Advent Challenge! Day 1

Our Gratitude Challenge is over but that doesn't mean we have to stop thinking of things to be grateful for or for me posting to my blog daily! I am on a roll and for this procrastinator, that is a big deal. :)

So I thought I would post an Advent Challenge to you! I realize that not all of you celebrate Advent or Christmas. But to me this is the season of reflection, praying and doing good for others. All of us can do those things every day. To not get caught up in our busy lives or the hustle and bustle of the holidays, but to prepare our hearts for something bigger then ourselves and to teach our children to do the  same.

Here are a few things that my family is doing this Advent season to prepare for Christ's Birth at Christmas.

We made an Advent wreath. This is something I bought online last year and we use branches from our tree that we recently cut down. I found the candles at Yankee Candle. They come in a set. For a few years I simply bought 4 inexpensive candles (3 purple and 1 pink but blue or white would work too) and lit them for Advent. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive.

From my church bulletin today: The candles in the wreath symbolize the light of Jesus' arrival which brought us out of darkness of sin. The three purple candles in the Advent wreath represent preparation, and are lit on the 1st, 2nd and 4th sundays of Advent.

The pink candle, lit on the 3rd Sunday, is a reminder to rejoice, or in Latin "Gaudete". It's the church's way of letting us know the best is yet to come.

You may also use an Advent Calendar in your home. I have found several of these that you can make yourself on Pinterest. 

We use a cloth one with pockets that my Mother In Law gave us years ago. It really is more of a countdown to Christmas calendar rather then an Advent Calendar but we use it for this purpose.

This year I have made several notes with different activities that we will do with the kids. As you can see here, there are several fun and inexpensive activities and ways we can prepare for Christmas and teach about Jesus along the way. Each evening I will put a new note in for the next morning with an activity for us to do. The kids look forward to this and so do I! :) Today we did our first activity, which was visiting Santa at the mall. Not so much an Advent activity then a Christmas activity but something fun to put on our list to do.

What Advent traditions do you do with your family? It is never too late to start a new one.

Thanks for reading! Each day I will share what we did and I would love to hear from you to hear things that you are doing with your family this Advent. Feel free to post pictures of your wreath or calendar too! And if you would like to join the Advent Bible study small group I have on Facebook through Good Morning Girls, please let me know. We are just getting started. :)

~Rebecca~