Today is the first day of Advent! We have several advent traditions in our house. We, of course, have an advent calendar and advent wreath. I even made a new one this year...
I used pine cones that we collected on our trip to Arizona this year and leaves from the backyard of our new house. I spray painted them gold. I thought it would be nice to have family memories be part of the advent wreath.
We also make a bed for the baby Jesus. Several years ago my husband and son made a manger. Each advent the kids get to make the hard manger soft by doing good deeds and being good. Each time they do a good deed they get a cotton ball to put in the manger so Jesus will have a soft place to lay his head when he is born. We have colored cotton balls. Nathan's are blue and Claire's are pink. We do this because, in addition to getting a cotton ball when they are good, they also loose one when they are not! You can also use yarn, but cotton balls make for a softer bed. Some good deeds we award cotton balls for include going to church, being extra nice to each other, doing an extra chore, helping someone in need, etc. On Christmas morning Claire places the baby Jesus in the manger atop the cotton balls.
This is the only picture I could locate of her putting baby Jesus in the manger. I know I have better ones somewhere!
I just used a small baby doll for baby Jesus. I took the clothes off and wrapped it in a piece of white material.
About 2 or 3 years ago I bought a book called
Jotham's Journey. Its an advent story designed to read a section each night of advent. I always forgot I had the book until advent was half over so we've yet to read it! This year I took it off the bookshelf and placed it next to the wreath so we will be sure to read it tonight!
I also read something the other day about doing the ABCs of Advent. Each day you write down something that starts with the letter of the alphabet. A is for Angel, B is for Bethlehem and so on. I thought that was a really good idea for little ones.
I also found a few good ideas on the web for Advent:
Advent coloring pageThe Pro-Life Creche: Fill creche with straw and place in it a 3 mon. preborn baby picture. The second week will be a 5 month pre born. The third week will be a 7 month preborn. The fourth week, an 8 month preborn (or skip this if you don't have class that week. The baby Jesus goes in the cradle when they return to class after Christmas.
The Advent Chain: Make a paper chain with as many links as there are days in Advent. You can use purple and pink for the weeks, corresponding to the weeks on the Advent wreath. Put a good deed on each link. Each day the child opens one link of the chain.
Th
e Blessing Box: Thanksgiving is generally a very busy time for most people. On this day, try to take a few minutes to impress upon your children the generous blessings God has poured out upon Americans. Make a small gold box or decorate an empty box to be used as a bank. Place it in the middle of your kitchen table and once a day for the next 38 days, you will be placing offerings into it. Decide with the children to whom you wish to give this gift. On Epiphany, when according to tradition, the Kings gave their gifts to the Christ Child, you can give the gift away. Each day, the children will be able to reflect upon their blessings. Each day count a different blessing, and put money in the box accordingly. Here are some sample blessings to count:
And this website:
http://www.just4kidsmagazine.com/advent1.html has some great ideas based on the ABCs of advent
and the 12 days of christmas.
What does your family do to celebrate advent?
There was wax all over his cheesecake! I even found some on the table this morning!
We are also reading 
