:: photo from Marthastewart.com ::Are you one of those who won't listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving? I used to be, until this year. Recently I've felt a need to prepare my heart and the hearts of my children for the Christmas season ahead. I usually dive head-first into each Christmas season with the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving shopping trip. Don't get me wrong: I'm still looking forward to that day with great anticipation, but every year I say to myself, "Oh! I wish I would have done......with the kids! Oh well. Maybe next year." My plan is to be a little more purposeful this year. The word advent means "coming. " It denotes preparing and waiting expectantly for a guest, so I must start planning now, before Thanksgiving. That is why Christmas music is playing in the background as I type!
As a former elementary school teacher and a mommy of almost 6 years now, I have a growing collection of Christmas books, songs, movies, ideas, crafts and recipes--all of which tell of Jesus' birth. I've organized these resources in order to plan activities for my children during the month of December. I'd like to share some of these ideas here on my blog if any of you are interested. Here are a few resources I'll be incorporating (you may click on each of these links if you're interested):
An Advent Wreath with daily Scripture readings
What God Wants for Christmas
The Real 12 Days of Christmas
The Adventure of Christmas
A homemade Christmas Eve family gift exchange using A Wowie BOZowee Christmas
All of my books, movies, recipes and crafts correlate with the resources listed above. I'm excited to do this with my kids, and I hope you'll consider doing it along with me. I plan on writing the names of each activity on slips of paper and then stashing them into this new Advent Garland.
I'll post more on this later. I suppose I should make my calendar look a little more official before I post it, and not like something my kids got a hold of!My prayer is that I'll be able to truly adore Christ this Christmas season and that I'll be able to slow down long enough to watch my children discover the glory of Christmas along with me. Do we moms ever get to do as Mary did in Luke 2:19?
"Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart."
Maybe this year...
6 comments:
Thanks for sharing those links, they all look very interesting. I'll have to check out the Focus on the Family website when I have more time. Lots of great resources there.
Good for you that you're already playing Christmas music and getting your heart prepared. I just started playing my Christmas cd's last week actually. It's never too early!
:)
I'm listening to Christmas music already too :)
The holiday season flies by so fast if you don't plan ahead and start early then you can easily miss things you wanted to do with your family. I've started a holiday planning journal just to keep me on track.
Thank you for sharing your heart and your plan (and the resources, too). You're inspiring me to be more purposeful, more intentional this advent season. I'd better start doing my homework now so we'll be ready!
I was a little shocked when Walmart was playing Christmas music literally the day after Halloween. Is it already that season? We like to talk about the real spirit of Christmas with our boys, since the world takes a very different view. I'll have to take a look at those links. Thanks!
What a great post! I always love to visit you! You are always so inspiring to me...thanks for sharing! Going to turn on the Christmas music!
Great links. Thank you for putting those all in one place! It's always a goal of mine to sloooow down and enjoy the true meaning of Christmas. Kids pick up on the frenzy or the peace.
ps- I LOVE that little tree on the plate!
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