Learn Silent Night in ASL

My best friend taught me the signs to Silent Night several years ago and it has been special to me ever since.

To refresh my memory, I did a search on YouTube for videos. There are several versions, but this is the one closest to what my friend taught me and the signs are very clear. It only has the 1st and last verse, though.

The signs help me focus in on the beauty of the words and music.  As you become more comfortable with the signs, they can be very expressive and beautiful too.

Perhaps this could be part of a family performance on Christmas Eve?

Art Activity: Mural of Christ

We do not advertise or sell things on this site, but when I found this beautiful project for our family to make I knew I had to share it here.

It is a stunning mural of the nativity which is downloaded and printed off in about 35 pages, then pieced together and colored or painted by you. We will be creating our masterpiece as our family travels home to gather for Christmas. A great project we can all work on down to the very youngest. Kind of like doing a  puzzle together, only much more interactive and creative. The download is 5 dollars.

Happy coloring!

Shepherd's Night

Source

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night"

Plan to spend an evening with your family as though you were humble shepherds on that wondrous night when an angel of the Lord appeared with glad tidings.

Begin the evening with a hearty dinner of "Shepherd's Pie", or eat on the floor on a blanket a more humble fare as the shepherd's may have had with them such as pita bread and cheese. Spend this evening by candlelight.

Read from the scripture the part they played in the birth of Christ. Sing "As Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night". Have everyone dress as shepherds. Act out their story.

Read the prophecy from Alma 13:26 and discuss how these were not just ordinary shepherds, they were "just and holy" and prepared. How can we make ourselves just and holy? How can we prepare our hearts?

The shepherds went with haste to the Christ child. Do we seek out, are we urgent about finding things that bring us closer to Christ? What brings us closer to Him? I love that phrase "with haste".

When they had seen the babe (Luke 2:17) they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. How do we share our testimony of the Savior? Do we share our love of the Savior with our family? Do we love Him enough to try to be like Him? Do we live our testimony? How can we make "known abroad" our tender feelings about Him this Christmas season?

Make Shepherd Cane cookies. You could already have the dough ready and let each person make their own cane.

Shepherd Cane Cookies

1 C butter
1 C powdered sugar
1 egg
1 t peppermint extract
1 t vanilla extract
2 1/2 C flour
1 t salt
1/2 t red food coloring

Mix together butter, sugar, egg and extracts thoroughly. Stir in flour and salt. Divide dough in half. Blend red coloring into one half of the dough. Cover the two pieces of dough and refrigerate.

To bake:
preheat oven to 350. for each cookie, roll 1 t of dough from each half back and forth on a lightly floured surface into 4 inch rope. Place 1 red and 1 white rope side by side. Press together lightly at top and twist. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and turn down top to form the crook of the cane.

Bake 9 minutes. Watch closely as they have a tendency to brown quickly. Cool on racks.

Source

Other ideas for Shepherd Night:

For young children (or not so young "children" (I like to sing this song) sing "The Itsy Bitsy Shepherd" with actions, found by clicking on Music on the side bar to the right on this site.


Families with young children could make construction paper sheep with cotton balls glued on.

"Find the Lost Sheep" game could be played where a "sheep" hides somewhere in the house and the shepherds try to find him. The little lost sheep could cry "baa" until found.

A small lamb from a nativity set could be hidden in the room, and the children find him and then take turns hiding him again.

The children could sleep that night as shepherd's slept, on the ground. It is fun to have a night of sleeping near the Christmas tree.

There are so many lessons to be learned from those wonderful shepherds of long ago.

"And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds".

Twelve Witnesses of Christ's Birth

This article is helpful in studying the scriptural accounts of the witnesses of Christ's birth.

http://lds.org/liahona/1992/12/twelve-witnesses-of-christs-birth?lang=eng

This could also be a fun FHE with props for family members to dress up and read the scriptural testimonies of each witness. Or you could make a video of "eye witness accounts" and do it as a news show.

Some of these witnesses are often forgotten. Like Anna, after whom I'm named.  But each had an important role in testifying to the world who the Christ child was and would become.

Anna by Rembrant

FHE Nativity Game

About.com has a Family Home Evening Nativity Game complete with files to print off the cards either in color or b/w. It's Go fish game using pictures from the nativity including the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the angel, shepherds, wise-men, and more.

The Wonderous Nativity

Here is a print out published in this month's Friend magazine of a nativity scene you print, cut, and assemble.

Christ Centered Advent activites

Here are several ideas for daily activities to do as a countdown for Christmas. I write these on little pieces of paper and place one daily in our little Christmas socks that hang on the mantel. I mix in some just plain fun ideas as well. Just choose the ones that suit you and your family.
(The links included in this list will connect you with the specific post on this blog with more details for that idea)

• Make a birthday cake for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday!
• Make thank you notes to use after Christmas
• Learn a Christmas hymn to sing as a famil
• Play the wise man game
• Introduce the baby Jesus secret service in your home
• Read an uplifting Christmas classic like "A Christmas Carol" together as a family
• Make pita bread and read bread of life scripture
• Read a Christmas story from the Friend or Ensign
• Write down on paper, roll up and tie with a bow a gift you are going to give to the Savior this year
• Cut general shapes and many colored pieces of felt to make a flannel board nativity and leave it out for children to retell story
• Make simple costumes to act out the nativity story
• Act out nativity story while someone read from Bible
• Write letters and make cards to send to loved ones far away
• Make cookies together and secretly leave at someone's doorstep
• Make bread to deliver to neighbors or shut-ins with a tag that has the bread of life scripture
• Color or paint a picture of the shepherds
• Color or paint a nativity scene and hang it in your home
• Watch an uplifting Christmas dvd together
• Watch Luke 2 video while listening to "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant
• Have a "white" Christmas--attend the Temple
• Go shopping together for sub for santa or angel tree gifts
• Donate good quality used books to your public library
• Help children clean out toys and donate good used ones to charity
• Make dinner for a shut in
• Help children write a story about being there at the manger on Christmas night
• Write a note to a missionary
• Have a Bethlehem dinner
• Tell story of the miracle of loaves and fishes. Sit on blanket and eat fish sticks, or fish crackers and bread and talk about miracles Christ performed
• Have a family Christmas music night, sing together, play instruments, get kazoos so everyone can participate
• Attend a live nativity together
• Listen to Handel's Messiah and learn story behind music
• Make a Christmas advent candle, and read a Christ related scripture each night as candle burns
• Wrap meaningful and uplifting Christmas books and open one each day and read together
• Collect uplifting Christmas stories and compile in a binder to read as a family each day
• Collect or make from paper symbols of Christmas and teach children the meaning. They could draw one from a gift bag and tell how it reminds them of Christ
• Go for a night time winter walk and enjoy the beautiful stars and talk about the special star that appeared at Christ's birth
• Make star shaped sugar cookies, make a tag with scripture that tells of signs at birth of Christ and share with someone
• Make nativity Christmas cards to send
• Make handprints of children, cut out and print"I will have helping hands for Jesus"
• Determine a need and perform a service anonymously
• Forgive and make amends with someone

Christmas Music

I look forward every year to Christmas music. It is the one time of the year that I have music playing most of the time. I love the spirit of the music and the memories that come with it. Every year I add another CD to my collection.

This year I discovered Pandora. It is a commercial free internet radio that allows you to customize your "channel" to your likes and dislikes. You are able to type in the artists or songs you like and they will play music that is similar. Today I made myself a Holiday channel by typing in Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Sarah McLauchlan, Josh Groban, Amy Grant, etc and selecting their holiday version. Now all I have to do is turn up the volume on my computer and I can have a wide array of Christmas music wafting through my house.

Handel's Messiah is another all time favorite of mine. The spirit of that music is unlike any other. There is a book availible that tells the story behind Handel's Christmas music.

Teach a Christmas hymn to your family that they do not already know and sing it together in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

We have had so much fun having a special evening set aside to share Christmas music that we sing or play on different instruments. We love playing Christmas music on the bells, flute, violin, cello, harp, trumpet guitar, and piano. It is never perfect and it is a good thing that all the windows are shut so no one else can hear, but it is a lot of fun.

We have felt so blessed when a group is out caroling and comes to our door to sing a beautiful carol to us. How wonderful it would be to go and sing to someone in a nursing home or hospital.

We have some friends that have a Christmas tradition of have having families come over and gather around their piano and sing Christmas carols together and share goodies. It is a great way to share in the friendship and music of the season.

Make it a tradition to go to local Christmas concerts even if it is just supporting the highschool band.

Stockings Advent

We made an advent calendar out of small baby and child sized Christmas socks that attach to twine rope with small wooden clothes pins and hang at the fireplace. Each day the children find a small note with an idea for a Christmas activity or a small treat. Many of the ideas are just for fun, but mixed in are ideas of things to do for service for someone else, like make a Christmas card, make and deliver a treat to a neighbor, write your testimony of the Savior or draw a picture of the shepherds, etc.

Nativities

Collect nativities from around the world reminding your family that "every knee will bow and every tongue confess." Nativities representing different countries remind us that we are all God's children.

It is wonderful to have a set or two that the children in the family can touch without worry of breaking.

At the beginning of the Christmas season, purchase a nativity set to give away. Wrap each piece of the nativity in pretty paper or celephane bag and tie up with a bow. Each night for 12 nights leave a piece of the nativity at someone's doorstep, leaving the Christ child on the last night. Our children have always loved the secrecy and close calls of being found out.

It is always exciting to unpack the Christmas decorations each year. Why not make a special event of setting out the nativity and retelling the story with the figures at the beginning of the season. It only takes a little bit of time to remind our children or grandchildren the true meaning behind our Christmas celebrations. Some familiies do not set out the figure of the Christ child until Christmas eve.

Three Kings Game

We use very inexpensive figures of the wisemen (my most recent kings were from the dollar store) or you could draw or have a child draw the kings, or use 3 big fancy buttons that fell from the wisemen's cloaks.

Each night before bedtime, or after the kitchen is cleaned up from dinner etc., have someone in the family hide the 3 wisemen. We start in a room in the house that is farthest away from the nativity set. The wisemen are hidden, the children find them and that is all there is to it, but for some reason children love doing this. The next night someone else hides them and they are moved a little bit closer to the nativity, eventually going through most of the rooms in the house until on Christmas they finally find the Christ child.