It’s easy to get caught up in the busyness of Christmas once December rolls around. Advent helps us to slow down, to practice waiting, and to prepare our hearts for the coming Savior.
The color of Advent is sometimes blue and sometimes purple. The church picked these colors because they are royal, deep colors that remind us that a King is coming. As a family, spend some time thinking, praying, and talking together about how God is inviting you to make room for Jesus.
Here are some ideas and resources, both from our site and suggested by our readers:
Resources on Our Site:
Behold the Lamb of God | Christmas Hymn of the Week
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly | Advent Hymn of the Week
O Little Town of Bethlehem | Advent Hymn of the Week
Advent Roundup
Spiritual Practices for Children: Advent Wreath
Come Light Our Hearts | Advent Hymn of the Week
Resources We Love and Suggestions from Readers:
Britta: I’ve done a standard Jesse tree before, but the ornament-a-day devotional we’ve really liked the last couple years is ‘Jesus Unexpected Family Tree’. I have the ornament printable if anyone wants it! https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Unexpected…/dp/1732953201
For those familiar with the Rabbit Room, this devotional was written and illustrated by two women who are part of the Rabbit Room Chinwag (a great group for people who love stories, art, and music!)
Trevor: Here are all of my favorites: https://cityoflightanglican.org/events/advent
Trevor: A podcast with a friend introducing Advent and talking about practical ways to celebrate: https://soundcloud.com/…/intro-to-advent-with-father…
Ester: Our family has enjoyed the series by Arnold Yytreeide. There are 4 books in the series. We started them around age 7 & 6, reading 1 book a year. We are on our second time through.
Britta: We also love this book. It has four short “chapters”, so we read one each week of Advent: https://www.amazon.com/Marys-First…/dp/0310222168
Melinda: We also love One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham. When our daughter was little we bought one new Christmas book a year, so have a small collection. https://smile.amazon.com/Wint…/dp/1400321166/ref=sr_1_1…
David: We like to follow this Advent reading plan for the Jesus Storybook Bible https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GLLP7TG…
Melissa: We open up a wrapped Christmas book each day. Some are old some are new, buts it’s always fun to be surprised what we will read that night. Many books are about the Christmas story, and some are just fiction, but they all help us prepare and countdown to His arrival.
Ester: The past few years we used to light the way to Jesus’ birth. This year I’m excited to use the Advent book created by Caleb and Melba Voskamp.
Kathlin: We do the 4 advent candles leading up to Christmas and reflect on what God has been teaching us or having us think about as we reflect again on this amazing gift of Emmanuel, God with us.
We also have an advent calendar that is made up of empty drawers, so we can write things we’d like to do together as a family, or plan for certain things (set up the nativity, deliver cookies to the neighbors, etc.).
We have a German Advent rhyme that we recite each Sunday that we light another Advent candle:
Advent, advent, ein Lichtlein brennt.
Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier,
Dann steht das Christkind an der Tür
(Advent, Advent, a little light burns
First one, then two, then three, then four
Then the Christ-child is at the door)
Britta: Here’s another great book (part of a series that takes you through the entire year) with daily scriptures, questions, and activity ideas https://www.amazon.com/Good-Dirt-Advent…/dp/1482697459
Do you have more ideas and resources you love? Comment below, and we’ll add them!
