had to be and it was their job to make sure that none of the animals were hurt, damaged, or blemished.” These special lambs came from a unique flock which were designated for sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem.

These lambs would be offered as sacrifice at the Temple just four miles away in Jerusalem.

With the establishment of Temple worship in Jerusalem, the fields outside of Bethlehem became the place where this special group of shepherds raised the lambs that were sacrificed in the Temple. Being themselves under special Rabbinical care, they would strictly maintain a ceremonially clean stable for a birthing place. The Tower of the Flock was used for birthing ewes, and the surround fields were where these shepherds grazed their flocks. These shepherds customarily kept their flocks outdoors twenty-four hours a day every day of the year, but brought the ewes in to deliver their lambs where they could be carefully cared for.

It was to this place that Joseph took Mary. It was in this special stable at “Migdal Eder” that Christ was born!

The "swaddling clothes" that wrapped the lambs was also used to wrap the Lord Jesus.

These priestly shepherds in their fields near Bethlehem on that Christmas Eve knew where to go to find the newborn Messiah, Jesus Christ. He would be found where the angel had told them, wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger in the lower floor of the tower of the flock, Migdal Eder

Luke 2:8-18 records that there were shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their sheep by night.

“And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night … And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid: for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” Luke 2:8,10,11

These shepherds were none other but the shepherds from “Migdal Eder”. The angels told the shepherds that they would find the Babe wrapped in "swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." There was no need for the angels to give these shepherds directions to the birth place because they already knew. These were the men who raised sacrificial lambs that were sacrificed in the Temple. When the angelic announcement came, they knew exactly where to go, as Luke 2 indicates, for the sign of a manger could only mean their manger at the tower of the flock!

Migdal Eder at Bethlehem is the perfect place for Christ to be born. He was born in the very birthplace where tens of thousands of lambs, which had been sacrificed to prefigure Him, were born. God promised it, pictured it and performed it at Migdal Eder.

It all fits together, for that's the place the place where sacrificial lambs were born!

The Lamb born at Migdal Eder was the Lamb to be sacrificed to take away the sin of the world.

You see our Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem where all sacrificial lambs were born, and our Lord Jesus died in Jerusalem where all sacrificial lambs were killed.

John the Baptist proclaimed of Jesus,

"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29

Jesus is presented in the Bible as being “in type” as a sacrificial lamb. It was not by chance but by choice that Christ identified His death with the time of the observance of the Passover.

Peter spoke of our redemption as wrought by the

"Precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" 1 Pet. 1:19

and Paul told us that

"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" 1 Cor. 5:7

Even the first fulfilled type by which Christ is to be revealed in Heaven is as the Lamb (Rev. 5:6-13). The baby grew up! He grew into a man to fulfill the plan for our salvation. He grew up to be the advocate, the intercessor, the "one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus." (1 John 2:1, Heb 7:25, 1 Tim 2:5) He grew up so that He could die, thereby offering a perfect, sinless life in sacrifice for our sins. He grew up to be raised from the dead, conquering death and instilling a living hope of eternal life in all who come to Him. He grew up so that he might become “the source of eternal salvation." (Heb 5:9)

I'm glad that Jesus was born. But I rejoice even more in the life He lived, the death He died, and the accomplishment of His resurrection! While the world remembers a baby in a feeding trough, let our remembrance of His death help us to look to the Man, the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the year.

Behold, the Lamb.

For Brittany's complete sources, see this link.

25 Days of Christmas: If At First You Don't Succeed .. Try Again!

I have learned a lot in the last few weeks about what works and doesn't work for teaching toddlers ... at least my toddler!  I mentioned in this post, that we planned on using a wooden Advent calendar.  I loved the way my cute calendar looked, but of course he was way more interested in getting the candy than reading the verse and I didn't feel there was enough repetition for him to really "get" what we were teaching.  I decided to go "old school" and make a felt board.  I went online and printed out characters and headed to the teacher supply store to have them laminated where I found this wonderful bulletin board set that I decided to use instead.  I was able to get felt and Velcro at Wal-Mart and our felt board was done!  We have really loved using this board.  We walk through the scripture each night and move the pieces on and off the board.  I have gotten over the fact that it isn't the most beautiful holiday decoration.  This works for us this year and next year may be a totally different story when I have two different ages trying to learn.

Our story pieces

The felt board

Mary riding on a donkey with Joseph to Bethlehem.  Of course this doesn't look quite right, but a 3 year old doesn't know that!

D placing the shepherds

And Baby Jesus

I have also see a few other ideas in the blog world that I think are great and that we might use next year!  This Advent Book that Grace Full Mama shared builds on the passage in Luke each day so that by the end of the month, the kids have mostly memorized the scripture.  I also love Truth in the Tinsel.  Each day you read the Christmas story from the  Bible and make a craft or ornament together.


What have you used to teach your children this year?  Do you have ideas for teaching toddlers?  Older children?

25 Days of Christmas: The Christmas Story

I don’t think you can read the Christmas story enough during the Advent season!  I mentioned that we have many children’s books, but we have also read it straight from scripture.  If you have older children, read the accounts of Jesus’ birth from the different Gospels and then talk about what additional details are mentioned in each book.

25 Days of Christmas: Gingerbread Nativity

Pinterest strikes again and we are going to make this one a Ramsey tradition!  Instead of making a gingerbread house, we made a gingerbread nativity scene. I went the easy route and we used pre-made icing and crackers instead of gingerbread.  I love this idea because you can be as creative as you want to be!

The graham crackers were small squares so we headed to the pantry and used Wasa crackers!

Tasting the sheep. :)

Daddy's donkey turned out great!

Showing momma where Joseph goes

Our creation!

Having fun with licorice