Christmas & Advent This Year

It’s December already. I really can’t believe that this year is coming to an end. This year for Christmas we are not doing much in the area of our normal traditions but something we did last year we are doing again this year and that is Advent. Last year I found a great resource of verses that we read through every day until Christmas. We did this as part of our school time while we were making our Christmas lapbooks.

Nativity Christmas 2008

This year, we are reading those same verses again but this year we are doing them during family devotion time. We decided that this was the most important activity we could do to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Advent is all about the preparation and expectation of Christ’s birth and preparing for Christmas by reading verses about His birth and what it means. We have made a commitment to sit on the couch as a family and read through the verses for the day discussing them and talking about what they mean. Little G is still way too young so I have a color page for her to color while we read and I am reading to her from her little picture Bible. So, that is what we are doing this year for Christmas. We aren’t doing extra baking and we aren’t decorating or doing almost anything. (The not decorating is because of some life circumstances that I will blog about later.) I am certain that God is allowing this year to happen the way it is so that my kids will be able to have a full realization of what the true absolute meaning of Christmas is. I pray that your families will also come to the full realization of what Christmas is really all about; the gift of our Savior who came for one purpose, to die as a perfect sacrifice for our sins on the cross.

I thought I would share some of the great links I have found that help us with our Advent readings and preparing for Christmas.

TeachingMom.com - She has very long list of resources for Advent. I am using her Advent verses chain for the verses we read. She also has a great link to the history of Advent.

Advent Squido page - This page has several links to information and fun activities and ideas.

The Season of Advent - this site has so much information about the history and the meanings of the candles, wreath and traditions.

Mama Archer - A blogging friend of mine who has an amazing blog. She wrote a beautiful post about Advent celebrations in her family.