Advent
[ad-vent]
noun
the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.
I love the Christmas season - the decorations, hot chocolate (even when it's 70 or 80 degrees in south Alabama), Hallmark Christmas movies, time with family and friends, and of course new Christmas jammies!
As wonderful as all of these things are, none of them compare to the main event of Christmas: celebrating the birth of Jesus. I grew up in a Methodist church so I am very familiar with the advent season. It was always such a treat to be one of the ones who got to light an advent candle during the church service. We are now in a Baptist church, we attended a Presbyterian church for a season, and my husband grew up Assembly of God so I guess you could say we are very well-rounded Christians. All that to say, I think anyone can appreciate and cherish the season of Advent.
There are so many things pulling our attention from celebrating the advent, or arrival, of Jesus. Meals to plan, gifts to purchase, cards to mail, and parties galore. I knew when we had our little girl we wanted to do something to be intentional to keep the celebration of Jesus at the forefront of our Christmas season. I love passing down Christmas traditions, but nothing is more important than passing down the hope of Jesus. Our desire to make the story of Jesus the center of our Christmas traditions had me returning to my Methodist roots and doing an Advent calendar with her.
The first few years we did a plan (click here) that uses 25 Bible verses to tell the story of the birth of Jesus. We really enjoyed this plan, but this year I wanted to do something a little different. I really wanted to find a plan that shared the story of the birth of Jesus within the context of the long awaited Savior promised in the Old Testament of the Bible. I couldn't find one and decided to make one myself. I shared the plan with a few friends and one suggested I share it in the blog for other families who are looking for something to use this Christmas season. I used excerpts from The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung and Old and New Testament Bible verses to unfold the story of God's promised Savior to be born (Update: Words in italics are my words added for emphasis and clarity). Click here for a PDF version to print.
I printed it on green paper, cut out each day to put in our calendar, and added a Hershey's kiss (because who doesn't love chocolate?!).
We also love using this Little People's nativity set as we tell parts of the story.
