Happy Birthday Jesus

To help us remember the true meaning of Christmas and also as an outreach to neighborhood kids, we hosted a Birthday Party for Jesus a couple of days ago. Andrew and I made simple, hand-written stockings out of posterboard with the party time and information, and took them to children in our neighborhood. Then we got together some games and decorated for a birthday party. I borrowed a big-picture Bible story book from church, and Brent used it to illustrate the Christmas story and talk about why God sent His son to be born in a manger and, eventually, die for our sins. We had a great time and praise God for this opportunity to minister while having fun!
The kids sing happy birthday to Jesus, each preparing to blow out one candle.
Sidney hams it up for the camera.

Brent tells the Christmas story, starting with Isaiah's prophecy of the coming Messiah. The boys were anxious to raise their hands and answer questions to get a Christmas sticker.
We played pass-the-present,where the children passed the present as the music played. When it stopped, whoever was holding it got to unwrap one layer of paper. After about 6 unwrappings, the last one holding it when the music stopped got the prize inside (I then had a similar prize for each child in a bag under the tree. It was so funny how quickly those who didn't win went from sad faces to thrilled).
Miles gets a spin from Brent before pinning his candle on the cake in this game.
Andrews gets a little help in not peeking!

After pizza, cookie cake, and games, the boys wanted to play with their prizes outside. They got bouncy balls attached to a bungie type string so they could throw the ball and it would bounce back to them. They loved this dollar store gift. :)