I have been so loving Leigh’s advent ornaments and activities!What a great idea to focus on God’s attribues and qualities during this holiday season!

This year Lydia and I are making ornaments that showcase a different part of the Christmas story. I put a picture, sticker or object in our big advent calendar that corresponds to the Christmas story. She tries to guess what that sticker or picture has to do with the Christmas story. Then we read the section of scripture while she listens for that sticker. Finally, we make an ornament to go with it. We are supposed to be hanging these ornaments on a garland above the fireplace but we can’t get the garland to stay!

I posted days 1, 2 and 3 before I left for Disney World (see my blog for more details!) So, let’s do a little catch up on what we’ve done since then…

DAY 4: ZECHARIAH: LUKE 1:5-25

I know, this one is a little frightening. And the picture quality is grainy. That’s because my husband sent it to me via a text message. I set up three crafts for them to do while I was gone. This is the first one: Zechariah. His mouth is made from bubble wrap which Lydia popped to represent his non-talking status after his encounter with Gabriel!

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DAY 5: GABRIEL: LUKE 1:26-38

This is another one my husband and Lydia did. I gave them a few white and glittery pieces of crafty-type items and they came up with a very adorable angel if I do say so myself.

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DAY 6 & 7: MARY: LUKE 1:26-38

I wanted to do two crafts for Mary. One showcasing her obedience and the other her bravery. Instead, with my absence (and lack of pulling together another craft), my husband and Lydia made this very colorful Mary!

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DAY 8: MARY & ELIZABETH: LUKE 1:39-45

I know, they look like little pregnant Shrek dolls. We made little paper-doll cutouts, glued dresses and pregnant bellies (with scrapbooking pop-dot underneath) for the two women who believed God and received miracle babies!

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DAY 9: MARY’S SONG: LUKE 1:46-56

The CD is to remind us of Mary’s song. And on the bottom (yes, where you can’t see, because I didn’t take a picture of it) is a word Mary uses several times in her song: MIGHTY! There are so many great ideas online to make fun crafts with old CDs. We did puffy glitter paint because I don’t think you can get any more fun than that!

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I’m pretty sure you’ve noticed these ornaments are not the most beautiful things in the world. They aren’t going to grace our Christmas trees for years to come. They probably aren’t even worthy of your emulation. But what I want you to see as I post these everyday is that we are just unpacking the Bible story and highlighting special people, objects and events to help Lydia understand the story more. Reading these stories and making these ornaments is the highlight of her day!

You don’t have to do this every day. You could just sit down and make one or two of these crafts (or a better one if you have it!) to remind you and your children of the greatest story of all—the Christmas story!

So, what are you doing to celebrate advent?

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