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I didn’t grow up observing Advent, or any of the liturgical calendar, for that matter. But as I’ve grown in my own walk with the Lord, I’ve realized that even though I’m not part of a highly liturgical church denomination, observing the Advent season has become an important part of our family’s
culture. But it’s also super easy for observing Advent to become another box to check off — another thing to add to our already lengthy “to do” list. That’s why we’re very careful about how we choose to observe Advent. This year we’re doing 3 simple things to celebrate the Advent season.
THREE SIMPLE WAYS WE’RE CELEBRATING THE 2022 ADVENT SEASON
NO. 01 | TRUTH IN THE TINSEL
This is our fourth year using Truth in the Tinsel for Advent. How has it already been 4 years?!? I can’t even remember how I stumbled upon it now, but I’m soooo thankful I did!
Truth in the Tinsel is a curriculum that walks through the Christmas story, reading a short section each day, discussing it together, and then creating an ornament to visually remind us of the story. What I love about it is that it appeals to a wide range of ages, and because of the ornaments we create, my kids are able to use them to narrate the Christmas story.
The first year, I went all-out and we hand-crafted every single ornament with felt. The ornaments were amazing and we loved hanging them on our tree.
In the years since, as I’ve been busy and a bit overwhelmed at times with having a baby and /or toddler in the house, we’ve switched to using her printable ornaments. We color them and then make them a bit fancier with some glitter glue. The kids love it and it keeps the process super simple for me.
We typically do our Truth in the Tinsel lesson right after our breakfast and morning chores, and before Morning Basket. We gather at the dining table for the reading and ornament making, hang our ornaments in the living room, and then gather on the couch for Morning Basket.
NO. 02 | ADVENT BLOCKS
This one is new to us this year, but we’re already loving it! We do Truth in the Tinsel in the mornings, but that means that my husband misses out on Advent activities. We wanted something to do together as a family in the evenings, as well. But I certainly didn’t want to add another craft to our day, so I knew when I saw the Advent Blocks that they would be perfect.
They’re another visual storytelling aid, and the kids love that they get to turn the blocks and move the star each evening. I also love that where Truth in the Tinsel focuses on the Christmas story itself, the Advent Blocks tell the meta narrative from the beginning of Scripture and point to Jesus in each story. So we’re getting both the big picture and the details of Christ’s birth each day.
NO. 03 | ADVENT WREATH
We just started doing an Advent wreath a couple of years ago. I love the simple symbolism of lighting another candle each week to anticipate the coming Light of the World. We use love, hope, joy, and peace for our candles, but I recently read that some church traditions use creation, incarnation, redemption, and restoration for their candles. I love both, honestly, but for our young kiddos, focusing on love, hope, joy, and peace is perfect for us.
This year, I also bought Unwrapping the Names of Jesus for myself. I read each short devotional in the mornings as part of my own quiet, mother culture time. I’m not much of a devotional kind of person, but I’m enjoying the beauty and simplicity of this one.
And that’s it, friends!
We do lots of other fun activities — reading Christmas books, decorating Christmas cookies, driving around to see the lights, having a hot cocoa bar, etc. But the heart of our Advent season is Christ (in fact, we don’t actually do Santa Claus in our house, preferring to keep our focus singularly on Jesus), and these 3 simple activities help us to keep our eyes fixed on Him as we prepare our hearts for His coming.
HOW DO YOU CELEBRATE THE ADVENT SEASON IN YOUR HOME?
