Today has been a pretty busy and fun-filled day in our home! Its December 1st which for us means the start of a month full of Advent activities! Advent basically means 'coming or arrival' and is the time before Christmas to prepare for celebrating the greatest gift to ever arrive, Jesus!
First of all, our family has Advent candles on our table that we light each night for four weeks leading up to Christmas. We start with one candle and add one each week until Christmas. The symbolism is that as the light from the candles grows brighter, the coming of the Light of the World grows closer. We also read Old Testament scripture that prophecied of Jesus coming long before He arrived. You also may notice that the candles are surrounded by a wreath. This too finds meaning as it is in a circle representing God who has no beginning and no end and is made of an evergreen, representing eternal life through His Son.
Yesterday, Piper and I worked on a paper chain which contains in each chain
a verse for the day and a story to read in preparation for Christmas. We found this idea at
Hubbard's Cupboard which has been wonderful since ideas for each day are provided. This way there is less planning involved on my part! Considering that December is the busiest month of the year, this is a huge blessing! Even if you don't plan on doing something each day, this site is worth checking out for craft ideas to do with your child!
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| Piper was so excited to know what all the activities were going to be! |
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| She was the 'taper'! |
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| All done! |
So this morning when the girls got up, I had their nativity sets all set up. Piper could barely eat her breakfast she was so excited to go play with them. As soon as she was done, i let her run off to play. Very soon I heard her in the livingroom: "Mama, no baby! Where baby??" I finished cleaning up Taitum and brought her with me into the livingroom. "Is there a problem?" I asked. "Yeah", Piper replied, "NO BABY!" At this point I pulled down the gifts I had wrapped the night before and gave them to the girls to open. Piper tore into her gift..."BABY!" she shouted. Then she proceeded to help Tait open her gift. Very exciting stuff for my little girlies and a perfect opportunity to talk about the best gift of all and what Christmas is truly all about: Jesus!
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| "Mama, NO BABY!" |
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| Piper tearing into her gift |
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| Taitum, a little confused, but following her sister's lead! |
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| "Baby Jesus!" |
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| Taitum, still confused, but ready to play |
Finally, to end our first day of Advent, Piper hung an ornament on the Advent calendar tree her Auntie Anna made us for Christmas last year! It took her a while to choose which one she wanted to put up first but settled on the angel. Then we settled down to some fresh-from-the-oven chocolate mint cookies and milk!
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14 (written between 732 and 715BC)
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