Chopsticks and Puppets

     "Out of all of our little family’s Christmas time activities our very most favorite Christmas tradition is our festive Christmas Eve. Christmas is a magical time of year, especially at our house. Our three girls Ruby (10), Hattie (8), and Mabel (7) are mesmerized by the sights, sounds, and scents of the season. I am super sentimental and LOVE to create and look back on special memories and moments. We have kept the tradition of my childhood by first beginning our evening with a dinner of takeout Chinese food. The girls and I set the table fancy with pretty napkins and chopsticks and a fork Ruby says it’s for “just in case the rice is tricky” (the girls haven’t quite mastered eating rice with chopsticks yet but still think they’re extra fancy to use).

     After dinner we gather around the Christmas tree to open one present – jammies of course! Then, in the soft light of the Christmas tree we have our favorite activity: reading and singing the Nativity Story with our hand puppets. Five years ago with the help of our mother, my older sister Emily made us these darling hand puppets. Three wise men, three shepherds, a donkey, a sheep, a star, an angel, a Joseph and a Mary holding a baby Jesus. Great care and a whole lot of love went into making each little puppet. We love and treasure them so much. We each have multiple important roles as we read through the story. There are songs to sing throughout the reading of the story and now that Ruby and Hattie are taking piano lessons it is an extra special treat to have them play the songs they know on the piano! We love this special tradition of ours.  It is a lovely way to think of that sacred silent night so long ago, just before heading off to dreamland."

-Kerri Johnson