Celebrating Advent

This year we are doing the Jesse Tree at night with Daddy for Family Worship. This is our third year to do the Jesse Tree. I think this year it is finally making sense to Josiah and Ava Beth. It is amazing how the traditions we have created as a family, get better and better as the kids get older. And the little ones follow along and get so much out of it too.

During Homeschool hours we are using "Truth In Tinsel" this year. Something brand new! It is perfect for Ezekiel's age! Josiah and Ava Beth are loving it too. "Truth In Tinsel" does not begin until December 1st. We started yesterday because I know we may have a few crazy days around here and get behind. Plus... I was too excited!  Celebrating Advent has been one of my favorite traditions at Christmas! It has totally changed the way we celebrate Christmas. It will do the same for you! I did not grow up celebrating Advent so this has been a life-changing experience for me too.

Both of these require some prep before hand, but nothing difficult. I had to gather a few supplies I did not have for "Truth In Tinsel". Nothing major. This year I used a different Jesse Tree devotion set. I will post the link below. A few weeks ago I printed all the ornaments out, then pasted onto card stock. I enjoy doing stuff like that. If that doesn't sound fun to you, here is another option. The Jesse Tree we have used in the past required less work. I cut out a big tree and taped to the wall. Then the kids colored each paper ornament. Some people just put the ornaments on their family Christmas tree. Whatever you decide will work great! This year I am using branches for our Jesse Tree. I LOVE IT! All of the ornaments we are making for "Truth In Tinsel" (we make a new one each day), we place on our big Christmas tree in the living room.

Here are some links to help you out! At the end of the week, I will post pics from our "Truth In Tinsel' project. We do an ornament every single day so I thought I would save all those pics for one blog post!

Preparing for the second coming of Christ while celebrating the first coming of Christ at Christmas! That is what Advent (Christmas) is all about! Linus tried to explained this to Charlie Brown, remember?

As believers, we await the second advent!

-Amanda

Jesse Tree from Holy Experience (the one I printed for this year. I love!)
Jesse Tree ornament print-outs for kids to color RCA (The one I have used for last two years)
Jesse Tree Devotions from RCA

Truth In Tinsel