Advent traditions

We have several Advent traditions at our house. One is a tree calendar that I recreated from one my mom had when we were growing up. You get to put an ornament on the tree every day and read the verse that is on the back of the ornament. It is a lot of fun and Camden has a cute way of saying Advent that I can't really reproduce!




But we have also added two other Advent type items to our December. First is the story of Jotham, Jotham's Journey. It is an Advent storybook by Arnold Ytreeide, and you read a chapter every day until Christmas Eve. It is designed to go with an Advent ring, but I don't know much about Advent candles, so we just read the story. Nathan absolutely loves the story. This is our 2nd year reading it, but it is still captivating. Each day is a cliff hanger and he begs for more! It is not for little kids, however, because it focuses strongly on the consequences of sin, but for some 2nd graders and older kids, it is great! There are 3 stories that this author has written and my hope is that the 3rd will be re-published next year. Last year I could only find Jotham, but this year they had Bartholemew also. I bought his story in mid-December, so he will be read in January! Last year I looked on line for the 2nd and 3rd books, but the only copies I could find were around $90! They are a lot less when re-published and at the bookstore!





Our 3rd Advent item is really only a seven day story and it is great for younger kids. It is published by Family Life and is called What God wants for Christmas. Each day you read about a character that you then put on the nativity scene. And each day it teases you about not peeking at day 7 box to see what God wants for Christmas. Won't spoil it for you, but you may can guess what is in Day 7! Nathan still enjoys this activity and Camden likes it as well. He enjoys holding the box until I tell him to open it and then putting the item on the nativity-then Nathan fixes it after he looks away!

I can say that we need no more Advent activities at this point in our life! Most days involves catching up ! But they are fun and help us stay a little more focused on the true meaning of Christmas!