Advent Calendar

I finally finished my Advent calendar! I didn't realize how long this would take to complete. I've been working on it for a month. I have researched and taken some ideas from several sources and came up with this. I found a website that had several pictures of the story (sparklebox.com) so I printed them out a couple on a page and they ended up being the perfect size for my pockets. I have 15 pictures representing the story of Jesus' birth and then in the other pockets I found this cute website (makingfriends.com) that had the characters in the story. So each day is represented by a pocket and I made them so I can change the calendar every year (the numbers are hung by string on a button on the pocket.) We take out what is in the pocket and gradually tell the story of Jesus' birth. Going back and retelling the first part then adding each day until we finish the story on Christmas. Our desire is for Ev to be able to tell the story on her own. We will use the picture cards to attach to the top of the advent calendar and they will help us remember/ retell the story. Then the little characters will be added to a display of a nativity scene Ev can put together. As the story goes along we will introduce the appropriate character. I hung the calendar over a piece of art that is hanging in our dining room. Ev's chair is directly opposite of it so whenever she is sitting at the table she is looking directly at the calendar. Last night I worked hard to complete it (since today Sunday was the first day of Advent) and hung it up. When Ev saw it this morning she was jabbering all about it. Todd and I first started this family tradition our first Christmas together. This year looks a lot different since we are including Ev in it. Our time together consist of lighting the advent candle, family worship, reading/retelling the story, more worship and reviewing what we learned. We also have out our 2 board books on Jesus' birth so Ev can look through them as we are singing. We realized her attention span isn't too long so she was encouraged to shake her bell instrument as we sang. Through out the weeks we will do some crafts. This year for Thanksgiving I did a few with Ev and hung them up in the dining room and she noticed they were gone today. So she is ready for Christmas ones. I hope you enjoy reflecting and thinking about what an impact Jesus' birth was to this world over this month.