I've never celebrated advent before. But I read about this tradition and thought it might be lovely. I don't want busy-ness and pressure and material things to cloud my mind during this time of year. I want to focus on what Christmas is about... Christ.
I want Christmas for Lucy to be special and sparkly and wonderful because of the wonder of a God who would become one of us to lead us to Him. Not because of a make-believe benefactor (not matter how jolly). I'm not anti-santa. I'm not going to freak out if her sitter happens to have a 5 foot tall santa front and center in the living room. (Which she does :) ). But I want all this santa /gift stuff put in place. A little entertainment. Not the center of this special season.
My friend Bonnie shared this resource on her blog for an advent tree. I printed it off and cut out the little ornaments and we've been reading stories and hanging ornaments every night.
The stories are ones building up to Jesus' birth. One thing we're doing to make it extra-special is to read the stories by candle-light. She LOVES this! Candles mean birthdays, so after we read, hang the ornament, and pray, we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blow out the candle. She sings SO enthusiastically and heartily. It is precious!
I secretly filmed us, because her singing is so adorable. I smushed it into a video (I took out most of the actual story time, partly because I am rushed by a little lady who's ready to sing, and it almost didn't make sense that night as I tried to hurry through! We'll work on content next year :) Sometimes it's so fun we do it twice! The part at the end is the second time through, when we're a little sleepy and a little silly. It's been a really fun (cheap) and meaningful way to add to this Christmas season--I think this new tradition is a keeper!
I want Christmas for Lucy to be special and sparkly and wonderful because of the wonder of a God who would become one of us to lead us to Him. Not because of a make-believe benefactor (not matter how jolly). I'm not anti-santa. I'm not going to freak out if her sitter happens to have a 5 foot tall santa front and center in the living room. (Which she does :) ). But I want all this santa /gift stuff put in place. A little entertainment. Not the center of this special season.
My friend Bonnie shared this resource on her blog for an advent tree. I printed it off and cut out the little ornaments and we've been reading stories and hanging ornaments every night.
The stories are ones building up to Jesus' birth. One thing we're doing to make it extra-special is to read the stories by candle-light. She LOVES this! Candles mean birthdays, so after we read, hang the ornament, and pray, we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blow out the candle. She sings SO enthusiastically and heartily. It is precious!
I secretly filmed us, because her singing is so adorable. I smushed it into a video (I took out most of the actual story time, partly because I am rushed by a little lady who's ready to sing, and it almost didn't make sense that night as I tried to hurry through! We'll work on content next year :) Sometimes it's so fun we do it twice! The part at the end is the second time through, when we're a little sleepy and a little silly. It's been a really fun (cheap) and meaningful way to add to this Christmas season--I think this new tradition is a keeper!
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