Simple Advent Celebrations for Families
Every year on December 1st I have these grand plans of how our family is going to celebrate Advent during the Christmas season. I have printed out advent devotionals, created an interactive Jesse tree, bought supplies to make ornaments, planned ways for our family to serve in the community – you name it, I’ve probably tried it. But by December 7th, life has gotten in the way and most of my ideas have fallen by the wayside. I mean, it’s a struggle to even remember the darn elf every night!
This year as December 1st approached, I sat down and thought about what we could realistically handle as a family. What could I start that I could actually stick to all month? You see, the problem I had was that I was making everything too complicated. I felt like I needed to have a Pinterest-worthy activity every day to go with our Bible reading or my kids couldn’t possibly remember the Christmas story. I thought that if we didn’t spend a ton of time serving others, my kids would become focused only on what gifts they wanted and would miss out on the true meaning of the season.
All of the activities I planned ending up creating more stress for me, and didn’t allow my kids to rest in the meaning of the season. They were too busy creating matching ornaments and being dragged all over town helping people. My good intentions had inadvertently created so much busyness, that my kids lost sight of the simple yet miraculous truth – Jesus willingly and humbly came to rescue us.
So this year I have a new plan. Keep it simple.
Simple Ways to Celebrate Advent this Christmas Season
1. Short Daily Advent Readings
If I want my kids to understand the true meaning of Christmas, they need to read it from the source. In a perfect world I would love to sit down and read large chunks of scripture and have deep conversation with my kids for an hour every day. But, we live in the real world of homework and soccer and dinner and chores. What I can do is find a time every day when we can gather as a family and spend 5-10 minutes reading and discussing scripture.
There are many great print and online resources for Advent reading plans. The Jesse Tree is very popular, and there are many versions available for free online. You can also just read straight from the Gospels, and reflect on a few verses every night. This year I am using “O Come Let Us Adore Him” by Paul David Tripp. It’s actually my devotional, but there is a short section for kids at the end of each day.
2. Weekly Advent Activity
My kids love to create! One year I thought it would be fun to have them make a corresponding ornament for every day of our Advent reading. You know how long it was fun? One day. It was fun for one day. Then it became a chore where I was a drill sergeant barking instructions at my kids to get these ornaments finished before dinner!
This year I have a much more manageable plan – a weekly Advent activity, on a day that works for our schedule. I chose a different type of activity for each week, ending with a Birthday Party for Jesus. If you need some ideas, check out my Pinterest page.
- Week 1: Wooden Clothespin Nativity Ornament
- Week 2: Nativity Story Stones
- Week 3: Bake Angel food cake
- Week 4: Jesus’s Birthday Party
3. One Service Project
There are so many opportunities to serve during the Christmas season. It’s so easy to want to do them all! Choose one thing that resonates with your family, and have fun with it. You can even involve your kids and ask them how they want to help others this Christmas. Give them ownership over the tasks and make it an experience your kids will remember. Check with local schools, churches, and non-profit organizations for ways to serve. Here are some things we have done:
- Adopt a child or family and purchase gifts
- Volunteer at a local soup kitchen
- Hand out candy canes to workers at retail stores during busy shopping times
- Bring in food for a food drive or food pantry
- Choose some of their toys to donate to kids in need
However you choose to celebrate Advent this Christmas season, I hope that it draws your family close and reminds you of the true meaning of Christmas.
