Advent Calendar {Truth in the Tinsel}

Advent: waiting for the arrival of something or someone. 

Last Christmas was Gavin's first Christmas. He was 6 months old, turning 7 months, and he really didn't have a clue what was going on around him. 

(Just to clarify, that was a sticker mustache on my little baby)

 

This year, Gavin is 18 months and I wanted to start making Christmas meaningful, partly for him and partly for me.  

So often we run through December like chickens with our heads cut off (sorry for the image in your head), without taking the time to really focus on Jesus' birth, except maybe on Sunday mornings and of course, Christmas Eve. Advent is a special way to take the time each day and remember the amazing gift of God's Son. 

 

All that to say, I didn't know how I was going to start teaching Gavin about the real reason we celebrate Christmas (even if he is only 18 months old). Then in October, I saw this picture a couple times on Pinterest. 

It looked interesting, so I clicked over to the website and got really excited. It is an advent calendar that can be done with little children. 

The basis of this e-book is to make an ornament each day with your child, talk about a couple of Bible verses that go along with it, how it relates to the Christmas story, and then hang it up on a tree. 

I knew that there was no way that I would be making ornaments with my very wiggly, no attention span, son. This year though, printable ornaments were being sold along with the book. Perfect! Gavin can colour...for the most part. (He's still learning that they are not part of any food group.)

My plan is to do this in a very simple way. Colour the ornament with Gavin. Talk about it quickly and hang it up on the tree.

I bought a few books that talk about the nativity that we will read together. We're planning on going tomorrow to a live nativity scene, with animals and actors, and it is another opportunity to talk about baby Jesus. 

If you missed it the other day, I also made a wooden block nativity, that Gavin loves to move around and play with. Small things that allow for opportunities to talk about the Christmas story. I will keep you posted on how our tree full of ornaments looks as the month progresses.

Also, check out truthinthetinsel.com to find out how you can download your own copy of this awesome resource!

In case you missed it, Melody also made an advent countdown calendar to do with her little girlies. I love the way it looks and it provides so many options on how you might want to use it!  

Well this is the last day of our three-week series of hopefully helping you get ready for Christmas before December! We hoped you enjoyed it. And that means that December 1st is tomorrow! Wahoo! And I'm celebrating today by decorating my house for Christmas.

How do you celebrate Advent? I want to hear your family traditions!