Fruitcake

Darth Vader seems most displeased with Jingle Bell's apparent lack of ... something.  Not sure, but we all know it isn't wise to tick off the Dark Lord of the Sith.  This  morning's clue was for Madison to go check out a place that sometimes has flames and is as hot as Mustafar, so the fireplace was the place to check out.

It was a Wednesday night service night, and we had fun at church talking about fruitcake.  Literally.  We had fruitcakes in the classroom, and we were giving everyone an opportunity to try out some fruit cake if they wanted to at the end of the class.  Surprisingly, just about everyone tried it.  Also not surprisingly, I believe only two kids in the classroom actually liked the stuff.

We did a quick skit in the classroom, and rather that explain this short presentation, I think I'll copy-and-paste it below.

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KidPak Adventures: Christmas

Fruitcake

CUE SLIDE:  "CHRISTMAS”

HOST:  “There are some gifts that people want each year, like a bicycle, or a video game, or even a ______________   _______________.”

HOST:  “Yes, there are all kinds of gifts.  But there’s one that’s been given, year after year.  It’s a fruitcake.”

HOST holds up fruitcake for all to see.

HOST:  “One hundred years ago, this was a very popular gift idea.  More popular than even giving someone a ticket to __________________.”

HOST:  “And yet somewhere along the line, this great idea turned bad.  For one thing, some people started making bad fruitcakes.  They tasted like _____________ _____________.”

HOST: “True story.”

HOST:  “To make matters worse, there was a celebrity named ________________ .  This person made fun of fruitcakes.”

HOST:  “This person said no one wants a fruitcake.  And it was true.  You get one, and then you put it on your shelf in your closet, and then give it to someone else the next year.  For all we know, some of these fruitcakes are over ____________ years old!”

HOST:  “Then he complained how hard and tough these fruitcakes were.  He had someone drive over the fruitcake with a ______________.”

HOST:  “Then he put the fruitcake in a building with ____________ sticks of dynamite, and blew it up.”

HOST sighs, and holds up fruitcake.

HOST:  “This fruitcake was indestructible.  So people saw that, laughed at it, and the reputation of the fruitcake grew:  no one wanted to eat that.  They’d rather eat a ______________  _____________!”

HOST:  “The night before Christmas, this was something that nobody wanted at all. People give excuses, and people ____________ away.  There’s no room for the gift of a fruitcake.”

HOST:  “Now let’s go back 2019 years or so, to another night before Christmas.  It was another night where nobody had room for a certain gift.”

HOST:  “Some time ago, two very poor people were forced by the government to go to a certain town.  This was so they would have to pay taxes.  It was a long journey for them, especially because one of them was about to give birth to a child.  Who were these two people?”

Let audience answer.

HOST:  “That’s right, they were Mary and Joseph.  And Mary was great with child, which just meant that at any moment soon, it would be time for the birth of Jesus.  They just needed a place to stay, some place warm and peaceful, some place where Jesus could be born and be comfortable and safe.”

HOST:  “Many moms and dads can relate to trying to find a hotel room in a town where every room is taken.  It’s frustrating, going from one place to another, and each time you arrive at the hotel lobby, the person working there says, ‘I’m sorry.  There’s no room.’  The only thing you can do is keep looking for something… anything… all you want to do is stop moving, and stop looking, and find a place or a person that welcomes you.”

HOST:  “That’s the way it was for Joseph and Mary.  There was no room, no guest room no nothing.  No one in Bethlehem had room for Jesus.  Can you imagine if they knew it was Jesus – what would they do?  The creator of the heavens and the earth needs a room – do you have one?”

HOST:  “They didn’t have any room.  They made excuses, and they walked away.  They treated Jesus… like people treat this fruitcake.”

HOST:  “This Christmas, some of you may see a fruitcake like this.  When you see it, or hear about it, let it remind you of a night long ago, of another gift that no one wanted.”

HOST:  “It’s just before Christmas.  And Jesus is still looking for a place to stay.  He’s looking for someone’s heart that he can rest within.  Do you have room for Jesus in your heart?”

Let audience answer

HOST:  “This Christmas season, we’ll all get busy with all the wonderful things of this season. But don’t forget that it is hisbirthday we are celebrating, and that Jesus is really the reason for the season.  This Christmas season, make sure you have room for Him.  Make sure you have room for Jesus.”

Word List

1.     Adjective (ginormous, slime-covered, existential)

2.     Noun (taco truck, walrus, booger)

3.     Place (Dollar General, The Polar Express, a middle school’s bathroom)

4.     Adjective (flatulent, hairy, tiny)

5.     Plural Noun (spatulas, combine harvesters, yetis)

6.     Celebrity (Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Darth Vader)

7.     Number (sixteen, a trillion, one thousand)

8.     Vehicle (cruise ship, tricycle, panzer tank)

9.     Number (three, fifteen hundred, twenty-seven)

10.  Adjective (repulsive, candy-coated, blubbering)

11.  Noun (toaster, nerf herder, garbage truck)

12.  Verb (gallop, square dance, burp)

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Starting off the service, we showed a scene from "Olaf's Frozen Christmas," the musical number that features fruitcake - twice.  And there was also a word search that Daddy created, one that had the ingredients of fruitcake within it.  It was a fun night, all with a fruitcake twist!

Daddy was able to slide home and read a bit from Narnia with Madison and Mommy, who have been enjoying these Chronicles.  I imagine we'll be reading these into February, possibly.  Although there are some new books possibly along the way at Christmas time.  I'm sure that we'll read at least four of the Chronicles of Narnia before long.  Meanwhile, tonight was nice.

Madison had time for a bath after school, and also a viewing of "Coat of Many Colors," which was part of her "research" for her presentation on Dolly Parton.  We'll be doing more "research" soon enough, hopefully returning to Tennessee.  We'll see though!

Tonight, Madison also squeezed in some piano practice, and we all squeezed in some tacos!  But one thing Madison was not interested in squeezing in was... fruitcake.  After Daddy tried a slice tonight, I have to agree:  sorry.  I can eat a little, maybe.  I'm not even sure about that, actually...!