What a wonderful time we had at our ADVENT-ure lunch - for children and families for a time of fellowship and learning more about this season of preparation we call Advent. We had over 80 people to attend. Many, many thanks to Julia Tyler, Margaret Almond, Tuckie Paxton, Lisa Cipolletti, the Wilkinsons, the Sumners, Nancy Cowardin, the Rooneys, the Roberts, Betsy Lowery, Ann Bagwell, Christine Kellett, Jean Cauble, Raymond Street (sexton), Meg Rooney, Matt Rooney, Beth Rooney, Michael Whitty, Emily Whitty, Jordan Nurney, Abigail McAllister, Madeleine McAllister, and all the folks who helped bring in greenery. If I forgot to thank someone, mea culpa.
I wanted to provide you with the resources from our time together. Here is the folder for Advent resources. In the folder, you'll find:
Directions to make a pipe cleaner advent wreath - a good way for preschoolers or other children to have their own advent wreath and not have to worry about burning the house down.
A coloring book about the story of Jesus' birth. A good opportunity for young children to have to color and learn about the story of Jesus' birth.
We created an Advent jar at our lunch (see picture below). We took a jar and 25 popsicle sticks and wrote different ideas on each stick that will help us prepare for Jesus' coming. Some examples: Share your Christmas dinner with someone, do a favor for someone without being asked, or share your favorite Christmas memories. A lot of ideas to choose from (the ideas are in the folder). Each evening, as you eat dinner together, select one of the ideas from the jar.
Some general information for advent that will be helpful in talking with your children about Advent and its meaning. You can create your own advent wreath (we actually used an advent "box"). We got a block of Oasis (floral foam), stuck 4 candles in it (3 purple and 1 pink) and then decorated with greenery. There are all kinds of advent wreaths/boxes that you can create. Google it (when did you ever think google would become a verb).
Making Advent rocks. There are 2 different ideas for the advent rocks. One of them is a neat way to tell Jesus' story, especial for prechoolers.
Ideas for an advent chain (you would need to print out the sheet if you'd like to create an advent chain). The idea being that there are 25 scriptures and your family would read one scripture each night, cut out the strip of paper with that scripture and create a loop. Each night, you'd add to the chain. It's not necessary that you create a chain - you can still read the associated scriptures.
Children also had the opportunity to draw something that will be used for the Christmas eve bulletin cover. The instructions: draw something that is special to you about Christmas. Ideas - family, family traditions, something you have done at church, the Christmas story, friends, giving gifts. As special as Santa Clause is, please avoid any Santa pictures for this effort. I'll need the drawings from the future Picassos by December 12.
I love to hear about what families are doing to prepare themselves for the coming of the Christ Child. Share your stories and your pictures with me - what was meaningful, what ideas really stuck with your kids, what info helped you in talking about Advent with your family. Always great to share what works well for your family with others. We are a community and a support for one another.
Let us take a deep breath in this season that many people spend their time and energy wearing themselves out instead of preparing our hearts and minds for the coming of the Prince of Peace. May we be intentional in our preparation - in our words, but, more importantly, in our actions.
Some pictures - sad that I didn't get a chance to take everyone's picture. These are just some of the pictures. I'll figure out a way to show you the others.
