Hey friend!
This year I really thought about what we wanted to give our heart and attention to this advent season – what traditions we were focusing on. I want to make sure that they are helping my family grow closer to each other and to God. This year, we aren’t planning a million things and instagram worthy crafts and shopping all month. In years past, I’ve done just that, and honestly it leaves me feeling drained and guilty come January. There’s not a lot of time for real connection, rest, and waiting when you’re doing all the things, all the time.
After all, Advent is a time for waiting. So I plan to do just that. Have a simple advent season with my family awaiting the arrival of Christmas to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. YOU get to choose friends. You are the gatekeeper of your home. This is your permission, if needed, to do the same!
My number one tip for keeping it simple is having an advent calendar. Seems simple enough, right? Whether it’s homemade like last year’s (seen above) or bought like this years. It keeps everything in one place and the kids get so excited to gather around and read the card for the day and see what activity we are going to do. You can make it as simple as you want. A found branch and some hole punched advent cards tied with yarn. Or write down verses on paper and place them in a bowl to read each day. Don’t over complicate it. Reading the scripture to your kids each day is the main goal.
In our advent calendar, we tuck a card in each pocket and pull it out to read each day. Im using the Christy Beasley Printables from her ‘Nativity Creative Unit Study’ from last year. This is a subscription service BUT you get access to any old content. She has printable art, scripture cards, homeschool unit studies, oily goodies, and so much more. It’s worth its weight in gold and we use her stuff around our home and in our homeschool often! I simply printed the cards out, put one in each “day” pocket on the advent calendar and BOOM. Done!
My kids know to wait until everyone is awake to go to the calendar. We plan to sit around the fire, light a candle and read the scripture on the card. Sometimes this leads to discussion and questions and sometimes its just reading. Go with the flow and don’t force it either way. If your kids are anything like mine, super pointed questions make them feel pressured and shut down any real and beautiful conversation. We will then pray over our day, for others, and about what we just read.
After we read the scripture, on the back of each card, I write an activity for the day. This can be something fun and festive or a service act or craft. We try to keep them simple and write them only a couple days ahead of time, as we go. We aren’t big planners, so I like to kind of see how the week is going before I get myself in to a big festive project I may not feel up to.
At the beginning of December we also read ‘The Giving Manger’ which focuses on acts of service, loving your family, and the real reason for the season! We put this somewhere neutral for the kids to see and they love putting straw in baby Jesus’s manger after doing an act of service or kindness for their family. It never fails, that by the end of the season, they’ve forgotten about collecting the straw and are still just doing the acts for the simple pleasure of loving their family well.
Here’s a list of some activities in case you’re looking for inspiration. remember, it doesn’t have to be complicated to be beautiful. In fact, I’ve found the more simple you keep it, the more meaningful it is. I hope this served as inspiration for you and was helpful in some way. I’m also currently working on posts about what our homeschool looks like during the Christmas season and another post featuring all of our favorite Christmas books!
xx, Whitney || This Modern Farmhouse
