On Saturday, we celebrated a delightful Thanksgiving in the country with friends. (Thursday was a normal working day here, so we usually celebrate on the weekend afterwards.) When we came home on Sunday evening, we hastily set up our Advent candles and tried to spend some time reflecting on First Advent. I say "tried", because anyone who has children or works with them will tell you that sometimes things just don't work out the way you planned them.: ) Our Advent devotion ended up being chaotic, to say the least, but it was still worth it.
My son had a great idea to start a new family tradition. Since everyone is now old enough to light the candles with Mom & Dad's supervision, he suggested that we go from youngest to oldest and have one family member light a candle for each Advent Sunday. So our daughter got to light the beautiful candle above.
We began our journey to Bethlehem by noting the change of color from green to purple. And on the first Sunday of Advent, we remembered the prophets. The prophets pointed the way to Bethlehem many years before Jesus came. They didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but they knew that it would be in Bethlehem and that it would change everything. We then tried to read some of the prophecies from Isaiah and Micah, but that is where we lost the kids' attention.: )
For now, our Advent table like this. I will probably change it up in the next few days, but I wanted to go ahead and put something out for my children to play with and look at.
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| I decided to keep our Advent candles simple this year with rocks that we collected from Lake Baikal and "snow-covered" pine cones. |
My son had a great idea to start a new family tradition. Since everyone is now old enough to light the candles with Mom & Dad's supervision, he suggested that we go from youngest to oldest and have one family member light a candle for each Advent Sunday. So our daughter got to light the beautiful candle above.
We began our journey to Bethlehem by noting the change of color from green to purple. And on the first Sunday of Advent, we remembered the prophets. The prophets pointed the way to Bethlehem many years before Jesus came. They didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but they knew that it would be in Bethlehem and that it would change everything. We then tried to read some of the prophecies from Isaiah and Micah, but that is where we lost the kids' attention.: )
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| The first board of the Godly Play story about Advent. The hand of prophet points the way to Bethlehem. Usually the background of the board itself is blue or purple to denote the Advent weeks. It then changes to white at Christmas. My unorthodox background is white for aesthetic reasons.: ) |
For now, our Advent table like this. I will probably change it up in the next few days, but I wanted to go ahead and put something out for my children to play with and look at.
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| The Holy Family stands in front of a cross that is also the Risen Lord. The other Advents panels are behind the one for First Advent for the kids to look at. |
Sheila: Thanks for reminding me we need to get going on this! I'd love to make something like this for my girls--maybe for next year.
ReplyDeleteDu machst immer so nette Tische :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jenni and Markus!
ReplyDelete