Seven Quick Takes: Advent Ready?

Well, ready might be overstating it, but at least we dragged all the Advent and Christmas stuff out of the basement and into the guest room!


We do six things each day in Advent (because we have six kids), and the kids rotate through who does what.


1. One thing is to choose a Christmas decoration to put up, hence all the stuff on the bed!


2. The second is to unwrap a Christmas book which we then read.  This year I came to grips with the fact that there will never be 52 days in Advent, so I could let go of a few of the less favorite books.


3. The third is the Jesse Tree.  We usually use this little tree to hang our ornaments (they're in the bag), but we are talking about drawing each symbol this year. Haven't figured it out yet!

4. The fourth is lighting/blowing out the Advent candles.  We use these glass protected candles which has saved us from ever burning any houses or children, even when we had wee ones blowing out the candles.

We'll make the wreath on the first Sunday of Advent (we set the candles in a pie plate and surround it with evergreen bits from the yard).


It looks very pretty, even if Choclo thought it was the Advent Nest for the first few years of his life!


5. The fifth is the Advent House!  It has a piece of the (Playmobil) nativity scene and 6 pieces of candy behind each door.


6. And the sixth is the paper calendar.  I love this one because opening the windows around the edge leaves the center picture intact.



7. Besides the individual stuff, we always have an empty manger to which we add hay.

 We try to do good deeds, make small sacrifices, or spend extra time praying to prepare our hearts for Christmas.

Each time, we put a little hay in the manger to make Baby Jesus' bed (and our hearts) a little softer when He comes.

 We have a very beautiful statue that we put in the manger at Christmas and it is always the first thing the kids look for on Christmas morning.

8. Bonus! Since this will be the Year of Mercy, we will be learning about the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, and seeing how many of them we can do this Advent!

Also: In organizing the Christmas stuff in the spare room, I started wondering if I would have enough room on the floor for present wrapping.

My solution was to put the outdoor stuff in the little guest bathroom.
 
It wasn't until I had done it that I realized...


Baby shower!


Happy almost Advent!  More fun with Kelly!