Celebrating Advent

Grace can't wait!

An early Christmas gift.

Yesterday, the girls got some Christmas gifts in the mail from Auntie Jen, Uncle Bryan, Kyle & Mitchell. One of the gifts they sent was a very cute Veggie Tales Advent Calendar! I asked for one so that we could start celebrating advent next year but rather than wrap it up and put it under our tree, we decided to hang it up in our kitchen and start our new family tradition- today! Even though the advent season officially started about 10 days ago, we still have 15 more days to celebrate so I thought, why not? Better late than never, right?

Each night after dinner, we will read a scripture verse from the bible and then light a small candle. Then we will look inside the calendar pocket to see what activity our family will do for that night. I have come up with 14 different activities. Some are as simple as singing a Christmas carol while sitting in front of the fireplace or dancing like crazy in our living room. Other examples include watching a Christmas movie together, making candy for our neighbors, and seeing snow fall for the first time (more on that later!). Each night, we will light one more candle until we come to Christmas. On that night, all 14 candles will be lit, including the larger one in the middle for Jesus' 1st birthday. The girls are already looking forward to His birthday party!

More than anything else, our hope is to bring Jesus to the center of the Christmas celebration. What better way to share our joy and anticipation as we countdown the birth of our Lord and Savior!