It’s our 8th annual Christmas Tree video! Enjoy and Merry Christmas from the Thomason family!
If you want to see all the videos from previous years, please click here.
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Tag: tradition
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A Chocolate Lamb
Rain/Snow/Sleet/Hail Today from Shay on Vimeo.
I don’t want to spend too much energy describing the weather, but it has been pretty wild the past few days. Today was no different with rain, hail, sleet, and snow all falling at different times. Again, the sun only shown through the clouds for a few minutes this evening, but mostly it’s been overcast and dreary. Bethany took the video above today of the snow and rain falling, but even tonight we had a lot of hail coming down. What’s weird is that at the Josiah Venture offices today it was mostly dry and I may saw a snowflake or two, but the weather didn’t do much. It’s amazing how much different the weather was at home versus there and they’re really not that far from each other geographically.
Tonight we enjoyed eating our “lamb cake.” I put that in quotes because I don’t know what else to call it. It’s a lamb shaped cake covered in chocolate (which you can see above). It even had two little icing dots for eyes. I did a quick Google on the subject and here’s an excerpt from one site about this Easter tradition,
Even before the days of Christianity the symbol of the lamb was widespread in Mediterranean culture, with its long pastoral tradition. For Christian churches the lamb came to symbolize the Lamb of God – Jesus Christ. In the southern Czech Sumava Mountains there used to be a tradition that blessing a lamb would help wayfarers to find their way through the forests. These days lamb is rarely eaten in the Czech Republic, but this does not mean that lamb has disappeared completely from Czech Easter celebrations. It still appears in the form of a cake.
Above is a photo of us sacrificing our lamb. It seemed appropriate during the Passion Week.
Finally, today Bethany and Avery were counting plastic eggs. This weekend we were invited to spend Easter with some other missionaries and their kids, and we’re going to combine our eggs for a little fun. Bethany said she separated the eggs by color and then Avery lined them up. I’m especially proud of our baseball eggs which you can see in the bottom of the photo.
But more than plastic eggs, Easter is coming Sunday and I’m excited to think on the cross and our resurrected Lord. I know it will be hard to not hear the sermon this week in English, but to join the saints in worship here and around the world to proclaim the gospel will be a great joy. I can’t wait!
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Traditions and an Early Christmas
Traditions are important. I haven’t done a big study on the topic or read any books, but I think one of the main reasons people like traditions is because they are a constant in the midst of a changing world. No doubt some traditions need to go, but some are ones we look forward to year after year.
Bethany grew up with the tradition of enjoying breakfast, cinnamon rolls, and reading Luke 2 all on the floor around the Christmas tree. This tradition has carried it’s way in to our family and it’s one we now enjoy. Today we celebrated our own Christmas on the floor around the tree. With traveling to the States on Christmas Eve we felt like we should just have an early Christmas of our own here in Czech before we leave. Below is the mini-feast we enjoyed today, complete with cinnamon rolls.
We didn’t tell the kids a single thing about the plans for this morning. Bethany had the big blanket laying out by the tree and Titus, “Hey, what’s this blanket doing here?” We told him to look under the tree and when they saw the all the presents they were giddy with excitement. Once the food was ready, we brought everything out and enjoyed our eggs with cheddar cheese, bacon, coffee, orange juice, and of course the cinnamon rolls. After we finished we cleared the area for present opening. I took the photo below of the kids before we started opening presents.
Below are the photos I got during present opening. Nut much explanation needed, just a lot of happy faces and excited screams.
Here’s Titus playing with his new sword and shield. We bought these at the Christmas market in Poland on Monday. He loved it!
This afternoon we did a ton of work cleaning the car and the house. We want things to be nice and tidy for when we return from the States in mid January. Bethany also worked on making chicken and dumplings which we enjoyed for dinner! While we were outside cleaning the car, our landlord came down and gave our kids a little plate of cookies and gingerbread gifts. This little house (below) she gave to Avery has incredible detail!
Titus and I had to walk to post office this afternoon as well, so I got a few photos of the amazing weather we were enjoying. The sun was shining and even though it was a little windy, it was just a nice walk.
It was a really fun day and I’m excited were able to make it happen. Tonight we reminded the kids just why we celebrate Christmas–the birth of Jesus. I look forward to celebrating it again next week with our family in the States.
I’m very excited to present the 6th annual Thomason Christmas tree video! This year’s has a special message hidden inside, so you’re going to have to stay with us until the end. We hope you enjoy it. Merry Christmas!
Want to the previous years? Here’s a link to all the videos!