advent update

ida & the sugar cookie

eli & the millenium falcon christmas cookie

hot chocolate by the fireplace @ grandma and grandpas

hey this advent calendar is working! we are having some simple, fun activities that are keeping us in the christmas-y spirit! we made cookies, drank hot chocolate by the fireplace, had treats and came up with our 2011 family motto/theme. for our theme we threw a piece of paper in the middle of the kitchen table and throughout the day, everyone was able to put down thoughts or words or phrases that came to their mind. when we were finished, the page was full of really good things. as i read through it this morning, a thought/scripture immediately came to my mind that sumed up everything we had written down {i love you inspiration, thank you}. i quickly did some searching through the scriptures and this is what i found:

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God; See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires. Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated. And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace."

it is perfect. i read it to c.j., he agreed. so, there it is, our 2011 burton family theme. it feels really good and heaven sent. what will we do with this theme? we will memorize it, review it every family home evening, have it hanging in our home and strive to live it's message. this message is found in the doctrine and covenants which is equally perfect as this is the book of scripture we will be focusing on this year as well. awesome.

back to the advent, here is the list of activities we will be doing for the next week:

dec. 8. make paper snowflakes and hang them on the windows

dec. 9. watch home movies

dec. 10. watch the muppet christmas carol

dec. 11. ichat with grandma and grandpa burton

dec. 12. drive around to see christmas lights

dec. 13. make a christmas craft

tonight we are making egg nog shakes. c.j. will be whipping those up as he is a shake makin' pro.

we just finished up our 2010 christmas card. it is pretty good this year if i do say so myself. look for yours in the mail! {and if you don't think we have your current most accurate address, please send it to me ASAP.... you won't be disappointed!}