Last year our church Christmas Party was "A night in Bethlehem". We dressed up and received "coins" at the door with which we bought food that could be eaten with our hands. There was also a nice program and it inspired us this year.....
to have our own Bethlehem dinner. We haven't had a traditional meal for Christmas Eve in the past. Mark and I were discussing our holiday menu and decided to try this out. The kids LOVE to eat on the floor. We have had many a carpet picnic during school holidays so I knew this would go over in a big way. We didn't really go for authenticity. We took a jar of Ranch dip and wrote "Hummus" on a piece of paper and taped it over the real label. It was enough this year to "introduce" them to the idea of Hummus. It did get them asking questions however..... Questions like "what's Hummus?"
Maybe next year we'll dress up or get some real Hummus to place next to the Ranch dip. Maybe I'll learn to make authentic middle Eastern Flatbread! Maybe not.....
This year our menu was:
French Bread, grapes, kiwi, cheese cubes (because you know.... everything's better with cheese, even dinner in Bethlehem)
carrot sticks, broccoli, Ranch dip, marinated, grilled chicken. We did have a spoon in the dip and a knife in the butter but we ripped our bread and used our hands with everything else.
We had 4 fun little wooden bowls I got in Hawaii when I went to school there and the kids thought they were pretty cool & Bethlehemish so I'll probably be on the look-out through the year for more old looking and/or wooden dishes since we plan to do this every year. After dinner we watched the little Luke 2 movie while we played the Amy Grant song "Breath of Heaven". The song seems to match what's happening perfectly.
Mark read the Christmas Story from the Bible.
We talked about our service star and unveiled our new star ornament.
We opened our 1 Christmas Eve present and watched "It's a wonderful Life".
After the movie started Jacob came to me and asked "Is there a pill or something I could take that would help me go to sleep" He was so wound up and anxious for Christmas to come he could hardly stand it. He decided not to watch the movie but to just go to sleep based on the principle that once he closed his eyes the next time he opened them it would be Christmas. He went to sleep way before the other kids.
The next time his eyes opened it was 12:30 am. I had been in bed approx. 3o minutes when I heard Mark groan and say "I can hear Jacob talking to someone downstairs about darts... did he get darts????" I heard him thunder up and down the stairs a couple times and then got up to scare him back to bed. He had woken up Samantha to go see What Santa had left them. I told them they needed to get back to bed. They did. An hour later as I was once again JUST drifting off to sleep I heard him running down the stairs again. When I was his age I'm sure I knew how to sneak down the stairs better than that. He doesn't sneak... He thunders! Mark shoo'd him back to bed this time.
Mark and I lay there tossing and turning. Neither of us could get back to sleep so we gave up and got up and went downstairs to see what we had on Tivo. We watched some TV and finally were sleepy again at 4am.
Note to self: Put Sleeping pills for Jacob on top of Christmas prep list for 2009!
We got up "for reals" at 7am. We couldn't hold off the masses any longer. More about Christmas day next time.........................
9 comments:
Hmmm, we found a jar with a Hummis label in our refrigerator and asked each other what it was; but neither of us knew. Still don't know what Hummis is...but it's nice to know it's a Boca label. Loved the pictures.
I love that you guys are going to do the dinner every year! It's such a good way to put yourself in Jesus' shoes. :)
I love reading your blog. You describe everything in detail. Sometimes I wish I could be a kid and be a part of your family. Ha Ha! You do such fun things with your family and your kids will remember them always. Love your family.
yeah... we brought it with our leftover carrot sticks and broccoli. sorry we left it in your fridge. Guess we DID leave more than handprints and dirty sheets.
That sounds great!! I think Ranch Dip Hummus has to be better than real hummus. I mean, why bother buying something nobody will eat? :)
As for sleeping pills. I'm quite the expert on that one!! The kids can take Melatonin. Marshall takes that (among other things) to get him to fall asleep at night. There's no guarantee on how long it will make them sleep...just that it will make them FALL asleep.
aprilynn,
I think I need one that will make him STAY asleep! and I think I'm with you on the hummus! ;)
mom: hummus is a dip/spread made with smashed chickpeas (aren't those garbanzo beans) and garlic and lemon juice I think. I've seen it written down a time or two. Is your mouth watering yet?
Benadryl!
Ahh! of course! Benadryl! legal. Safe.
sleep.
That sounds like so much fun!!!! You guys do the best things. We loved coming to visit with you guys. There is nothing better than good friends at Christmas time.
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