Christmas Advent Ideas

In my previous post I mentioned that this year we’ll be doing a book advent calendar activity for Christmas. I’ll probably pick some Bible readings to go along with it, although it might be a bit spur of the moment this time! One thing I’ve been set on since having kids is that our Christmas season not be merely about presents, eating, decorations and family (all good things!) but primarily focused on celebrating the birth of Jesus. For that reason, I’ve done some version of advent every year. I tend to replace our usual morning devotions with the advent Bible readings.

Here are some of the advent ideas we’ve done in the past:

1. Musings in Adelaide

These are really helpful resources put together by a lady in Adelaide (I have also linked to her Easter advent resources previously). She has older and younger kids versions, together with some activity ideas. The one we used was basically an overview of the whole Bible story (not just the Christmas story) because it helps to put the birth of Jesus into context. I put the instructions for each day in a separate numbered paper bag, with some other treats and activity components, then displayed it on a wall pegged to some string. We used this for a few years.

2. My customised version

I took the Musings in Adelaide idea and rewrote the text a bit to suit my preference for the order of readings etc and changed up the activities for a couple of years. This meant it was still fun but not the exact same thing as the year before.

3. Prepare Him Room

This is a Christmas devotional written by Marty Machowski (I’ve mentioned some of his other devotionals before). I found it to be quite different from our previous advents and aimed a bit higher. It included a story along with the Bible readings, but there weren’t really many activities. However, it instructed us to make a candle wreath with 5 candles, and increasing numbers of candles were lit as advent went on. It was nice to do something a bit different, although we did also supplement this with some of our own crafts! We also enjoyed listening to the recommended Christmas carols and to parts of Handel’s Messiah which I started including in the previous couple of years too.

4. Repeat the Sounding Joy

Last year we used Repeat the Sounding Joy by Christopher Ash for our advent readings. It was certainly aimed at a much higher level, so our younger kids probably didn’t get so much out of it, but it was a useful resource to have.

Hopefully these ideas and resources are helpful and inspiring as you consider how to make the most of the Christmas season with your kids!