2014 Advent Devotional

The 2014 Advent Devotional is here!

I hope you enjoy using this scriptural devotional with your family. Last year we passed it out for our families at New Life (our church) and I just kept it "branded" with the New Life logo.

If you would like to use this with your church, please feel free to do so. There are some helpful FAQ on the first page in case this is your first time celebrating Advent.

New Life Advent 2014

2013 Printable Advent Devotional

I did a little tweaking to the Advent Calendar Devotions to make them fit into the 2013 (slightly shorter) Advent season. I also made them a cinch to cut out and fit into your Toilet Paper Roll Advent Calendar (or whichever calendar you are using). I hope you find it helpful! Click the link below to access it!

Advent Devotional

Let me know if you have any suggestions to make it better! This just started out as something that would fit my family, but I am glad to know that it has blessed many other families and churches over the years!

2012 Advent Calendar and Devotional

I did a little tweaking to the Advent Calendar Devotions to make them fit into the 2012 (slightly shorter) Advent season. I also made them a little easier on the eyes and a cinch to cut out and fit into your Toilet Paper Roll Advent Calendar (or whichever calendar you are using). I hope you find it helpful! Click the link below to access it!

Advent Devotional

Let me know if you have any suggestions to make it better! This just started out as something that would fit my family, but I am glad to know that it has blessed many other families and churches over the years!

Graham Cracker Houses 2011

We completed our graham cracker houses for this year and here is the round up! 

(if you are wondering what kind of "glue" we used, click here for the recipe)

Taylor Joy's M&M Outhouse

Meredith's Tabernacle of Praise

Allen's (perfectly symmetrical) Cottage

Kendra's Farmhouse

Beckett's Candy Land

Lindsay's Christmas Whataburger

Elizabeth's Gorgeous Garage

Easton had a good time watching and catching crumbs...

While we perfected our graham cracker village...

Such a fun tradition...

Another Use for Stockings

My family had never had stockings before this year. I guess I just hadn't gotten around to incorporating that into our holiday. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE stockings and the way my mom filled them was amazing, but I wanted the stockings to be special
                                                                                         
                                                                                                 and beautiful
                                                                                              
                                                                                                       and matching and...

we have been adding members to our family for the 3 years up until now.

So...all that to say - I finally made some!

And with the idea of continuing our thankfulness - this time towards each other instead of at Thanksgiving when it could be anything or any person- throughout the month of December we will write notes of thankfulness or making creative pictures for each other and put them in each others' stockings.

I encouraged the kids to think of something that they loved in one of our family members and write it down, letting them know. Or giving them the option of writing a note and making a gift for Jesus. These cards for Jesus will go under the tree in Jesus' manger for when he arrives on Christmas Day (yes, He will really arrive in a basket under our tree thanks to one of Taylor's old baby dolls).

The other cards that are in the stockings will be read by all on Christmas Day. This is the first year to do this, but I am praying that its a sweet time of reflecting on the blessings the Lord has given us in our family and in Himself and overflowing with thankfulness for those things.

His grace is so evident in the gifts that He gives, particularly in giving of Himself. I want my kids to connect those dots.

I will probably also throw some other fun items into their stockings as well. It's just too hard for me to see things in the dollar bin that I know they would love and pass them up!

I really hope this will be a meaningful tradition that bonds our family and points us toward our Savior. 

30 Advent Ideas

I hope to do many of these activities during Advent, but I have to admit that in the past, we have skipped over a plenty due to our already busy schedule or not being prepared with the right materials that we needed. Or, imagine this, a crazy day in the house and needing to adjust the schedule! It's perfectly fine to use these kinds of lists as guidelines instead of your actual schedule. You have to go with the time you are given in a day, the materials you have on hand, and the current attitudes of your little ones. All of that plays into what will actually be included in a day. So, I hope these can be helpful ideas for you as you plan a wonderful Advent with your family!

1. A night of Tree Trimming, complete with egg nog and A Muppet Christmas Carol (or a traditional movie that you always watch with your family).

2. Write a family Advent prayer. (include hopes that you have for the next year together. Put it in a special place ~ we have an ornament that houses ours).

3. Make a Christmas banner (or some other decoration for the house that everyone can help with).

4. Do an Advent devotional with your family. Here is a simple one to get started.

5. Make salt dough ornaments. Add beads on them to make them super cute!

6. Make string snowballs.

7. Bake egg nog pancakes together.

8. Make cardboard carolers with you family's pictures.

9. Make gift coupon books for family members.

10. Nativity Lapbook and other tot printables.

11. Make gifts for the grandparents...photo block ornaments or a wooden photo block to display precious little pictures.

12. Participate in a canned food drive.

13. Host an ugly Christmas sweater party and give silly awards to the ugliest.

13. Make gingerbread houses, really graham cracker houses, which are perfect for little ones (or big ones!) to decorate and display. And homemade cinnamon hot chocolate to give you sustenance while you are working. PIC

14. Read Christmas storybooks aloud. Our favorites include:  Who is Coming to our House? By Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff, One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski, The Legend of the Christmas Tree by Rick Osborne, The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg, Jacob’s Gift by Max Lucado, My Merry Christmas and the Real Reason for Christmas Joy by Sally Lloyd Jones and Annika's Secret Wish by Beverly Lewis.

15. Have a Christmas Cookie Exchange with some girlfriends.

16. Sing Christmas songs together around the fire. Pick a new song to sing each week.

17. Living Nativity (if you live in College Station). They take the kids back to the time that Jesus was born with animals in a petting zoo, camels, and a manger scene.


18. Go caroling at a local nursing home. This is such a delight to them!

19. Neighborhood party. We make sugar cookies to let the kids decorate at the party, have some sort of ornament craft and a kids' Christmas movie (our favorite is Boz Christmas) projected onto our garage door. We invite all the neighbors and are able to meet some new ones.

20. Make Cinnamon Cider to enjoy and fill your home with yumminess.


21. Wrap Christmas presents together. Messy or not, let the kids help out with this and as you wrap, pray that this will be a blessing to the recipient. The kids love to pick out paper, ribbons, and gift tags.

22. Make and decorate cookies together. Have prizes for most creative, most detailed, most unique, most festive.

23. Select gifts from Gospel For Asia together. We love this tradition and love that the kids are enjoying it too. We let the kids pick out one to two items and we also pick out several items from the catalog. After you select the items, they will send your children a card saying that they have given the "Gift of Love" and thanking them.

24.  Make Christmas handprints. We love to do this each year and keep them so we can compare year to year.
25. Deliver gifts together. Great way to get kids involved in the process is to take them with you as you deliver and let them what great joy it brings to your heart to give!

26. Make Christmas placecards. Just have your kids write names in the blank spaces. If you have very little kids. Make dots and let them fill in the lines.

27. Make glitter glue stars and tell your children how the wise men followed the star.

28. Christmas Eve Pajamas and surprise jammy ride with hot chocolate to look at Christmas lights.

29. Act out the Christmas story. Improvise with fabric, rope, dish towels and headbands. It's more fun that way.

30. Celebrate Jesus' birth! Bake a cake, sing "Happy Birthday", blow out candles, and give Him gifts. Rejoice!

Advent Activities

Making Salt Dough Ornaments

Ingredients:

1 C. flour

1 C. salt

1/2 C. water

Directions:

Mix the flour and salt together.

Add water gradually (I'm pretty sure ours got dumped and still turned out okay).

Knead into a flexible dough on a floured board.

Roll out and cut out shapes using a cookie cutter.

Use a skewer to poke a whole in each shape to thread string through.

Cook at 250 degrees for several hours (until shapes are hard).

Afterwards, paint the ornaments with water based paint. Varnish with a clear coat so they will last longer. Thread ribbons or string through the holes and add decorative glitter, bows, sequins, etc. Enjoy watching your children give a gift from the heart.

Living Nativity and Christmas in the Park

I enjoyed the live nativity as they presented the Christmas story and then we let the kids walk around petting the animals (as if going back to Bethlehem and the manger scene). I think it gave them better perspective of the story they know so well.

And then we headed across the street to enjoy the lights, cookies and hot chocolate (oh and Rudolph, of course!).

Graham Cracker Houses

We have done this for the past few years and it has been a hit! Not only do I not have to make gingerbread that will never get eaten, it is simple, fun and the whole family enjoys creating their own "house."

Even Easton attempted one...it got eaten, but he attempted nonetheless.

A little nativity, created by yours truly.

A sweet house by the sweetest girl I know.

A stacked house, made and destroyed by the same person...have any ideas?

A precious little church, created by Allen.

All together now...

These are just some of my favorite Advent activities.

Advent Devotions 2010

I just completed our 2010 Advent Devotions and would be pleased as puddin' if they made their way into your Advent this year as well. You can certainly adjust the questions and paraphrase the scriptures to make them applicable for young children. I pray that it blesses your family this Advent season!


Go get it!

2011 Version is here!