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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Advent calendar

Do you celebrate Advent?  Advent is the celebration of the anticipation of the birth of Christ.  I grew up celebrating Advent and we are enjoying continuing the tradition with our kids.

I have seen some beautiful advent calendars on the web, like these:








They're pretty, and lots of fun!  I have many friends who do things like these for Advent, with a small gift like candy each day in anticipation of Christmas.

Our Advent calendar is a little different. 



My mom made it for us.  Isn't it beautiful?  It's an updated version of what we did when we were kids.  The ornaments, however, are the same.


The sole focus of our Advent is Christ.  We don't do gifts {though we have been known to drink egg nog or eat Christmas cookies during our readings}.  We read Scripture and talk about it, sing carols, and place a new ornament on our Advent tree.  We're using the same guide book we used growing up.

Our Advent book and the tin of ornaments.  Having them hidden away in the tin keeps the kids' anticipation high.  They can't wait to see the next one!

The ornaments correspond with the reading for the day. This one from last night, for instance, illustrates that Jesus is the Lamb of God.


Advent is one of my favorite parts of the season.  How do you celebrate Advent?

3 comments:

  1. My mom used to do Advent calendars. I don't think they were for the same reason but each day we would receive a tiny gift. It was a lot of fun!

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  2. I had only ever heard of advent a couple years ago. Your tradition sounds meaningful and beautiful! I love that it is a nightly reading and an ornament illustration. Would love to incorporate something like this into our traditions.

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  3. i love your advent calendar. have you heard of the "jesse tree", it's very similar. i haven't researched how you do it. mainly because...well i don't know. amber has one they are doing this year, and i love hers. i would like to do something like this or a jesse tree next year. and then actually DO it. lol. i always have good intentions.

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