Advent

Starting this Sunday, we, as a family, break out the Advent wreath to begin celebrating the birth of our savior. We read a Scripture, or more, that pertains to the birth of Jesus. Starting with old testament prophecies and lead up to the new testament and the birth. Then we read a bit about the things Christ did, while on earth and how our lives are affected now.

We light one pink candle each week for four weeks and finish up with the purple candle on Christmas week. Another, unique, thing we do is wrap a bunch of biblical children's stories in Christmas paper. The kids, after we read the scriptures and blow out the candle, pick one book to unwrap and we read to them. It really has become a special time for our family and has added great depth to the Christmas season without stressing the material things. (It also helps that we don't have T.V. and we, nor the kids, get inundated with flashy commercials.)

We really have come to enjoy the Christmas season much more this way. Tell me, what do you do in your homes?