Here are some of the lovely ideas I found:
However, this year we decided to go a different direction. We spent Wednesday night wrapping 24 winter and Christmas books (that we already owned) for The Bean. We tied a ribbon around each one with a numbered tag on it and put them into a basket. Every night at bedtime we plan on opening that day's book and reading it to The Bean as one of his bedtime stories.
This may not be the tradition that we end up following each year, but it's one that I think is nice for this year.
Oh, and The Bean's Oma brought over a chocolate advent calendar for him. He's still a little young for chocolate, but his Mama doesn't mind. ;)
So awesome! I love your creativity. The stocking idea pulls at me and says "make me..." but I feel like by the time I got all those stockings together and decorated, the countdown would be half over... =/
ReplyDeleteI love that idea. My kids would love it.
ReplyDeleteWe have one similar to the first picture you posted, and last year Kim's mom bought the kids a wooden advent calendar. It has little drawers and each little drawer has a wooden ornament in it and the ornaments go on a Christmas tree that comes with it. It's really cool.
What a great idea! I love it!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE what you've done: creating a sacred time each night without buying new things, and as a way of drawing attention to mid-winter reading that might otherwise get neglected. I'd love to do this in the future. R.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, I'm a Pinterest junkie, too!
ReplyDeleteI love your idea -- especially because you already own the books. I grew up with its of advent calendars, but the kind that were just pictures. Chocolate or gifts seem a little weird to me. I guess I still think of advent as a time of expectation, not a time for presents. Otherwise, how is it different from christmas? I love that your idea makes the time special without the consumption element.
ReplyDeleteI just bought our household's first paper advent calendar today. I'd love to do advent candles someday, though I doubt my wife would go for it. Some years we get a single candle with the dates marked in gold from a Danish church here, which is a nice reminder to take some time together every night to reflect and be peaceful.
@Bionic Baby Mama -What are advent candles? Sounds like a nice tradition.
ReplyDeleteWe're actually doing the same thing! Chocolate and books!
ReplyDeleteWe had a set up like the third one here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_wreath
ReplyDeleteEach week in advent gets a new candle, so every night of the first week, we'd light the first candle and say a prayer, then every night of the second, light two and say two, and so on. The prayers for each candle aree really short ("the first candle is for the Jewish people, who prayed a messiah would come and help them. The second candle is for John the baptist, wh prepared the way for the coming of christ. Prepare ye the way of the lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our god") and we'd say a more free-form prayer afterwards.
It is a very nice memory for me, but yeah, no way is the wife going for that.
I sort of remember candles and banners for each week leading up to Christmas from my church-going days...
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of lighting candles as the days get shorter, but if we did it, I think it would be in a less religious context.
Check out the Danish Christmas candles. We've done that some years. I love it, and there are no prayers, just straight forward fire worship.
ReplyDeleteLovely...so many great ideas in this post! Thank you! Barefoot Mama
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous idea!
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