Last year, I mentioned that I had prepared a calendar of activities to help us look forward to Christmas. One of my friends commented on that post about Truth in the Tinsel, an advent plan specifically for preschoolers, and totally focused on Christ’s coming. We have been doing that this year, and we LOVE it. Basically, there is a Bible passage for each day, and then a simple ornament to make that emphasizes part of the passage. Below are some reasons why I love it.
–It is free. (Well, you need to buy the E-book, but I haven’t spent any money on the crafts.)
–It is flexible (as opposed to trying to schedule activities into a calendar destined to be thrown up-side down with a newborn).
–It doesn’t take much time each day.
–It repeats the same Scripture a couple different days with a different emphasis on the ornament, which is really good for helping a preschooler learn a story with a lot of details.
–It focuses on Jesus.
–PG looks forward to it every day, especially making the craft and hanging it on the tree, and she remembers the significance of most of the ornaments.
Here are some of the ornaments we’ve made for it so far:
We’ve also been using the advent wreath my brother-in-law made me for my Christmas present last year, but we’ve only been using that on Sundays, and doing a more adult-appropriate reading with that (from John Piper’s Good News of Great Joy).
Anyway, it has been a low-stress Christmas season for us thus far, but with a definite emphasis on Christ, both aspects of which I have really been enjoying.
Let me know if you’ve been doing anything for advent that you really love!
Next post, we hope to have a new member of the family!