Ideas for Observing Advent

We've been out of town and other things happening so I'm a little behind on my christmas blog posts, but better late than never.  Today I wanted to share how we are observing Advent in our home this year.  Each year since we have had Silas I have tried to come up with a way to teach him about Christmas and make our home more about the Joy of Christ than anything else (even though I still enjoy all sorts of fun parts of the season).  We've done calendars in years past which have been great and this year we decided to add in doing advent candles as well.  Its just a way for us to sit down as a family, remember the meaning of the coming of Christ, talk about what it means for us together and set time apart to focus on God.  

So, this is really a non-traditional way of doing advent candles.   I just used things I already had - I didn't really have the exact colors and its also not in a wreath form but it still works.  I don't know if its so much about making sure colors and shapes are right as its more about setting aside time in your hearts and having time to worship together.  

I put together 4 of these candles just using jars, a little faux snow, candles and an ornament.  I also have a larger candle set aside for the Christ candle that we will light on Christmas Eve.  

This year I just really wanted to not get too caught up in the meaningless things that this season can bring.  I had so much fun decorating our house (I'll share more this week)  but I chose to only use the things that had meaning and that we enjoyed.  I didn't put things out just because I have them (we have way too many christmas boxes in the attic).  Our tree only has ornaments on it that has a memory, Silas decorated with all of his homemade treasures and we had fun - (not stress) doing it.  Things just seem simplified but still really festive and meaningful and we are loving it.  

In addition to the candles I also utilized our newly painted chalkboard door to make a calendar to help us countdown.  This year we chose 25 names of God to represent each day until Christmas.  I love this so much.  Its such a great reminder and has been a constant place of encouragement.

Below I listed the names in case it was hard to read off of the photo so if you wanted to do something similar you could!

I hope that your season of advent is full of joy and purpose as we remember the awesome promise that God made through his Son.   ~God and sinner reconciled~

DIY Advent Calendar

Advent is just nearly upon us - the meaning of the term means coming or arrival.  We celebrate the joy of the birth of our Savior, the truth and power of his presence in our lives and anticipation and hope we have of Christ's return.  We did this together as a family last year and I am so looking forward to taking the time each day together to remember what this precious time of year is about to us.  We put a passage of scripture in each package to read together each day and even though Silas is just two my prayer is that these little moments are the beginning of a foundation of faith he will one day have.

So here's our little DIY Advent Calendar I made this year...

                              

It was super easy and I used some things I found at the dollar store, some things I already had and some things I had ordered from a really sweet etsy shop.

1.  I got all of these sweet little goodies from Paper & Present on etsy.  She had great prices and great customer service!  I received my package really quick - check her shop out!

2.  I found these red and white striped treat boxes at the dollar store.  They came in packs of six and also come with round tags (which I used) and clear little baggies - which will be really cute later on for little christmas cookies and such (double score).

So I decided to do twelve red & white striped boxes and twelve black & white chevron bags - here's how I assembled them:

1. I used leftover chalkboard tags that I had made for this project (I made extra in case I ever wanted to use them for other things).

2.  I also decided to use the round tags that came in the package - I just flipped them over, used a black permanent marker and a little red & white bakers twine to pretty it up.

3. I rummaged through my paper scraps and found some red & white checkered paper to used with the chevron bags and simply wrote the numbers on them as well.  

4.  Yay!  All of my little countdown packages were coming together.  

5.  Next thing was to grab the twine and decide on how many little spots I needed to hang things on.  I simply used duct tape to keep these little guys up - I'm keeping it simple.

The last thing was to hang up my little packages with clothespins (I used both mini and regular size) and I was all done!  Now its just waiting for us to fill them up and start counting down.

I'm so excited its now christmastime, I just love every part of it.  Do any of you have advent calendars or other Christmas traditions?  Do share!!

PS: Our Advent Calendar from Last Year  - here.

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DIY Advent Calendar

Today I'm going to share with you my first Christmas project, our Paper box advent calendar.  We will be hanging this up today, so I'll will make sure I update the picture when we do.  I really loved making this Calendar and I know we are going to enjoy counting down the days together as a family until Christmas.  I also really loved that I already had everything I needed so I didn't spend a dime on this.  If you don't have all of the supplies then it really wouldn't cost that much to make one - I'll break it down as we go.  So here's the step by step instructions on how to make your own.  

First thing is to make your paper boxes.  This is definitely the most tedious step since you have to make 25 of these and really it's folding 50.  But, I did most of them at night after everything was settled and watching tv so it wasn't too bad.  I had all of the boxes finished after two nights.  I used cardstock for my boxes - plain white and cream for the bottom part of the box and I used patterned paper for the top part.  Like I mentioned above, I just used what I already had so my paper is not traditional Christmas paper or colors but I think that gives it character.  I set out to not spend a dime on this so I just went with it.  The only supplies you need to make the boxes is paper scissors.   

First step is to fold one corner down and over, creating a triangle shape.

Next, take your scissors and cut off the excess paper on the bottom after folding your triangle.

Open your triangle back up and fold in half the opposite way.

Open up the paper again and using the center crease as a guide fold up each point to the center.

Open again and now use the crease you just made as a guide and fold each point to this crease.

Open up one more time and fold up the points one last time to the final lower crease you just created.

You should now have an entire grid of folds across your paper.

Now, it's time for the scissors again.  I drew lines below on the places you need to cut:

Just simply cut the four sides to get your paper to look like this:

You are finally ready to start putting your box together.  Start with the two larger triangle sides, folding up and in.  It should look like this:

You can hold the sides together a little tighter so you can fold in the small sides.

Just like the last step, it's an up and in fold.

And you are done!  You have a cute little box.  At this point you may want to add a little glue to the box bottom to keep everything down.  I didn't worry about doing that for this because I am going to be pinning them to a board.  Ps - you can also make these for christmas presents if you had a little gift to give.

After I had all of my boxes made I set out to decorate and number them - so it could truly be a countdown calendar (this was my favorite part of the whole project).  I decided to get out my scrap book supplies and use some number stickers and decorative paper for these.  I didn't have enough of the same number stickers for each box so I just mixed it up and used different ones.  I love the different mix of designs.  Each one is unique.

After I had all of my boxes decorated I needed to get my board ready.  I actually started making a cork board months ago and never decided how I wanted to finish it so this was the perfect project to use it with.  How I made the board:  

I found an old picture frame and removed the glass and then attached cork board squares to the cardboard backing in the frame (you can find cork board at your local craft store for around $14).  I just used the adhesive that came with the cork to attach it. 

Then I used leftover fabric I had from this project and covered the cork board by using my staple gun.

As simple as that and the board was ready for me to start sticking on my boxes.  I decided on a Christmas tree pattern and just used a pushpin to put them in place after I had the design I wanted.

Now the board is all ready and the boxes are waiting to be filled.  We are filling each box with a verse (pertaining to the coming and birth of Jesus) and a piece of candy for each of us :).  We are looking forward to stopping every day to pray and thank God for the most wonderful gift ever given.  This is one tradition I'm sure we are going to keep.

This was really an easy and fun project to make and it's something that your kids could help you with.  Making something pretty and special out of things that are just hanging around your house is so rewarding to me.  I love creating a new use for something old.

Now, don't you want to go make one?  Please share if you do or any other creative Advent Calendar Ideas you have!  Happy Christmas Crafting!

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