Am I the only one in shock that today is December 1st?!? I'm still wondering where October went, much less November.Our Christmas decor is up, most of our cards are mailed and I'm plodding forward on some homemade Christmas gifts. I'm a slow worker on sewing gifts and my project-time has been diminished as of late as my energy and Chloe's seem to be inversely proportional. It doesn't help that I'm constantly making mistakes like sewing snaps on wrong or mis-measuring fabric.
This year Chloe is extremely cognizant of what's going on and so we're hoping to institute some family Christmas traditions. We've already started moving the Mendez-family traditional teddy bear on the Christmas calendar but that's it so far. I'd like to do an advent devotional every night after supper instead of our regular Bible reading/prayer time. Any suggestions?
Tonight I also plan to give Chloe her own little nativity set to play with. She actually found it herself at a dollar store last month. I was looking down the aisle at gift wrap and Chloe discovered an open nativity set which she proceeded to set up and play with there on dollar store floor.
I naively thought I'd have time to make our own advent calendar to use during our devotional time but that never happened. Oh well! Is it just me or is it difficult to even find advent calendars to buy in stores these days? I've only looked two places but was disappointed not to see any advent calendars displayed. Now that I'm starting to look online, I'm astonished at how many advent calendars have nothing to do with Jesus' birth.
What family Christmas traditions do you practice?
6 comments:
Wherever we go, we try to get a Christmas ornament, and then when we set up our tree we take a few minutes with each ornament to tell the story behind it. Some of our ornaments remind us of people so we take time to pray for that person. Right now that is the only tradition we have. I would like to get an advent calendar that centers around Christ, but have not yet found one.
I'm with you on how fast Dec got here and where Nov went. I also looked at several stores to find an advent calendar -to no avail- so I ordered one yesterday online from Bronners. We make a birthday cake and play with the nativity set. heard a little about the candles but not enough to put into practice. Just talk about Christ in everything. (like even your pregnancy and Mary . ..)
We use the advent calendar by Noel Piper...and it is wonderful. We ordered it a couple of years ago from Desiring God but for some reason they stopped carrying it. Maybe a phone call to them could get some info about where to find it. We also do a Lenten Lights devotional the week of Christmas (also on Desiring God). It is actually supposed to be once a week until Christmas, but I always forget to start it up in time. So those are the major things so far that we do as a family. Another just fun tradition which we hope to start is where some night the week of Christmas, we would put the kids to bed, make some hot cocoa, grab cookies, then surprise them by loading them up in the car and driving around to look at Christmas lights while we eat our special treat.
As far as Advent calendars go, I saw one put out by Hallmark at Kohls - it is made of flimsy cardboard but at least it has a Biblical theme. (And what is UP with Advent calendars EVERYWHERE that are not biblically themed. HELLO?!?! ADVENT!!!) At least, it looked okay from what I could see through the cellophane. I didn't pick one up b/c I think next year Aaron will be much more "with it" to understand an Advent calendar - and I am with you hoping to make one. But I think it was close to $3 and it might work for you this year?
Have you heard of the Jesse Tree? It's just like an advent calendar, and everything you put up on the tree leads up to the birth of Christ. http://www.eriercd.org/jessetree.htm has free ornament circles you can cut out and put up on a tree/banner as you count down to Christmas. The website also has some short devotionals to go along with each day.
Yes, it's a little mind boggling that the calendar says DECEMBER on it already!!!! People always say that time goes by faster the older you get and boy were they right!
As far as traditions we usually put our tree up either the day after Thanksgiving or sometime that weekend. We also started an advent calendar that Aaron is actually really getting into. I got this one for my birthday last year and I had fun with it last year, but am excited to have Aaron share in the fun. It is a great magnetic one with each day's "surprise" being a magnet. It's good and sturdy so hopefully it will last a REALLY long time. I looked online for an advent calendar for a gift and couldn't believe how much this one cost, but like I said, I think it will be worth the money in the long run. I also would like to start making a cake and having a little birthday celebration on Christmas Day to show Aaron the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Another tradition of sorts is my making our Christmas cards we send out, which I have yet to complete. =( We also like to drive around and look at all the Christmas lights, which Aaron is also appreciating more this year. And for the past couple of years a church about a half hour away from us puts on a live nativity that is just awesome! They take small groups through their little village and tell the story as you go. I guess that's about it as far as traditions go for us.
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