I'm taking a little time off from our "boys" to talk a bit about the wonderful tradition of Advent. Many of us want to instill in our families the "true meaning of Christmas," and find it difficult to naturally infuse into our daily routines the birth of our Savior. For some it can be weird and stilted to us to suddenly become "all spiritual" and talk with our children, especially the older ones, about Jesus every day. So for those of you who have little ones...even infants...I can tell you that the best gift you can give to your children this year is to begin a habit of sincere devotion toward God and use this Christmas season as a catalyst and then DON'T STOP! If you begin to daily pray with your children...to daily show them how to spend time with God...to be an example of loving God and loving others, it will become a natural part of your family dynamic.
Even those who have not traditionally had advent as part of their Christmas season celebration, it is never too late...never. There are so many great ideas out there for Advent activities. I have seen wonderful advent calendars, candles and unique traditions fit for every family's personality and age range of children. So I thought on this blog post, I might share a few with you....
Fisher-Price has a wonderful cloth Advent calendar that is perfect for little ones.
There are heirloom quality Advent calendars like this one where each drawer has a magnetic nativity figure to put on this beautifully painted scene.
I recently saw an idea on Pinterest of a lovely handcrafted Advent calendar that had a wonderful twist to it. In each of the pockets, instead of a treat or even a figure to fill out a nativity scene, was a note with either something the family members could do together or something they could do for someone else. This is definitely a labor of love and can be personalized to the colors and personality of your family, but one thing I know for certain is that your children will love pulling out their "one of a kind" Advent calendar each year.
When my children were younger, one of the books we used was this delightful story. We made a manger ourselves out of grapevines and a baby Jesus from one of my old pair of panty-hose. (I hope that does not offend any of you:) The lovely part of this tradition was how the Savior's soft bed of hay appeared over the weeks. The children in the family create the Savior's soft bed by receiving a piece of straw for doing "good deeds" throughout the month and on Christmas Eve, baby Jesus is laid sweetly into His bed made from the loving kindness of sisters and brothers, Mom and Dad. I hope this gives you some ideas of how to infuse into your family's Christmas celebrations the wonder of a Savior born as a baby to a very hurting, wounded and needy world.
We are always praying for you...
Cherri...Peter, Chris and Kathy too
