Some Advent ideas

We are enjoying the advent season at the Noonan home. We made decorations out of left over Christmas tree branches and some holly for our front porch. Each night we are reading from Christmas books and an advent book. Samuel came home today with reindeer antlers so we sang Rudolph a couple times and then Lucy sang "Go tell it on the Mountain" at the top of her lungs while running up and down the hallway (it reminded me of another little redhead girl I know who wanted to sing Go Tell it on the Moutain).

I would love to hear some of the ways you are celebrating advent and the Christmas season. I had a friend ask about the books we are reading right now and I thought I would list some of them and a couple of ideas I have heard about. There is no way to incorporate all the good ideas you hear but some will be better for children at different ages and some may work for your family and some may not.

One thing I did hear about when we were living in Indiana was that a family would save the trunk from their live Christmas tree and use it to make a cross at Easter to connect the two holidays in their children’s minds. I hope we can do that this year and begin to bring a tangible connection to the two celebrations.

Jesse Tree – this is another way to celebrate advent – go to this website to read more about this.

Have an advent calendar that your children can count down to Christmas. This can be as simple as some toilet paper tubes in a garland or glued together like a tree (see here for where I got my idea) with either a verse and candy inside or a “time ticket” for something you are going to do with your children that day (drink hot chocolate, watch a movie, read a book, decorate the tree, mail cards, etc)

And there is also the Little People nativity set and advent calendar

OK – here are the books we have (you can borrow any of mine or look at them if you want to know more about them) – l would love to know if your family has some other books they enjoy.

1. We have several books that tell the Christmas story – the same basic Biblical story – one is a pop up, one is lift the flap, one is from when I was a kid, one has bright pictures and one is very simple. It’s neat to see the children fill in the gaps since each story focuses on something different.

2. Advent Storybook - 24 Stories to Share Before Christmas– about a Little Bear’s journey to Bethlehem to see the “little Child”. Each day he meets another animal or character and learns more about God in the process. Each night we read from this book.

3. The Advent Book by Jack and Kathy Stockman (these people also have a website that gives some good ideas about celebrating each holiday) – open a different door each day that has a piece of the Christmas story from the Bible. You can also make one like this that my friend Jessica made that has verses for each day and talks about the Christmas story.

4. When all the World was Waiting by Workeman – This seems like it will be a great book for when the children are a little older. It has a story and activity for each evening. This one is out of print but can be found used.

5. God Gave us Christmas by Lisa T. Bergren – a story about a Polar Bear Mama and an adventure she has with her little cub to explain that God invented Christmas. It touches on Santa in a way suitable for those with differing opinions on the guy. http://www.amazon.com/God-Gave-Us-Christmas-Us/dp/1400071755

6. The Last Straw – I got to visit my friend Sarah in Greenville this past week (Thanks friend!) and Lucy enjoyed this book of theirs about one of the camels that carried gifts from the wisemen to the baby.

7. Richard Scarry’s The Animals’ Merry Christmas –(there is a new edition and old edition) this has some short stories in it about animals and Christmas. Some of them are good some not so good but animals are always a hit around here.

8. Nutcracker – this is a great story for that little 4 year old who needs a little sword fighting action between a nutcracker and a seven headed mouse king.

9. The Legend of the Candy Cane – The Inspirational Story of Our Favorite Christmas Story – A story about a little girl named Lucy and how she helps the new candy business in town set up and about the candy cane.

10. The Legend of Saint Nicholas- A story of Christmas Giving – there are several of these out there that tell the well known story of how Saint Nicholas began his tradition of “giving”. I’ve read one about how the presents end up in the stocking but this one seems to work well with our St. Nicholas Day tradition.

All of these stories could be improved upon and none are perfect but books are a great way for us to enjoy the season. We have a couple of music CD's - the LITTLE PEOPLE one is a favorite for our children and the Fernando Ortega one is my most played this season. We also have been listening to the Christmas songs on the radio - Lucy told me today that for Christmas she wants "my two front teeth and an hippopatamus"

What are some of your fav books or music to celebrate the season?