Advent 2015

Last year my mother in law gifted us an Advent calendar and a box of prepared activities for the Christmas season. This year I wanted to do similar things but I know myself well enough to now that if I don't have it planned out in advance, it won't happen. Here's what we plan to do. I also know that there will be days that we miss, skip, or re-arrange. (Grace, people!) Feel free to use parts or all of this as it suits you. A few of the activities were left over from what we skipped/didn't get to last year. Many come from this blog  written by a friend of a friend, although we will only use the countries/cultures that have current meaning to our family.


 

Judd Advent Activities 2015

Date	Devotional	Fun	For others
1 Tuesday	TCM: Israel/Jerusalem	Advent party	Invite a friend
2 Wed		Hang stockings	Make/decorate a stocking to give away
3 Thurs		Make ornaments (photo below	Give some away
4 Fri		New puzzle	Hug in the mail (photo below)
5 Sat		Movement cards	Make a set to give away
6 Sun	WGWFC 1
7	WGWFC 2	Make Cookies	Share with neighbors
8	WGWFC 3	Bird feeder
9	WGWFC 4	Spiced dough ornaments (Photo below)
10	WGWFC 5	Make Cider
11	WGWFC 6	Take family photos
12	WGWFC 7	Ride yao yao che	Leave money for next child
13 Sun	Germany (Dec6)	Play packs	Invite German friend for dinner
14	India (Dec 2)	Indian food	Pray for M&A family
15		Play dough	Make some for schoolgirls
16	Nepal B’s and D	Give new stamps	Make cards for neighbors
17	Mongolia	Talk about our giving to developmental center
18	Prepare manger scene	Learn character’s names in Chinese	Tell the story to the school girls
19		Paint nails
20  Sun	France Dec 20 Tyson
21		Make cards	Give cards to service people (water man, dry cleaners, Qimuge, Wuye)
22	Ecuador Dec 22		Call Jeremiah
23	USA Dec 23		Call relatives/friends
24			Apples for neighbors
25	CHRISTMAS!

Most activities have links that provide attribution to the original author. For the photos above, they were given to me by mother in law. If you are the owner/author of these documents, please contact me and I will happily give you proper attribution.

Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Thanksgiving from the Judds
 (Yes, this is the best photo we took)

Here's our Thanksgiving recap:

some of our guests

more of our guests

• 28 guests spread over 2 celebrations representing 6 countries (tonight, the day after we can add one more guest and one more country)
• 2 water outages, the day before and day after Thanksgiving (made prep and clean up quite interesting, but THANKFUL we had water Thanksgiving Day).
• consumed: more than one pound of butter, 2 kg cream cheese, 5+ chickens, 20+ green chilis, 3 packages of bacon, 2 kg flour, 2 large pumpkins, 10 USD worth of walnuts, 3 dozen or so eggs, plus carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, red peppers, celery, fruit, and someone brought a dish of spicy chicken feet to our second celebration. (I just sent them home with our house helper :)) 








Catherine made this banner with help from me. She did most of the cutting and traced the letters. 



proud mom :)

This was the only turkey we had. I like turkey, but not enough to pay $60-75 for one.

We had chicken instead. The guys arranged it on the platter, as you may have guessed.

part of the spread

more of the spread

brought by friends: some kind of sausage/ham, dried fish, and pineapples 

What we're thankful for this year:

• Our return to China: although we always miss family and friends this tie of the year, we are thankful to be back on this side of the world after an extended time in the US last year.
  
• Aibigail Joy was added to our family....and she has truly been a joy! As babies go, she's fantastic!
  
• our time in Chengdu before and after Aibgail's birth. It was so great to reconnect with some of Jill's friends from college and the girls had so many friends to play with everyday.
  
• We're also so thankful Mary Caye was able to join us both in Chengdu and in our home city. We're thankful Delton could visit our home for a bit too.
  
• Business registration complete! It took most of the year and having it complete is a huge weight off our shoulders. We are especially thankful for new people to influence for the Kingdom through the business.
  
• Catherine and Ann growing in their love for one another as sisters.
  
• our current home. The place we've been living since March is by far the best place we've lived in China. It's not without its frustrations and inconveniences, but the space, the heating we control ourselves, the fact that no one lives below us, and the comfort make us so grateful for His provision for us.