Hi Everyone! Hope you are enjoying the first week of Advent! I wanted to share some photos from a friend of mine who recently made her own Advent Nature Table with her son. Irena lives in a place where it can be a bit difficult to find wooden nativity figures, so she and her son came up with a good solution: they made their own out of modeling clay!
Aren't her figures and Advent Nature Table lovely? I especially love how she added the four candles along the way. I honestly think it's a blessing when we can't find ready-made things easily, because it causes us to use our imagination and creativity!
Our family celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday, since last Thursday was a normal working day here in Germany. (The German Thanksgiving, "Erntedankfest" is in September and is always on a Sunday.) We baked a turkey and had lots of friends over to share in the festivities!
So on Sunday, we hastily gathered materials to make our Advent Nature. My children did much more of the work this time choosing the rocks and the nature finds themselves.
Aren't her figures and Advent Nature Table lovely? I especially love how she added the four candles along the way. I honestly think it's a blessing when we can't find ready-made things easily, because it causes us to use our imagination and creativity!
Our family celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday, since last Thursday was a normal working day here in Germany. (The German Thanksgiving, "Erntedankfest" is in September and is always on a Sunday.) We baked a turkey and had lots of friends over to share in the festivities!
So on Sunday, we hastily gathered materials to make our Advent Nature. My children did much more of the work this time choosing the rocks and the nature finds themselves.
I'll have some Advent Club news for you soon, as well as another Advent craft!
I love your friend's nativity figures! I am sure they will be cherished by her family for years! When I was taking training for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, they really emphasized that we should try to create our own materials, and even hand-write our prayer cards, etc (rather than using a computer). They emphasized that these handmade items really make an impression on the children, especially in our mass-manufactured world of plastic things. The children learn to appreciate beautiful simplicity, and their sub-conscious thinks "wow, someone actually made this with their hands for me to use." I could see it in the atrium where I was a catechist. Many of the handmade materials were 20 years old, but they were treated with such care and respect by the children.
ReplyDeleteHappy Advent to you and your family, Sheila!
Thank you, Cheryl! You are so right about making your own materials. It is good to see you back on-line! Advent blessings to your family as well!
DeleteGreat work, Irena and Benjamin!
ReplyDeleteHello Sheila, sweet, simple and heartfelt deco on Advent by all! I love the set up of the candles as well. During this Festival of Light on Advent, I also introduced our church children another festival of light, that is the Chanukah. My friend and I created our own Chanukiyah!
ReplyDeletehttp://janiecross.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/driedle-and-chanukah/
Thanks! I will definitely check out your post as well!
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