ABC Advent

Welcome A Soft Place To Land Blog Friends! I am so glad to share this DIY Advent Project with you! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! I am posting each Wednesday for the next Advent. So be sure to check out the first two weeks that have already posted, and come back for the rest of the celebration!

Seven years ago last month we moved across the country with our then 3 year old daughter. I was expecting our second child 2 days after Christmas which was only 8 weeks away! I knew in my heart that we would not be going 'home for Christmas.' It was now up to us to create family Christmas memories. I began praying that God would give me a unique idea for our family to celebrate Christmas. My husband and I had talked many times about how we wanted Christmas to be more than just a one day present fest! We wanted to build the excitement and celebrate the entire month. We wanted to make memories that would last far beyond their growing up years.

I came across a great article in a Better Homes and Garden magazine about the celebration of Advent. I loved the idea of gathering our little ones each of the 4 Sunday's between Thanksgiving and Christmas to anticipate the 'coming' of the baby Jesus. But, our children were very young and I was not sure they would understand the more traditional version of Advent.

One sleepless night, God gave me the simplest idea that we have now celebrated for 7 years at our home. We call it ABC Advent. I would love to share it with you and hopefully inspire you to begin a tradition yourself. I have shared this with a few other mom's and they have also started to celebrate it as well. Please feel free to use this during your celebration this year!

1st Sunday after Thanksgiving: A - Announcement
2nd Sunday - B - Baby Born in Bethlehem
3rd Sunday - C - Choirs of Angels Sing
4th Sunday - D - Down on one knee
Christmas Eve - E - Emanuel - God is with us

I made a very simple Advent Wreath with 4 candles on the outside of the the circle and placed one white large candle in the center. The center candle is called the Christ Candle. Each week we light one outside candle along with the candles from the previous weeks. On Christmas Eve we light the Christ candle and all the candles. I have used the same Christ Candle for each of the past 7 years. In addition to sharing the scripture passage surrounding each "letter" we give our children a small present.

I will be posting each week in December about each 'letter' and few other ideas that I have incorporated along the way throughout our years of celebrating Advent. For now, I wanted to give you a head's up if you wanted to gather a few things and join us this year for ABC Advent.

All you need is:

1. A wreath
2. 4 - candles ( I use red taper candles)
3. 1 - large white pillar candle
4. A nativity set is helpful
5. A Bible

Looking Forward,
Stacey

P.S. I am connecting to A Soft Place To Land DIY Day!