The Holidays: Celebrating Advent

As I've been getting a ton of work done around the house for the past few days, I've been thinking about all things related to the holidays...everything from talking to the kids about Santa to family get-togethers to the overwhelming onslaught of "stuff" we'll be bringing into our house. So, since I don't have time to write about it all at once I thought I'd do a "series" of posts. Kind of makes me feel like a real "blogger"...er, something like that :O).

Something I started last Christmas was doing an Advent countdown. Advent is the tradition of waiting on Christ and preparing for the day of his birth during the Christmas season. I loved our pastor's sermon on Advent this past Sunday. I think focusing on the preparation for the Christ-child is so important and he reiterated that, but he also brought in the idea that we should be in a spirit of Advent all throughout the year as we wait on Christ's second return. I want my family to be one that focuses on what we can do to prepare ourselves and others for Christ's return, rather than on the temporary "stuff" of this earth that will only fade away.

I know it's next to impossible to completely take the kids' minds off of the presents, but we are going to make every effort to teach them what Christmas is truly about. I made our countdown last year by breaking down the Christmas story, along with John 3:16 at the beginning and Revelation 1:8 at the end, into 24 pieces. Each night we flip over a numbered card and read the verses on the back to uncover the whole Christmas story. So far Ethan and Karis love it, and I hope my cards hold up for years to come!