A Meaningful Christmas

So, for many moons now, I’ve wanted to do some sort of advent countdown with the children that was more than just opening a door and retrieving candy. We try very, very hard to make sure that our children understand the real reason for the holiday. It isn’t about presents, Santa, or some creepy looking Elf hanging out on the shelf (someone will really have to explain that whole thing to me…I just don’t get it, lol! WHY would I create more work for myself with this thing?). It’s celebrating the birth of Christ, God becoming man, the covenant fulfilled, the birth of Light into a world of darkness. Our children know all of this, but I wanted a way to bring these truths to their hearts daily in a way that they were excited about.

A few months ago, I found A Meaningful Christmas. Its a 24 day devotional made specifically for children, starting with the creation of the world and ending with Christ. There is a symbolic ornament for each day to go with the devotional. Now, here is one of the best parts.

You chose 23 girlfriends.

You assign an ornament to each of them.

You have a party.

With 23 of your girlfriends.

(Did you get that? A party. With 23 friends. Joy.)

You all swap the ornaments you’ve created, meaning that you come home with a full set of ornaments to go along with your devotions!

Would you like to see them? (Of course you do.)

{Day 1-Day 5}

{Day 6-Day 10}

{Day 11-Day 18} I didn’t get a picture of Day 12

{Day 19-Day 24}

Aren’t these just fabulous? So, as I mentioned earlier, each day has a devotion focused on some part of the great story of the world. Each of the girls took that devotion and came up with an ornament to symbolize the truths taught in their particular day.

At our party, we had yummy treats.

Basically, it was like Thanksgiving all over again.

{minus anything remotely healthy. wait! i see broccoli! but i didn’t eat that. i think i ate a bell pepper strip, but i dunked it in ranch, therefore it doesn’t count.}

We took the time to have everyone explain why they chose the design they did, and had each person share one Christmas tradition that they already do in their families. It was awesome to hear some of the things everyone does, and I think we all got some really great ideas!

I could NOT have done it without these girls! I knew I wanted to do this, but there is no way I could have pulled this off myself. Best friends rock.

{Jeannie, Christine, Hitomi, Me, Sarita}

The only sad part about the evening is the fact that once you do it, you don’t get to repeat it! We all had such a wonderful time!

So, if you are interested in doing a party next year, check out A Meaningful Christmas by clicking {here}.

Fa la la la la, la la la la!