Preparing For Christmas...


It's already December 4th, but still early enough to talk about preparing for Christmas!  Today's post isn't about decorating and gift buying...I will get to some of that in another post.  This one is about preparing myself for blessings during this season of advent and working on renewing my attitude of anticipation and joy for the second coming of Christ by reflecting on the events that led up to His first coming. How do I do that? I am intentional with my time and make it a priority to read the bible and pray each day. I also try to focus outward and think of others and I try to do things that bring joy to others.

I have quite a collection of advent calendars...this one is a favorite and I have used it both at home and at school back in my teaching days... For each day there is a book that tells the progression of the story of the "first Christmas."  It is very sweet and a great way to encourage young readers.  But any age can benefit from the simple message. This one I put out every year is probably 15 years old.  It must be popular because I saw one in Barnes & Noble a couple weeks ago...or was it Books-A-Million (hmmmmm)!

 

 

While Nicole was in town for Thanksgiving we made an Advent Ring Calendar for Claire to use with her favorite story bible

 

 

We used chipboard cutouts of different Christmas shapes that were on a ring (2011 find at Michael's) .  We covered them with scrapbook paper, typed out the daily readings, printed them on stickers, and put one on each cut out!

 

 

Claire, Mommy, and Daddy have a special time each day to put aside the busyness of Christmas stuff and focus on the more important aspect of the season!

 

I decided to make myself an advent scripture ring after working on Claire's... cause you know how I love index cards and fabric!  There are lots of resources for advent daily scripture reading on the internet.  I used one that I found on  pinterest  and "tweaked" it with scripture from other advent calendars I already had!

 

I know I will enjoy this every year and the beauty of it is there are still blank cards that I can write on and add to my advent calendar in years to come!

 

I hope you have an advent tradition that you look forward to each year for opening your heart to the true gift of Christmas.  If you don't, use one of the ideas above...I promise you it will be a blessing beyond measure!!