Making Advent easy and meaningful
I love having Christmas traditions that bring meaning to our holidays. There are so many ideas and programs out there to help families focus on the meaning of Christmas and I tend to get excited and want to try all of them. I am finally starting to realize that, in this season of life, I need to keep things simple. Simple is really the only way we are going to be consistent.
Two years ago, we started to celebrate Advent as a family and it has been a great way to focus on the meaning behind Christmas. It is also simple, which is a huge key to making things work with small kids.
I am sure there are dozens of ways to celebrate Advent, but keeping it simple is a huge reason why we do it the way that we do. To make our Advent wreath (pictured above), I used a metal Advent wreath frame that I bought from Hobby Lobby and added greens to it. We use our Advent wreath as our table centerpiece during the holiday season. It is pretty and helps keep what we are learning each week in focus. Tsh from Simple Mom has a Pinterest board of Advent ideas like the candles below.
Once a week (we try for Sunday night, but if we miss one we just do it the following evening) we all sit down around the table and read from the Bible and do a short little lesson. We have used What’s in the Bible? Everyday Emmanuel program. It has everything laid out for a short lesson, and it also includes printable ornaments to color for each week as well as video clips. The program is so convenient because everything is there and I just put it into action. Coloring the ornaments is also a great way to keep younger kids occupied while we do the Biblical reading.
What does your family do to focus on the meaning behind the season?