Tuesday, November 29, 2011

First Week of Advent

Aside from the usual purchase of the Christmas tree and decorating of the house, my family has a few other Advent traditions that we'd like to share.

Our sons are 5, 3, and 9 months old and we want to celebrate Advent in a way they can understand.  We started by lighting our Advent wreath every evening while we read a devotion from Living Light was Born One Night by Arden W. Mead.  This devotional is perfect for young children because the Bible verses and meditations are brief and the reflection questions they ask are at an appropriate level for our kids.  This little booklet is also great because it's not limited to 24 days -- it has enough devotions for the 4 full weeks of Advent!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Activity for the first Sunday of Advent

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent and I wanted to do something different and more Catholic-flavored as we decorated our house.  I decided to make a big Advent Candle display in the boys' bedroom window, which faces the street. 

It was pretty easy!  All I had to do was cut four rectangles out of construction paper (3 purple and 1 pink) and four flames out of yellow construction paper.  I got them laminated at Lakeshore (yay for the teachers' discount for homeschoolers!!!) so they'd be a little more durable and hopefully be usable for next year.  I taped the four rectangles to the window and one of the flames over the first one, so it looks like one candle of an Advent wreath has been lit.  My husband was skeptical, but it ended up looking pretty cool.