This year we are purposefully celebrating Advent.
Advent, literally, means "to come". The countdown to the celebration of our Lord's birth!
Growing up, our family didn't use an Advent calendar. Really, it wasn't until the past few years (when we began attending a Presbyterian church) that I heard much about Advent. My friends were making amazingly creative Advent calendars filled with tasty treats or fun games for their children; or reading through specific Advent lessons in preparation for Christ's birth. I decided that since Ian is becoming so much more aware of the commercial aspects of Christmas, this would be a good year to start our own Advent calendar.
I love the idea of setting aside a portion of our day to focus on traditions, the joy of the season, and to prepare ourselves for Christmas Day.
As you can see above I didn't get all super-creative with our Advent calendar. Basically, I grabbed the idea from here, and sat down and paper-chained us up one. Every "chain" has an activity written on it for the day. Ian is really loving taking off a chain every morning and seeing what we'll do that day. The activities range from as simple as having hot chocolate with Mama in front of the tree to collecting canned goods out of our pantry to donate. With each activity, I tried to focus on the importance of spending time together as a family this Christmas.
Does your family use an Advent calendar? I'd love to hear about your traditions and plans to celebrate Christ's birth!
Advent, literally, means "to come". The countdown to the celebration of our Lord's birth!
Growing up, our family didn't use an Advent calendar. Really, it wasn't until the past few years (when we began attending a Presbyterian church) that I heard much about Advent. My friends were making amazingly creative Advent calendars filled with tasty treats or fun games for their children; or reading through specific Advent lessons in preparation for Christ's birth. I decided that since Ian is becoming so much more aware of the commercial aspects of Christmas, this would be a good year to start our own Advent calendar.
I love the idea of setting aside a portion of our day to focus on traditions, the joy of the season, and to prepare ourselves for Christmas Day.
As you can see above I didn't get all super-creative with our Advent calendar. Basically, I grabbed the idea from here, and sat down and paper-chained us up one. Every "chain" has an activity written on it for the day. Ian is really loving taking off a chain every morning and seeing what we'll do that day. The activities range from as simple as having hot chocolate with Mama in front of the tree to collecting canned goods out of our pantry to donate. With each activity, I tried to focus on the importance of spending time together as a family this Christmas.
Does your family use an Advent calendar? I'd love to hear about your traditions and plans to celebrate Christ's birth!
0 comments:
Post a Comment