Grace Family Advent Celebration

I'm literally due with baby number three any day now, so I've been spending any free time I have trying to get things done for Christmas. Things like making Christmas gifts, decorations, ordering Christmas gifts online, and most importantly, finishing up an Advent booklet. I've wanted to do this for a couple of years but always ran out of time. This year, since I'm having the baby soon, I wanted to get a plan down for how we would celebrate the season of Advent.

Now I didn't grow up observing Advent, so this is all fairly new to me. I think once we experienced great loss, Christmas became a sweeter, more longing-after holiday. I've experienced Christmas in a new way and I wanted my kids to know what Christmas was really about. I'm all about the fun and excitement of Santa Claus, Christmas cookies, decorations and what not, but they aren't so important to me anymore.

There are many Advent reading plans out there but honestly, they were too intense for me. I can't commit to a reading everyday for a month. So I created a simple weekly plan. Every Sunday you get your family or friends together to read the passage, light the candle, say a prayer and sing a song. This could be done after dinner or right before bedtime. It's totally up to you. The point is for it to be simple but also keeping the hope of Christmas the main focus.

How to Celebrate 

Print out the attached booklet. You can print it by printing all the even pages first and then the flipping the pages and print the odd ones. Or if your printer is smart it might have the option to print double-sided and then staple the papers down the middle. There are more instructions in the booklet as to what other supplies you need. If you have any problems let me know. It took me forever to figure out how to make this booklet.

The first Sunday of Advent starts this coming Sunday, November 30th. I hope you will be filled with great joy as you celebrate.

DOWNLOAD BOOKLET

I'm Still Here and I'm a Terrible Blogger

Yes, I'm still around. It's been a couple weeks since I've written anything but that hasn't been from a lack of business. This is precisely why I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I love that it gives me a platform and space to share my ideas and creativity but I hate how I often feel enslaved by it and feel like a failure when days or weeks go by without me writing anything. I don't really know how other people have time to document their life, edit photos, upload those photos and then write a cleverly written post about it. I told myself when I started that I would try to do everything from my phone because I knew that it would never happen if I had to transfer everything to my computer first.

So maybe you are awesome at blogging and post something every other day. Or maybe you're like me, who started a blog once and then life got busy and you didn't have time to update it. Good for you. I've learned that I need to be OK with being a lazy blogger. Sure I might not keep people's interest or might not generate a following, but that's not the point. I just want to share my thoughts and maybe encourage someone else to do the same.

Pumpkins

Last year we got super busy with our move, Halloween and Birthdays so we ended up merging the Pumpkin and Halloween lessons. Hopefully this year we can do everything. There are a lot of things on Pinterest about pumpkins and you might find other activities, recipes, and books that suit your family better. Please share what your family enjoys.

Books: Five Little Pumpkins (a bunch of different people have written their own versions), Pumpkins - Jacqueline Farmer, The Pumpkin Book - Gail Gibbons

Film: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. This is technically a Halloween movie, but it has pumpkin in the title so just go with it.

Activity/Art Pumpkin patch and pumpkin carving. I'm sure if you live somewhere cooler than Florida, going to a pumpkin patch is more of an event.

Music: Five Little Pumpkins. My son learned this at school last year and taught it to us. I searched all over YouTube to find the version that he was singing.

Food: Pumpkin Rice Krispie treats are ridiculously easy and always a win. They could be a good gift for the kid's friends wrapped in some cellophane. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds I have yet to find a recipe that works for me but I plan on trying this one. I will let you know how it goes.

Leaves

Books: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf - Lois Ehlert; Why do Leaves Change Color? - Betsy Maestro
Music: Leaves are Falling and for the adults Autumn Leaves
Activity: Collect Leaves. That is if you live somewhere where the leaves change, otherwise just look at a book.
Art: Watercolor leaves. This lesson says to use liquid watercolor in droppers. I've done a similar project with coffee filters and washable markers and then you spray the filter with water to get the colors to spread. Markers seem less of a hazard than liquid watercolors. But she has a template already made so we'll go with that for now. Maybe I will make my own later.
Food: Maple Leaf cookies from Trader Joe's or if you are feeling really ambitious and have lots of time on your hands you can try these Martha Stewart ones Homemade