2 fantastic ideas families can use for advent

Two of the greatest times we have to communicate the power of the gospel in the lives our kids are weeks leading up to Christmas and Easter. Unfortunately both are hijacked by commercialism and fairy tales. I am not a hater of the Easter bunny and the Elf on the shelf, but I do get frustrated by parents who put so much effort into those things they fail to make the most of a prime opportunity to help your kids understand what the gospel is all about.

Here are a couple of very easy ways for you to put some creative energy behind helping your kids have fun, create memories and understand the gospel.

1. Traveling wise men – This is a new tradition for us. We borrowed the idea from Sally Lloyd-Jones. We let each child take turns moving the wise men and their camel around our house. They move them to a different place each day until Christmas. With each child who moves them I talk for a few minutes about what Christmas is all about. I try to help them connect their anticipation to bring the wise men to the manager on Christmas with the anticipation so many had for the Messiah. A month feels very long for the kids but they love moving the wise men all over the house.

We did the traveling wise man last year what I have since discovered is there are exactly 24 old testament stories in Sally’s storybook Bible. We will be adding this to our tradition. 24 stories from the old testament that all point to our Savior king.  Here is the blog link that I got the following reading plan from http://homewiththeboys.net/jesus-storybook-bible-advent-curriculum-collectors-edition-and-more/

2. The truth is in the tinsel – For those of you who are crafty. I am not one of those people. A friend of mine wrote a fantastic advent devotional where you walk your kids through the journey to Christmas and you make an ornament each day to put in the tree as a reminder of that part of the journey. It is a fantastic resource and many of the crafts are a blast even for a non-craft person like myself. Here is the link to Amanda’s site. http://truthinthetinsel.com/

– One more option is from my good friends at Lifeway here is the link to their post about it. http://blog.lifeway.com/kidsministry101/2013/11/12/walk-through-advent-with-kids-using-an-advent-calendar/#.UoI7z3BJPNI