Friday, November 27, 2009

Preparing for Advent

Last year we started a new family tradition for Advent. We count down the days to Christmas by unwrapping one of our Christmas books and reading it before bedtime. We also do a small activity that is related to the book. This year's line up is as follows:   
  1. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey -- Put up our Nativity
  2. An Ellis Island Christmas -- Bring one favorite stuffed animal/doll to story time
  3. Christmas Tapestry -- Look at and do some repairs to my childhood quilt with kids
  4. Grandfather's Christmas Camp -- Have hot chocolate with crackers
  5. The Crippled Lamb -- Talk about what makes each of us special and unique
  6. Christmas in the Trenches -- Listen to songs by John McCutcheon
  7. Too Many Tamales -- Eat Mexican food, maybe some Tamales?
  8. The Animals' Christmas Carol -- Put out birdseed treats for wild animals
  9. The Biggest Snowman Ever -- Make snowmen out of marshmallows and eat them
  10. One Winter's Night -- Attend the live performance of Return to Bethlehem at a local church
  11. The Chanakkah Guest -- Have a Jewish meal and play a Jewish game
  12. Gingerbread Baby -- Eat gluten-free gingerbread while Daddy reads
  13. Jingle the Christmas Clown -- Make star cookies for the neighbors
  14. The Christmas Day Kitten -- Wrap up cat treats for Grandma's cat
  15. The Dog Who Found Christmas -- Wrap up dog treats for our dog
  16. The Legend of the Poinsettia -- Make Poinsettia ornament
  17. All Is Well -- Collect a box of give-away for Goodwill
  18. Woodland Christmas -- Sing the 12 days of Christmas
  19. The Steadfast Tin Soldier -- Eat biscuits with a small toy baked into them
  20. Merry Christmas Strega Nona -- Eat late night pizza
  21. Silver Packages -- Wrap sibling's gifts
  22. Drummer Boy -- Play music together
  23. The Christmas Candle -- Read the story by candle light
  24. The Christmas Story -- Go to church

We place the Advent books under the tree. The kids will have fun taking them out each day and then doing the little activity. I have numbered the packages to correspond with the day.

Blessings, Dawn

 

4 comments:

  1. That is such an awesome idea. You guys will be having Christmas fun the entire month.

    Blessings

    Diane

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  2. You've got some lovely ideas listed there!

    I'll have to check with the library to see if they have some of the books! Thanks for the ideas.

    Stephanie (of olm)

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  3. I love this idea!


    The science museum pictured on my blog today was Catawba Science Center in Hickory.

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  4. I totally love your plan. We do something a little like that but we have one book filled with Christmas stories that we read each day.

    I know I've said this before, but you always have the very best isdeas.

    ReplyDelete