Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Bethany's Home Sweet Home Tour...


Please welcome a very sweet blogger whom I have enjoyed reading...
The Delightful Bethany. Please be sure to leave her a
 comment here and check out her blog. Thanks!!!
*****
Hello, I'm Bethany from
 I was completely excited when Mica asked me to share my home, until I remembered that I have four children ages 6 and under and I home-school so my kids are always around and the house is very lived in. But after I realized it would be just a few weeks before Christmas, I was excited again! Hooray! Not only is it my favorite time of the year, but it's also my favorite time for my home! For me, it is so important to have visual reminders of the season as my kids go through our home... I want their little hearts to be in continual preparation for Christ. I want our home and the things in it to point our hearts toward the Lord. I want them to be reminded of the Gospel, especially at this time of the year 
when it's so easy to become distracted by material things,
 and so I have a tendency to decorate all over the place.
Our Christmas tree is kept in the vestibule. It is pretty much all glass blown ornaments  (I've been collecting them since I was in middle school and I have a pretty extensive collection)... and so I try to keep it in a place where it can be looked at from the living room while still not able
 to be touched while I'm out of the living room.
The kids don't typically hang out in the vestibule without an adult,
 so the tree is safe but accessible and always visible.

I especially love ornaments that remind me of places all over the world. As we put ornaments on the tree, we talk about the different places and people the ornaments represent and talk about how Christ came to save them all. And how in Heaven all tribes, tongues and nations will be represented... how we've been commanded to go into all the world to share Christ's saving Gospel with others. I strongly encourage you (whatever kind of ornaments) you use to talk to your kids about the Gospel while you decorate the tree... crank up the Christmas carols and talk about the lyrics... whatever prompts you to talk about Christ!

I do want my kids to have opportunity to play with the Christmas Story characters and spend time retelling the story over and over again so we have a vintage set in the vestibule. This one includes my kids ever-growing rock collection... the kids are welcome to play with this one as much as they want and it's always interesting to see how all the characters are arranged. The pieces are chalkware and do break from time to time, so I try to keep my hot glue gun in a handy place throughout Christmas.

Our Fontanini set is also in the vestibule. The first year I got it, I thought it'd be okay to let the kids play with it since the pieces are molded plastic. But the manger went missing and was terribly expensive to replace, so we stick with the other set now.

This one is a puzzle that I picked up at an estate sale... my puzzle lovers spend hours on this... either assembling or playing with the wooden figures. (Our camel has lost its legs several times but I just try to glue them back in place when I can.) It usually hangs out at this living room window where there's room to play and leave it out all the time. We also have a large stash of Christmas books we pull out and keep in this basket... we make a regular habit of reading our favorite Christmas stories...
you can see some of our favorites here.

I often find my kids curled up with a book in this corner of the living room...
 reading  their favorite Christmas books! (Okay, most of them still just look at the pictures.)

Our other creche in the living room is a "no touch." It was my Granny's and I love this sweet reminder of her as we pull it out each year. (That's my Granny as a girl in the black and white behind the creche.) It sits up on the piano to insure that my littlest ones understand that we don't play with this one.

Our dining room does not have a creche in it... yet. The pieces are hidden inside our advent calendar box and will be pulled out along the way as we read through the Christmas story from Luke.

My kids made the paper chain around our window... we kept it up all year round this past year. We used Christmas carols from old hymnals for the chain.

Our kitchen has a couple more reminders...
 the little tile on the window sill is a nativity scene.

I smile every time I see this singing creche... Jesus birth is definitely something worth singing about. Yes, the Bible tells us the angels sang... but I can just imagine the songs that came from
Mary and Joseph that evening!
Thanks for walking through my home with me... I hope that you'll be encouraged to find ways to remind your family about Christ as you decorate your home for the holidays. 
And thank you, Mica, for allowing me to be a part of your
 Home Sweet Home Tours! 

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