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Getting Ready for Advent

Hey, look!  I'm ahead of the game for a bit.  It's not yet Thanksgiving, but I'm getting an Advent post up!  Of course, this is mostly because I needed to prepare for it in our schooling time, and Advent starts just three days after Thanksgiving.  Yikes!

In the past, I've done a lot to prepare for Advent.  In both 2010 and 2011, I made a daily activity project and Bible reading.  As fun as these were, I'm learning more about how our days go, and I know that we'll be setting ourselves up for failure if I try to do too much.  So this year, I'm planning on just coming up with some things that I'd like to see happen this December and let them fall where they may.

Advent Readings and Books

 For our daily advent readings, we will be reading through Jotham's Journey: A Storybook for Advent.  In the past I've found a lot of other devotionals, and our church usually comes out with one as well.  We also have a few other longer picture books about Advent that we may or may not get to including The Indescribable Gift by Richard Exley and Mouse Tales: Things Hoped For by Ruth L. Boling. We will also use our Advent Wreath.

Other picture books that we own and enjoy:

  • Christ-centered books:
    • The Nativity by Ruth Sanderson
    • Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones
    • Christmas in the Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
    • The Christmas Pageant by Jacqueline Rogers
    • The Very First Christmas by Paul L. Maier
    • This is No Fairy Tale by Dale Tolmasoff
    • The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt
    • Jacob's Gift by Max Lucado
    • The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg
    • The Legend of the Poinsetta by Tomie dePaola
    • The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats
    • Many Christmas-themed Arch books
  • Winter or other Christmas stories:
    • The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
    • The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jan Brett
    • The Hat by Jan Brett
    • The Mitten by Jan Brett
    • The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
    • Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
    • One Winter's Day by M. Christina Butler
    • The Nutcracker by David Delamare
Since we have over 25 of them, we may wrap them all up and let the kids unwrap one picture book each day of December.  I saw this idea originally on Pinterest, and if you Google it, you'll find lots of other great 25 Jesus-Centered Christmas book lists.

Downtown Seattle Day

 We always like to have a downtown day.  This year, my family will be coming up for the first full weekend in December, and we'll be celebrating N's birthday with them by going downtown.  At N's request, we are going to go on Ride the Ducks much to his father's chagrin.  =)  We also would like to see the Gingerbread Village, the Teddy Bear Suite, ride the winter carousel at Westlake Center, and see the Winter Train and Village at the Seattle Center.

Other Events

  • Decorate for Christmas! - hopefully the day after Thanksgiving or that Saturday
  • Go see the Christmas lights at Olympic Manor (I'd like to walk it this year with a hot drink, of course!)
  • Wildlights at the Zoo
  • Z's preschool Christmas performance on 12/9, and N's Kid's Choir performing at Arden on 12/15
  • Visit Swanson's Nursery to see the reindeer

Other Fun Stuff I'd Like to Do

  • Make a Gingerbread House - we already got one from Costco
  • Do some Advent Coloring Pages
  • Make some 3D Paper Snowflakes - but not let it catch on fire!
  • Decorate Christmas cookies
  • Have a snow day - maybe the Ice Caves? (probably won't happen until January though)
  • Spend lots of time reading next to our Christmas tree and fireplace  =)
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