Advent
December flies by so quickly, doesn't it? So many festive activities, parties and get-togethers. Decorations, holiday cards, and baking cookies quickly fill up the few hours left at home. Like most people, I really enjoy doing all of these things, but end up wondering sometimes what all of this really has to do with Christ's birth.
Now that we have a son who is able to comprehend enough of the holiday to know how to rip open a present (wait for my next entry), we feel that we need to be intentional about communicating what the real focus of Advent is. So here are 3 things that have helped us this year to make the meaning of Christmas a little more concrete.
1. A play nativity set. I purchased this last year after Christmas was over, on clearance at the Bible bookstore. It was hard to imagine at that time that my child would really enjoy playing with it, or learn any of the characters, but both have happened. We leave it at the table, and almost daily he asks to play with it. I role-play and narrate the story, while he moves around the pieces. (I think he is putting all of the characters to sleep in the picture). I've even stuffed some of the pieces into my purse to bring out during church, so when we're singing Christmas carols or when the birth of Jesus is being read or acted out, he can play along. Even though our nativity set may not be completely historically accurate (I've come to learn that the number of 3 wise men is arbitrary, and very likely they weren't at the actual birthplace of Christ), and the angels are annoyingly pretty white females, it is still exciting to see my son learn about who the characters all are.
2. A devotional book counting down the days to Christmas.
This book I highly recommend. It has windows in the back cover that can be opened up for each day leading up to Christmas. My 21 month old loves this. There are also little activities that can be done with older children for each day. We usually do this at the table, at whichever meal of the day our family gets to all eat together.
3. A movie about the first Christmas.
We've let our son watch it before going to bed a couple of times, which is a special treat for him. It's only a half-hour, and the music and animation are really nice. It has a multi-ethnic feel, which I like (one of the wise men even appears to be East Asian). It's also written in rhyme, which is fun. Our son really enjoys it, and isn't scared at any parts either. Of course, we could debate the historical accuracy thing again, the nativity story here is portrayed very traditionally, but we'll try to straighten out some of those details when our son is older.
I'd love to hear any of your ideas & fun things you did in your home to try to keep your focus during Advent.
Now that we have a son who is able to comprehend enough of the holiday to know how to rip open a present (wait for my next entry), we feel that we need to be intentional about communicating what the real focus of Advent is. So here are 3 things that have helped us this year to make the meaning of Christmas a little more concrete.
1. A play nativity set. I purchased this last year after Christmas was over, on clearance at the Bible bookstore. It was hard to imagine at that time that my child would really enjoy playing with it, or learn any of the characters, but both have happened. We leave it at the table, and almost daily he asks to play with it. I role-play and narrate the story, while he moves around the pieces. (I think he is putting all of the characters to sleep in the picture). I've even stuffed some of the pieces into my purse to bring out during church, so when we're singing Christmas carols or when the birth of Jesus is being read or acted out, he can play along. Even though our nativity set may not be completely historically accurate (I've come to learn that the number of 3 wise men is arbitrary, and very likely they weren't at the actual birthplace of Christ), and the angels are annoyingly pretty white females, it is still exciting to see my son learn about who the characters all are.
2. A devotional book counting down the days to Christmas.
This book I highly recommend. It has windows in the back cover that can be opened up for each day leading up to Christmas. My 21 month old loves this. There are also little activities that can be done with older children for each day. We usually do this at the table, at whichever meal of the day our family gets to all eat together.3. A movie about the first Christmas.
We've let our son watch it before going to bed a couple of times, which is a special treat for him. It's only a half-hour, and the music and animation are really nice. It has a multi-ethnic feel, which I like (one of the wise men even appears to be East Asian). It's also written in rhyme, which is fun. Our son really enjoys it, and isn't scared at any parts either. Of course, we could debate the historical accuracy thing again, the nativity story here is portrayed very traditionally, but we'll try to straighten out some of those details when our son is older.I'd love to hear any of your ideas & fun things you did in your home to try to keep your focus during Advent.
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