Advent Scriptures for your Calendar

photo courtesy Arvind Balaraman

Here is this years' Duty Chronicles Advent Calendar...

Advent 2013

And in case you haven't seen, here are some ideas for Advent activities to do with your kids. The point being to spend quality time with them, not rushing around trying to get the right supplies or check this off your to do list. Add some to your family time together and just enjoy it!

Hopefully the Advent Calendar + devotional will help all of us to become more consistent in worshipping with our families each day. Let me know if you have any other fun ideas to reinforce Christ this season! Here are some great ideas that our family uses or that I have heard of other families using:

Christmas Card Prayer Box – make a prayer box that will hold your Christmas cards from last year. At family worship every night, have the kids choose one card from the box and  pray for that family.
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Christmas Card Prayer Sticks - we are utilizing these throughout the year and the kids love it! They even ask to keep some in their room to pray for them on their own. I love that!

Advent Wreath – a picture of ours is here as well as a description of the 4 weeks of Advent

This goes along nicely with the Advent calendar to reinforce the “waiting” period. We use battery-operated candles so the kids can take charge of doing this without burning the house down.

Kids’ Play – reenactment of the Christmas story, do a scene each day or reenact the whole thing on Christmas. Don’t worry about costumes, pull out sheets to wrap around yourself, grab a kitchen towel and keep it on your head with a headband or rubberband. Get creative! Your kids will love putting their costumes together!

Manger Ritual – putting Jesus in a “manger” on Christmas Day, empty basket under the tree until Christmas (great for small toddlers, with knowledge that you will explain “waiting” to them everyday)

Christmas Songs – O Little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, Go Tell it On the Mountain, Angels We Have Heard on High, Away in a Manger, What Child is This (these are just a few well known Christmas/Advent songs). Focus on one song per week so that your kids can actually learn the words and tune.

Stargazing - pretend you are a Wise man, grab a constellation map and gaze at the stars. Imagine where the Star of Bethlehem would have been and talk about how bright it would have to be to guide you miles and miles to the newborn king!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!