Our Advent Calendar

This year, we are doing something a little different for advent.  In the past, we have read our Advent book each night beginning on Dec. 1st.  By the time we get to the end, the kids have heard the entire story of Jesus’ birth from the book of Luke.  (The story builds on itself each night, so the children learn it well.)

This year, since we are home so much, I found something different to do.  We are using Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands.   Each day, we will read part of the Christmas story from the Bible.  Then, we will make an ornament related to that part of the story and hang on a mini Christmas tree I bought the kids at Target ($8).  We can talk about the story while we make the craft.  The crafts are really simple and age appropriate for my 3-year-old and 5-year-old.  (Luke will sit this one out this year.)

So, here is a picture of the advent calendar I made last night.

I used cardstock bookmarks from Joann's folded in half.  Then I punched the scallop circles from scrapbook paper and punched out the circles with the numbers that I printed here.  Each “day” has a clue about our story and craft for that day, and a fun Christmas activity on a sticky note (so I can change them out each year or move them around as necessary … like tonight, we plan to go see Santa at the mall, but that may or may not actually happen depending how our day goes).

The calendar itself is an 11x14 flat canvas that I had leftover from a previous craft project (they came in pack of 3) and I covered it with the red/white gingham from my scrap fabric bin.  The cards are attached to jute twine that I hot-glued to the back of the canvas.  Pretty simple.   

And just to keep it real, here is my “work station” late last night while I was putting this all together.   And for the record, I suffered a pretty bad glue gun burn on my thumb.

I will try to post our progress through the month.  I think it will be fun to have a tree full of handmade ornaments when we are done.