15.12.11

Day 116: Larger than Life

Remember back in the day when Backstreet Boys came out with that awesome song "Larger than Life"? Because I do. It changed the face of boy bands forever. Let's review some of the lyrics:

I may run and hide when you're screaming my name, alright
but let me tell you now there are prices to fame, alright
all of your time spent in flashes of light

All you people, can't you see, can't you see
How your love's affecting our reality
Every time we're down, you can make it right
and that makes you larger than life.

That was absolutely NOT related to my thoughts whatsoever. Except for the Larger than Life part. I feel larger than life. I cannot even tell you how strange my body feels. I feel like I am going to explode or something. Also, I can't fit into any of my clothes except for leggings and about 3 tops. (Maternity, not other clothes, obviously.) AND this baby isn't coming any time soon as far as I can tell. I have a countdown on my computer that calculates how long it will be until baby comes (assuming he comes on his due date) and it was slightly refreshing to see that there are only 19 days left. NINETEEN DAYS! Those might be the longest 19 days of my life, but being under 20 is really a big deal.

Since we last spoke, I've been running around like crazy. Even though we are new here, or maybe BECAUSE we are new here,  I've been asked to do any number of things, and I decided it was a good idea to say yes to all of them. Since I said yes to the majority of them quite a while ago, it was before I realized that I might not feel up to doing so much when I am so pregnant. 

So, right after Thanksgiving I spent a week and a half living at our church building. Each year they do what is called a creche exhibit, and I helped with the Children's Room.  (Creche = Nativity) It really turned out so wonderfully and we had so much help putting it all together, I could never thank everyone enough! My two main projects were a huge map of the world from which children could pull cards out of pockets and learn about the Christmas traditions in those countries, and a holy family made of chicken wire then covered in burlap. 


(pre-burlap family)
 

The entire room was pretty magical. There was a great display of nativities that the children in one of the primaries had made with their picture and a little bio by each one.




There was an I Spy game with stuffed animals that had been hidden in the awesome paper trees around the room:




And there was a dress-up area with a mirror wall.  All the kids loved it. Even the older ones.

the fact that the family is framed so perfectly in that mirror may almost have been an accident...

The other really neat thing that was done was a wall/trees where kids could hang up cards on which they had written their "gifts to Jesus".  It was based on the idea that we can give Christ something in return through our service, our love, etc.  It looked SPECTACULAR with so many cards on it! And I brought most of the cards home to decorate our own barren Christmas tree. 








I  had a lot of fun reading through what some of the children wrote down as their gifts. There was a lot of "I will give Jesus my love" and a lot of really colorful drawings. But a few choice cards really struck my fancy.

 I loved this book.  It was 4 pages long and about Cats. In Space.


I was really grateful for the clarification written by the mothers on a few cards


 The last clarification leads perfectly into my favorite nativities offered by the artists of the group
The next two are the same card, front and back, by the poet:
A few gifts were a little more practical:


A few maybe a little ambitious....


Although I think this kid had the right idea:

 And then there were a few that were completely unrelated:






But my VERY VERY FAVORITE OF ALL was this one:


 Because who DOESN'T want that?

The point is, the exhibit was successful! And then after 5 days and 12,000+ visitors, we tore it all down in a matter of hours. Now it is on to the next! I'm working on things for the Christmas party we are having this Saturday.  One of the things I'm in charge of is a service activity we are doing.  We are making little signs/decorations that people in nursing homes can put up in their rooms and have of their own for the holidays. Naturally, that means I got completely distracted while trying to make examples for the tables where people will be working on the signs.  The idea was that they can just use markers, glue, and strips of paper to make things.  I thought it would be a great idea to try and draw a few things as well so people don't have to deal with the glue and paper strips if they don't want to... and this amazing Christmas card happened:



I don't think it will be on display as an example of something to make for the nursing home... but when all is said and done, it will be going in my bag of tricks to perfect for the day I start selling cards on Etsy or somewhere.

Well, that was the perfect card to ring in the Christmas spirit! And now I'm going to go look at more baby names... bane of my current existence: thinking of baby names and being pregnant. I wish this guy would just get here so I can enjoy myself more. (kidding...kind of)



7 comments:

naomi said...

Ok, you are ridiculous. Your baby may appear any second and yet somehow you manage to pull off something like that.
Also, I love that there's a shotgun aimed at bambi. and cats in space. Love cats in space.

Meggara said...

hahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahah

that is what i did throughout this entire post. oh my gosh from the four page long book about cats to the "i wei giv gesis a cat" i had my hand over my mouth as i kept bursting out in laughter. this is perhaps your/their best work.

(and ps on a serious note - all that decor looks WAY good. you and your stake ladies did a very good job! you are so talented!)

Josie said...

Because I am a pinning fool, I might just pin everything on here. You have been warned. I loved those cards.

Melanie said...

I loved all the pictures of the creche exhibit. How awesome that there were so many visitors!! And I loved reading the kids gifts to Jesus. I am taking that idea for our upcoming FHE. I am sure we will have a huge range of responses...Christian's usually always takes the cake!

Great card, by the way! And good luck figuring out a name for your little boy!

Unknown said...

Priceless! (please read in a singing voice because that's how it happened in my own head.)

Rachael said...

Oh my gosh! I LOVE THE KIDS CARDs!!!!! (Sorry I didn't realize it was on caps lock.) And I love your card. Haha. And you. And I miss your face.

gini said...

You are TOO cute! I cannot believe you did that being 9 months pregnant. you are quite remarkable. I love you! I can't believe you are having a baby so soon! i'm glad you're doing it before me so you can tell me all about it. :)

love you.
and miss you.