Merry Christmas! We finished our Jesse tree today with the star on the top of the tree to represent Jesus! The girls really enjoyed making ornaments this month for each day of Advent and we plan on doing the Jesse tree every Christmas season!
 |
| James did an awesome job building the tree |
 |
| I put signs above each ornament to remind the girls(and me) what each ornament symbolized. |
 |
Hope your day is filled with the light of the Savior!
 |
| Christmas Eve 2010 |
Almost every Christmas for the past 9 years, my dad, Dr. Rick Erickson, has been presenting the “Star of Bethlehem” to thousands in Texas. He finally has put it on the web so everyone can watch it! It is so fascinating and really will blow your mind. How can you NOT believe in God after watching this is my question?!? Like did you know God tells the story of Jesus’ birth and death in the constellations? If you have a spare 2 hours, I would totally recommend watching this (first hour) and this (last hour) on your computer! And I’m not just saying this because he’s my dad!
Here is a little article on him from the past:
“Dr. Richard Erickson, Professor of Medicine at Texas A & M Health Science Center and Director of the Division of Gastroenterology at Scott and White hospital Temple, will present his multi-media program The Star of Bethlehem at the Central Texas College Planetarium this coming Tuesday evening, November 25, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Dr. Erickson, who is an elder of the Temple Bible Church, is an amateur astronomer and loves both the physical and biological sciences. He is especially interested in teaching topics which help people to “reconcile” science and the Bible. He was naturally drawn to the subject of the star of Bethlehem when his daughter (THAT’S ME!) invited him to a presentation on it at College Station five years ago. He has been researching and teaching on this topic ever since then, and each year his presentation incorporates more of his findings.”
 |
| I’m going to have James build me a Jesse tree like thisone to put in our living room. |
Every year before Christmas, since having a family, I try to find more ways in which we can incorporate keeping Jesus at the center of our celebration. This year, God really spoke to me about the Jesse tree after seeing it online. I am studying Isaiah right now in Bible Study Fellowship and we literally just read and studied Isaiah 11:1, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” I love the explanation this one website says for the Jesse Tree.
“So what do we need to do to honor God on this day (Christmas) as well as the season? Why did we, and still to this day, need this child to be born? Why was it so important for God’s Word to become flesh? The answers to these questions are woven through the Old Testament in God’s promises, prophecies and miracles. Focusing on these and working on a better understanding will greatly enhance your Christmas season and hopefully help you to abandon some of the materialistic traditions that are dragging you down. Traditions like Advent wreaths and Advent calendars don’t necessarily focus on why the birth of Christ was, and still is, so important. The Jesse Tree is a way to help children and adults get a better understanding of what and why we are celebrating. Jesse was the father of King David. The idea of the Jesse Tree comes from Isaiah 11:1-9, where God promises a discouraged nation that the glory they remember from David’s time will come again. They will have another king from Jesse’s family, in whose reign the whole earth will know God. As a Christian, we see that promise fulfilled in Jesus, and so we use a Jesse Tree and decorate it with reminders of how God prepared the world for that kingdom.” www.jesse-tree.com
I found this website from the Reformed Church in America that has devotionals for every day this Advent season with scripture (they start November 28th) and how to make the symbols/ornaments for the tree, (and if you don’t feel like making the ornaments, you can download and print the symbols they have online for free!) Click here to see the symbols and scripture passages for each day. Click here to print the symbols out. Click here for devotions every day for the Jesse Tree.
I’m really excited to start this Christmas tradition with my family and will post the picture of our completed tree after Christmas! My goal is that each day we make the ornament together, (they post how to do that here), then read the short family devotion that goes with it.
Our girls woke us up looking like this:
 |
 |
| I love that Ella has this face before she evens seeswhat the gift is! |
 |
| We let Asher sleep in-much easier that way! |
 |
| Daddy is so proud explaining how the ipod shuffle works to his daughters!He is raising them to be music lovers like he is! |
 |
| Only my girls would be this excited over desk chairs! (Granted, they do have wheels!) |
 |
| The big reveal: their own art desk in the kitchen(for now)! |
 |
| Asher wakes up and sits on his present |
 |
| Daddy blows it up and Asher loves his new ball pit! |
We started a new tradition last year which was to eat birthday cake for breakfast on Chrismas morning for Jesus! Last year’s cake was okay, but this year, I wanted to try even harder for more ‘meaning’. After searching the internet, I came up with this creation:
 |
| couldn’t be a party without party horns! |
 |
| blow out the candles! |
 |
| Three layers of yummyness! |
1st layer of cake = is brown for our sins.
2nd layer = is red for Jesus’ blood shed for our sins.
3rd layer = is green for life (ours if we confess with our mouth and believe with our heart that Jesus Christ is our Lord.)
Frosting is white = stands for Jesus’ purity & righteousness.
Gold Star in middle of cake top = star of Bethlehem = led wise men to Jesus. Star is 6 pointed =Star of David = Jewish nation in which Jesus is born.
Big Red candle in middle of star of David is Jesus.
We lit the red candle in the middle. Then each of us took our small candles and lit them from Jesus’ candle & carefully stuck in the cake. Let our lights shine before men! Then we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus!!
Because Rilyn started kindergarten this year, we thought it would be appropriate to do a ‘family report card’ in lieu of a traditional letter. Enjoy!
 |
| the front and the back |
 |
| the inside |
 |
| our Christmas picture 2009 |
Christmas morning started out with presents. We decided to start the tradition of 3 presents to each child like the wise men gave to Jesus. One present is a need, one is a want, and one is a gift for spiritual growth. Rilyn’s want was a bike this year and Ella’s was a microphone! (We are taking advantage of Asher not knowing what is going on so he didn’t get presents from us this year.)
 |
| Ella Montana? From Christmas Day 2008 |
 |
| Rilyn rounding the corner and seeing her bike under the tree!! From Christmas Day 2008 |
Then we had a birthday cake for Jesus for breakfast!
 |
| From Christmas Day 2008 |
James surprised me with my very own laptop! I’ve never had my own laptop so this is a pretty big deal for me! After presents, we drove to my parents house. Asher celebrated his first Christmas this year. He, unfortunately, slept through Christmas at our house (morning nap)and my parent’s house(afternoon nap). But I still commemorated the event with pictures after he woke up.
 |
| From Christmas Day 2008 |
After we all opened our presents under the tree at my parents house, my parents surprised us…
 |
| From Christmas Day 2008 |
In late spring, my parents are taking the whole family to California for a 5 day vacation!!! For those who don’t know, I was raised in southern California for 16 years. It has always been my dream since Rilyn was born to take my family to Disneyland and show my children where I grew up! I am beyond excited!!!!!
More pics from Christmas:
 |
| From Christmas Day 2008 |
Ella got a Sleeping Beauty wig from Asher!
 |
| From Christmas Day 2008 |
sisters sharing crooked smiles
 |
| From Christmas Day 2008 |
 |
| From Christmas Day 2008 |
We just got back from Christmas #1 with James’ parents in Fort Worth. We had a great time!! But, there is really nothing like coming back to your home-especially when your husband forgot to turn the heater on before you left for 5 days so your house is at a very comfortable 62 degrees. After I thawed out, I downloaded a couple of cute pics from our trip before I have to start wrapping Christmas presents for Christmas #2 (our family)and #3(my family)…Merry Christmas!!
 |
| From December 2008 |
You must look stylish while driving around in Dallas/Fort Worth.
 |
| From December 2008 |
Asher agrees.
 |
| From December 2008 |
According to Paquette family tradition, it is customary to make your son try the lemon in your water several times while laughing as he makes pitiful faces.
 |
| From December 2008 |
Here is Rilyn showing us a good time at the bowling alley. Woohoo!
 |
| From December 2008 |
Wrapping paper-it’s whats for dinner.
Apparently he is actually quite boring to some, but to babies he is quite interesting…(what is that white curly thing?)
 |
| From December 2008 |
Some just think he is sweet.
 |
| From December 2008 |
Today’s Santa meet and greet was really quite uneventful. Asher was a pro and Ella acted like she sits on big men who wear red suits and have long, white, curly beard’s laps all the time. Yawn. Rilyn told Santa she wanted a pink dress and Ella looked at him blankly when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas as if she was thinking, “You don’t buy me presents, grandma does, so why are you asking?” Here are some more pics to document the magical 5 minutes.
 |
| From December 2008 |
 |
| From December 2008 |
 |
| apparently it was bright in the room From December 2008 |
 |
| From December 2008 |
 |
| What do you want from Santa this year? From December 2008 |
Today I hosted the 2nd annual Austin Stone Community Church neighborhood Christmas party. Last year, we had 7 kids (4 families) in our neighborhood that went to the Stone. It was so manageable that we could take a picture like this:
 |
| Halle, Cole, Rilyn, Ellie, Ella, Malachi, and Anna From December 2007 |
This year, however, we had 21 kids(from 9 families)!!! And yes, we all live within 5 minutes walking distance from each other and we all go to The Austin Stone. Crazy, I know. I guess we could be considered a commune of sorts. Anyway, we had a great party! We had lunch, crafts, decorated cookies, heard the Christmas story, and had a book exchange. Sadly, we could not get all 21 kids into one shot this year so this is the best I got of the Christmas party chaos.
 |
| Christmas book exchange game From December 2008 |
Amidst all of this fun(remember 21 children) there was, however, one casualty at my house. (Warning! This picture is graphic.)
 |
| From December 2008 |
