Friday 29 November 2013

ADVENT


For our advent calendar this year we gave the kids more opportunity to serve each other and their community. We desperately want their hearts to embrace the true meaning of this beautiful season.

They all take a turn opening an envelope which contain a small treat, a joke and an activity we can enjoy as a famiy.
Here are some of the activities included this year...  we brainstormed ideas and Google helped us out with the rest!! 

Read the Christmas story
Bake for the local firestation as a way of saying thank you for their amazing service
Make cookies and take them to our neighbours
Have a slumber party beside the Christmas tree as a family
Watch a Christmas movie
Have a dinner with each of the grandparents with the (kids making it and serving them)
Take a gift and put it under the tree at Kmart
Make and decorate gingerbread men to give away
Pick up a takeaway hot chocolate and drive around the Christmas lights
Go op-shopping for kids to buy Christmas presents for their siblings (thanks Dee!)
Do something lovely for a family member
Do something lovely for a non family member
Dress up for dinner
Have a fish and chip dinner at the beach
Make and give Christmas cards for teachers and Sunday School teachers
Write a love note for all your siblings to go in their stockings
Visit Birdwoods (our favourite old fashioned lolly shop)
Make popcorn and watch Home Alone
Make paper snowflakes
Take a walk through the Redwoods together
Have a midnight feast
Make a gift and send it to Tims employer

A mix of serving others and connecting as a family  as we head into the crazy season!

(I have written down what we are doing each day in my diary as well so I am not taken by surprise or forget what's coming up. I also have only filled half the envelopes with activities so I can shuffle those last two weeks as necessary!)


Do you doing anything for Advent?
would love to hear your ideas

xx





3 comments:

  1. Kate these are great! Just making my advent calendar today so might pinch some of these ideas including your design with string and brown envelopes. Gorgeous! Particularly like the cooking for grandparent one. I'm also going to read a chapter from the storybook Bible and have them colour in a picture from that chapter for our jesse tree. Turns out there are exactly 24 chapters from the beginning until Jesus is born. Very handy (I wonder if the author knew) and I love how every chapter ends with the promise of Jesus coming so the lead up to christmas is intense. If you need an extra idea make one of them "pop into the smiths to cook smorgs over the fire." I'll let you know what night it is on our calendar so you can join us if you want! xxx

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  2. I love your ideas! I think you may have saved me a lot of time ;) I had been thinking about something simple with brown envelopes - are yours regular sized or mini ones? For our family I am hoping to do an advent book of some kind, probably one called Charlie and Noël which I will get on kindle. I want to make sure I find a way to mark advent and create traditions, without creating a truckload of stress. Thanks for this lovely post :)

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  3. OH your ideas are great! I might just steal some for next year! I also love that you have allowed yourself the freedom to juggle them around to suit the day! Love this post!

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