Advent

We've been really intentional about observing Advent with the kids this year.  It's really helped me too, in my preparation for Christmas.  The kids are very enthusiastic about our Advent routines and are very good little reminders of what we're supposed to be doing as we prepare for Christ's birth.  Here's a little bit of how we're observing Advent around here!

We have a few different Advent calendars that we're working our way through.  Each day we read from this book.  It has a nice reflection based off of Scripture and an activity for each day.  Some activities are question/answer type activities and some, like tomorrow are crafts.  The kids love the craft days, we've made all kinds of fun things.  We did this and a Jesse tree last year, but they overlapped a lot and I had a hard time keeping track of the Jesse tree ornaments with toddlers, so we're putting that one on hold for a little while.

My mom found us this cool advent calendar/countdown.  It has pockets with cards in it for each day.  The nice thing was you could arrange the cards to fit different days/schedules.  So I planned certain activities for times and days when I knew we were free. I like that the reflections and Bible readings are short but kid friendly and there is an activity but also lots of good suggestions on how to complete it.  So tonight, we did "see it" and we drove around for an hour looking at Christmas lights.  The kids had an absolute blast and we enjoyed their sweet reactions to the lights.  We have some pretty cool light displays in our neighborhood, one in particular that's set to music and its really cool.

And finally, we got this Advent calendar that I'd seen at a friends.  I've seen a lot of calendars, but I LOVE that this one counts down with the nativity.  We've been alternating kids each day and they are really in to it.  We've talked about each piece and the importance of that part of the nativity narrative.  When we read our Christmas books, the kids are pointing out people and animals that they've seen on their calendar.  They're making neat connections with it.  And of course, surrounding it are the Christmas cards we've received!

And of course no Advent is complete without Nativities!  One in particular that always looks a little like this or a little more scattered.  They love their Little People Nativity and it's nice to have an interactive one.  We have some very nice ones, one in particular that we got while in Italy that's hand carved wood from the Franciscan monks in Assisi that we just love pulling out each year.

Every night at dinner we light our Advent wreath and we have a little candle nativity in the center of the table.  I tried to make things simple for the kids and not overwhelm myself or them.  It sounds like a lot, but in reality, we spend a few minutes a day doing our Advent routine and the kids talk about what they read/learned the rest of the day!  It amazes me how much they actually listen, even when I don't think they're paying any attention.

We've also got our tree up and decorated and the kids love seeing our family ornaments.  We contemplated waiting to decorate it this year, but we've got lots of Christmas parties/gatherings at our house and frankly, we do a lot of travelling/visiting of people for Christmas and we don't spend much time at home.  It's far more relaxing and Adventy here with it up and ready.  I feel like it helps me wait with joyful anticipation as a constant reminder of the beauty and excitement that Christmas brings. 

Overall, we're having a very holy and blessed Advent.  It's so neat to have the girls old enough to really start to understand what it is that we're celebrating.  With Agnes in particular, we've been explaining a lot.  We don't know that she's ever really celebrated Christmas (and if she did, she doesn't remember it) so we're trying to make up for lost time.  We feel so grateful that these girls are home in time to enjoy the beauty and love of Christmas.  And we cannot wait for so much of our family to meet them in a few weeks!