Christmas has been sneaking its way into our house for a while now. Even my husband who is usually in the camp of waiting until after Thanksgiving for anything Christmas-related has been playing Christmas music, watching Christmas movies, and he was even the one to suggest getting out the Christmas decor early. I love it.
No matter which camp you fall in, the start of Advent is almost here!
Around this time last year, I was feeling totally overwhelmed. We had three kids ages three and under, and although I loved being a stay-at-home mom to our girls, we needed to change things up. We needed some structure. And celebrating Advent seemed like it could be a great way to do that.
I bought an Advent calendar, but the day before Advent started, I still didn’t know how I was going to use it. So at the last minute, I decided to write down Christmas activities each day of Advent and put those inside the cute little tree doors.
Thankfully the girls loved this new tradition! It not only offered the sense of routine I was looking for, but it also brought family fun and conversations about Jesus that we may not have had otherwise.
This year instead of scribbling down an idea for each day the night before (or the morning of!), I got all the ideas together beforehand and added in a little more festiveness too.
I’m excited to do these Advent activities with our family, and we invite your family to join us!
There are 27 activities, so you could start on the first day of Advent (which is November 29 this year) and have an activity every day through Christmas. Or just pick your favorite activities to add extra faith + fun to your weeks! Some activities incorporate scripture and the Nativity story while others are simply Christmas-themed activities to do with your family.
If you don’t have an Advent calendar to put these in, no worries! You could hide them each morning for kids to find or set them out on the breakfast table for kids to see after they get up. You can switch up the order, add in your own activities, or whatever works for your family.
As we head into this holiday season, let’s take time to remember what Advent is really about. Advent is a time of counting down the days to Christmas as we prepare to celebrate our Savior. Activities like these can add some extra fun while learning about the birth of Jesus, but what happens in our hearts is way more important than whether or not we make homemade Christmas cookies.
Let’s remember that Jesus is the real reason for this special season while helping our kids begin to understand that too!
