Countdown to Christmas

It's that time of year again. Time for our advent calendar/countdown to Christmas. Last year it worked so well focusing our countdown on family scripture study about the Savior's birth. It was so nice to put so much more focus on Christ (the real meaning of Christmas) the whole month of December that we didn't feel guilty about enjoying the Santa parts and presents on Christmas morning. Those weren't the emphasis that season.
That month of daily scripture study and discussion got us in a good habit that has continued and we have done so well with these daily gospel discussions for all of 2011 so far. And here we are in December. Hooray.

We let the kids know that we would be doing the advent calendar with the M&Ms again this year. Nichole let us know that she didn't want a certain color M&M because it tasted different than the others. We assured her they were all mint M&Ms and tasted the same. But you know how kids are. So to kick off our countdown, last night for Family Home Evening, we had a taste test to see if there was a difference in taste.
One at a time as we (Nichole, Jr., and I) closed our eyes, Jeremy put a mint M&M in our mouth. We wrote down what color we thought it was and what it tasted like.

Needless to say, they all tasted the same.

We decided to get the kids up earlier than usual in the mornings so we can do scripture study before Nichole goes to school. That way we will make sure everyone is there and no parent misses it as sometimes happens later in the day. This morning- no grumbling from the kids. Have I mentioned how awesome they are?

Scripture study went well and I believe it was a great start to our day.

I am excited that this year, Christmas Day is a Sunday. That will again give us a good start to our day. I do wonder how hard it will be getting out the door early to church, though. Oh well. We'll find out.
Happy Holidays, everyone.