Christmas Quiz

Here is the quiz LeRoy had found. Try it (preferably without using your Bible) and see how much you really know.

1. The name of the mother of Jesus was:
Martha
Mary
Eve
Deborah

2. Jesus was born in what town?
Jerusalem
Nazareth
Bethlehem
New York

3. Joseph was a :
Carpenter
Doctor
Engineer
Fisherman

4. Why didn't Joseph and Mary stay at the inn?
It was too expensive
There was no inn
There was no room
None of the above

5. How did Joseph and Mary get to Bethlehem?
Colt
Mary rode a donkey and Joseph walked
wagon
Who knows?

6. After being born, Jesus was placed in a:
Basket
Manger
Pile of hay
On the back of a donkey

7. A manger is a:
stable
feeding trough
wooden table
barn

8. Which animals does the Bible say were housed in the stable?
cows, donkeys, sheep
lions, tigers, and bears
goats, sheep and cows
The Bible doesn't say

9. From what area were the three kings that visited Jesus?
the west
the east
the orient
none of the above

10. What sign were the shepherds told to look for by the angel?
a lion and a sheep together in peace
a tree with a star on top
a star over Bethlehem
none of the above

11. With what words did the heavenly host of angels praise God?
"Joy to the World, the Lord is Come"
"Glory, Glory, Hallelujah"
"King of Kings and Lord of Lords"
"Glory to God in the highest"

12. What is frankincense?
a form of gold
an incense from a tree
a jewel
none of the above

13. What is myrrh?
a musical instrument
a spice used for burial
a valuable wine
none of the above

14. How many wise men came to see Jesus?
One
Two
Three
The Bible doesn't say

15. What does "wise men" most likely refer to?
lawyers
star gazers
priests
doctors

16. The wise men met Jesus in a:
manger
castle
stable
house

17. Who told Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem?
an angel
Caesar Augustus
Herod
No one told them to go

18. The child Jesus went to Egypt:
to meet pharaoh
because Joseph was told in a dream to take him
Joseph did not take Jesus to Egypt
none of the above

19. According to the Bible, the little drummer boy met Jesus:
when Jesus was in the manger
at a house
When Jesus was about 2 years old
none of the above

20. In which books do we find the story of Jesus' birth?
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John

21. December 25th has been celebrated as Christmas since the Bible was written.
True
False


So now hear are the answers.

1. Mary Matthew 1:18 "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary..."
2. Bethlehem Matthew 2:1 "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea..."
3. Carpenter Matthew 13:55 "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary...."
4. There was no room. Luke 2:7 "...because there was no room for them in the inn."
5. Who knows? The Bible doesn't say. Some suppose that she rode something since she was so far along in her pregnancy.
6. Manger Luke 2:7 "...and laid him in a manger;..."
7. Feeding Trough It comes from a Greek word that means "to eat".
8. The Bible doesn't say.
9. None of the above. The Bible only talks about the wise(magi) coming to see Jesus. The Bible never describes them as kings. It's just the song that says "We three kings of orient are". Matthew 2:1 "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem."
10. None of the above Luke 2:12 "And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."
11. Glory to God.... Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Most of these other songs were written long after Christ died.
12. A valuable incense made from the sap of a tree.
13. A valuable spice sometimes used in burials.
14. No one knows, but more than one. Some suppose that there were three since there were three gifts, but that is just a guess. Matthew 2:1 "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem."
15. Star Gazers. Star gazers could often navigate, predict the times for best planting, knew math, astronomy, and calendar systems. They were very important in agricultural societies.
16. House Matthew 2:11 "And when they were come into the house, they saw the youth child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had oped their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
17. Caesar Augustus Luke 2:1,4 "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem."
18. Joseph was told in a dream to do it. Matthew 2:13 "And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him."
19. None of the above. The story of a drummer boy meeting Jesus is not in the Bible.
20. Matthew and Luke only. Mark and John do not talk about the birth of Jesus.
21. False. Although the Bible talks about the birth of Jesus, it never uses the word Christmas. As best as we know, the earliest Christians didn't even celebrate Christmas. Later, several different dates were observed by Christians but it wasn't until about the 4th century that December 25th became the common day of celebration. The fact is that no one really knows when Jesus was born.

So, how did you score?

6 More Days

Yes I count down till Christmas. This year surprisingly I only started a week ago. It's my favorite time of year so why not count down. I just finished a batch of Peppernuts (no clue how to spell it how we actually pronounce it), and some of our presents have already left our house to slowly make themselves over to Alberta. This is the first year we needed to find a way to get our presents to family, without using the postal service. Thankfully we have friends going to visit family close to where LeRoy's family is, so they were willing to swap gifts for us. So when they come back beginning of January, we'll have another Christmas to open gifts from LeRoy's side. I wish we could be there to see them when they open the gifts from us though, maybe we can at least be on the phone when they open them.

Every year we read the Christmas story, and seem to continually be reminding how God sent Jesus as a baby. Leroy found a quiz this year he used in his Sunday School class, to see how much we actually know of the Biblical version of the Christmas story. It's very surprising to find out how much of what we think is in the story, actually isn't. I'll have to ask him where that quiz is and post it on here. It's definitely a discussion starter.

10 Days to Go

Till Christmas that is. Can you believe it is almost here? We just finished wrapping the last present, and it is under the tree. Brooklyn is actually leaving the presents alone, but is excited to hold them. Haven't had to re wrap one yet. It's bound to happen at some point I am sure though. LeRoy is counting down the days till he is done work, 5 to go. His shop actually closes down for Christmas till after the New Year, so he has a week and a half off. We're very excited for that of course, but it will feel different that we'll be home that whole time. Usually if we have that much time we head off to Alberta to visit his family, or have them over, but not this year. Me being almost 8 months pregnant has something to do with that. But thankfully we will see his family in February when baby is born.

Last night we had a Christmas party with some friends, without the kids. We drove through Winter Wonderland (it's a Christmas light show just outside of the city. Thousands of lights.) Afterwards we went to Olive Garden to enjoy a late supper. I think we starting eating at 9:30. It was so much fun to be out late and feel young again. I know we're not that old at all, but with a kid it sure feels like we're old, when we're ready for bed by 10. It was nice that we didn't have Brooklyn all night too, could actually relax when we got up this morning and enjoy a bit of shopping without her.

Well it's time to play some Personal Preference. Hope you are all just as excited as we are for this Christmas season.

Frustrating

So we are supposed to be getting our water heater replaced, and it was supposed to happen on Monday. We haven't heard anything yet this week. Hydro gave us till today for something to happen, and even called this morning. Hopefully they will give us a few days grace and we'll hear something soon. I'm getting quite frustrated with just waiting around for a phone call, trying not to plan much in case they might come.

Some Rambling

Today is another day when LeRoy is needing to work aaaaaaaaaaalllllllllll day. He is working on a bathroom vanity, and laundry unit for friends of ours. It will be nice when he is finished (hopefully next week he can install it), and have him home a bit more again. He's had to work a few evenings and a Saturday in the last couple weeks, and he does it to help out our growing family. So who knows when he'll be home tonight, he's hoping to finish it, so it could be a really late night.

Yesterday morning I had been up a bit and was making a few phonecalls. Brooklyn was still in bed, but I had opened her door so she knew she could get up if she wanted to. I had heard her talking so I told her she could get up and come downstairs. I've done this a few times but she always waits for me to go get her, so I expected the same thing this morning. While I was on the phone, all of a sudden, there was Brooklyn standing in our living room, just smiling at me. It was so weird to see her up, and I didn't have to carry her down. Just one more way in which she isn't much baby anymore. Oh, and a new thing she says is when someone sneezes or coughs, "bless me". Or that's what it sounds like anyway.

Yesterday we put up our Christmas decorations, and decorated our tree, so now it really feels like Christmas. We thought of making our gingerbread house tomorrow, but we may wait a bit yet for that. Less time for Brooklyn to get into it before we actually eat it. Better go wake that girl up now, she's been sleeping over 3 hours. I guess that's what immunizations can do to a kid.

Ultrasound Pics

We finally received our ultrasound pictures in the mail, but are a little dissapointed. There aren't any clear pics of the face or much else. But I have put a few pics of feet and hands on our picture site, so for those of you who are interested you can go there to view them. We also got a video that shows the heart pumping that I am posting down below. Baby's chin is on the very left of the picture, it's spine is on the lower part of the picture (the white line), a hand is moving between it's chin and heart, and the heart should be pretty obvious. It's the pumping type movement. Hope that can make enough sense to enjoy.




I realized that our poll is over and it seems most people who voted think we are having a boy. 19 people voted, and 12 think it will be a boy opposed to 7 who think a girl. Actually 18 people voted, my dad says we're having one of each. Thankfully the ultrasound showed otherwise.