Tuesday, December 2, 2008

a new tradition

This year I decided to include an advent calendar in our daily routine. We have done one in the past, where we opened a little slot each day and got a piece of chocolate. This one is different. I had to do a little legwork, but found a list of 25 small items that have some symbolic meaning. I also have a scripture reading that relates to each item. For example, on Dec. 1 Abigail found a quarter in the pocket. We talked about its value and how we also have 25 days until Christmas. She commented that a quarter would not help her much with Christmas shopping, and that led into the story of the widow's mite and how she gave all she had, and while it did not seem like much, in God's eyes it was a HUGE gift because of her heart. I am looking forward to using this each day, and to see Abigail SO excited to learn about the day's item/lesson is wonderful:)


We enjoy Veggie Tales at our house...and when I found this on sale after Thanksgiving, I snatched it up. The little candy cane is attached to the dowel and we simply put it in the correct day as we take out our object lesson.

I had actually bought a kit so we could make an advent calendar, but we did not get to it in time. Maybe we can make it later and give it as a gift to someone special for next year's use:)

2 comments:

Christy said...

Last year I had found this neat advent-type idea to use. It's called a Jessie Tree. I went out and bought all the stuff with every intention of using it the following year. Of course it was stored in my closet and forgotten about until the other day when I was looking for something else. I saw all these items and thought, "What in the world is this for?". I didn't remember it until I was looking through under my "favorites" for websites and I saw the link to the Jessie Tree instruction. Well, now I feel like it's too late to it this year, so I probably won't do it - AGAIN! I like your gift idea, though. Maybe the kids and I should put it together and give it as a gift to someone. You're so smart!

Mrs. Laura Aquila, the teacher said...

I'd never heard of a Jesse tree until I moved here and taught at a Catholic school. I had forgotten all about it until my neighbor (a former Catholic) mentioned it.

We're enjoying the advent calendar this year.....