Annual Ison Christmas FHE 2011

The first Monday of December meant it was time for our Annual Ison Christmas FHE.
That was also the day the my friend Krissi flew in to visit for the week. Yay!!! Towels and scarves were passed out to the kids, so all could participate in the reading of Luke 2. Our scriptures were running late, so Tyrel filled in with the scriptures off his phone. Technology can be awesome.

After reading the Christmas story, we sang Christmas carols and played bells.

As we ended our singing we heard the familiar jingle of bells... Santa had found us again!

Abree received "squinkies" (little animals/characters to collect and play with) from Santa.

Treyson received a headlamp flashlight.

Arielle and Kevin were also surprised by a gift in Santa's bag.

Rylee and Taylee both graduated to the "big kid" (adult) game... the white elephant gift exchange. One of the favorite gifts was Arielle's homemade bread. She wrapped it in cute kitchen towels and put them in re-usable grocery bags. There were 3 in the game and I was determined to get one. When Grandma Ison got one, no one would steal it, so then there were only 2. I was one of the lucky ones who ended up with one in the long run. Yay!

Another gift that got a lot of attention was the "Light Her Fire" and "Light His Fire" relationship cassette tapes. These have been re-occurring gifts for the last 2 years... going on 3. We've been assured that they have good material and would benefit any marriage relationship.

I originally bought them 2nd hand, thinking they might be good, but never listened to them. When the Ison FHE came up, I thought they would be the perfect white elephant gift. Will they show up next year? I'll let you know. :)

12 Days of Christmas

As a gift to my primary class this year, I gave them the 12 Days of Christmas. A fun way to count down to Christmas and remember the Savior during the season.

The original idea was to use a real nativity set and leave a new piece on the doorstep each night, along with a poem about the piece. I knew that wouldn't work for me since I have 12 kids in my class.... too much money and too much delivery time.

So I did the affordable thing. I printed off this cute nativity set onto cardstock, cut them out and put a magnet on the back (so it could be displayed on a refrigerator or magnet board.)
Then I wrapped each piece individually, with it's corresponding poem and numbered them in the order they were to be opened. I put them into a large envelope and wrapped the envelope with wrapping paper, so it felt like a "real" Christmas gift. (I secretly hoped they weren't disappointed when they opened it.)

I've had several mother reports that the kids DID like it and are enjoying opening a new piece each night. Whew. Maybe it's the mom's being nice... or maybe they really are getting into the "reason for the season".

Merry Christmas!!!

Ison Christmas FHE

The Annual Ison Christmas Family Home Evening.... a tradition that has been going well over 60 years.

Some things have changed; the location, the nativity narrator, the number of attendees, the addition of bells to our Christmas songs and the children (they just keep growing up!).

Some things have remained the same; children playing the parts of the Christmas story in Luke, the adult white elephant gift exchange, yummy food and a special visitor, with gifts, for the kids.

The kids no longer play a specific part in the Christmas story re-enactment. They're all Mary's, Joseph's, shepherds angels and wisemen. I guess the idea is less fighting that way. Usually there is only 1 Baby Jesus. This year, there was no fighting or crying about who was to hold him. Whew!

The kids getting geared up to play the parts of the Christmas story.

This year, Josh was our Luke 2 narrator.
Isn't Daisylyn the cutest Mary/Wiseman/Shepherd/Angel you've ever seen?

Santa had trouble with his sled this year. We sang and sang and kept singing waiting for him to arrive. We moved onto the adult gift exchange when we ran out of songs to sing. Finally, Santa arrived and explained that Mrs. Claus forgot to fill up the sled with gas, so he had to borrow her sled. We were just glad Santa had made it safe and sound.

Given the choice of a Santa gift or playing in the adult gift exchange, Rylee chose the Santa gift, "You usually get something you want from Santa. You may not be as lucky in the gift exchange." Smart girl.

Abree was quiet, but DID sit on Santa's lap.

Treyson bounded up onto Santa's knee. Hopefully he didn't hurt Santa.

When Santa asked what he thought his mom wanted for Christmas, Treyson replied, "Ummm, maybe a new camera???"

YES! I hope Santa was listening.

Jason and Taylee were at an award ceremony for the Reflections Art Contest. Taylee had received an "Award of Excellence" once again this year. They showed up after Santa had gone, so we saved Taylee's gift for her. (More on the contest later.)

The Ison Christmas Family Home Evening is a tradition we look forward to every year.