It's December! Christmas Advent is upon us - Bring on all things Christmas!! Today marks the beginning of advent - 4 Sundays to go. The Christmas Prep series is how I/we prep for Christmas, as a family, in the run up to Christmas. We start in the October half term by writing out our gift wish list.
We have completed our thankful November challenge #30daysofthankfulness as a family. For those unaware, as a family we choose one thing to be thankful for, each day in November. This is the start of us preparing our hearts for Christmas. It helps us to focus on the blessings we already have, to help keep us from a grumbling/complaining spirit and to help us not focus on 'stuff' in the lead up to Christmas. We each write our thankful item on a paper chain and at the end of the month we re-read our thankfulness aloud to each other and build the chain. It can be amusing to listen to our children's thankful items at times but its good to hear the different things we all appreciate. We then use this as a decoration, displayed for all to see as a reminder of all we have been thankful for.
Last week, Christmas Prep Week 3
complete all gift buying by end of November
School Christmas Fair
Costume is ready for my sons Christmas performance
Advent family study preparation and buy chocolate tubs
I have almost bought all the presents - we are making a few of the teacher gift presents so will be buying the ingredients later and I tend to buy my husbands birthday and Christmas presents at the same time, as he has a December birthday. Now I have to remain content with what has been purchased and avoid the temptation to get more.
I did manage my younger children's Christmas School Fayre and I really didn't enjoy it but my children did. I found it really overcrowded and I don't enjoy being pushed in crowds and queues. My children spent their pocket money and won some prizes. The good thing is, is that it supports the school and I'm grateful for the PTA who run it, as that is really not my cup of tea.
My youngest has been busy practising his lines and songs. His costume - he's a dad - is all labelled and in school ready for next weeks performance. We may seem super organised but fear not, he's been missing one plimsoll for a week, so hoping that turns up soon and I don't have to repurchase another pair. I'm really looking to his performance, I know he's worked hard remembering everything.
Advent has begun. We have a traditional advent calendar, where we build up the nativity scene during advent. We read from the bible, meditate over what we have just heard and pray together. The boys then choose a chocolate from the tub. During the first week of advent we are looking at scriptures that are preparing the way for the birth of Jesus. We started in Isaiah 9:6-7 The advent readings are inspired from a post on my Pinterest boards. There is such good content and ideas out there for free (rather than buy a book to study from) that we are using Pinterest as our first stop for inspiration to create our own study.
This is the plan for the week ahead...
Christmas Prep Week 4
The Christmas tree is going up! Decorating has begun
Start of choir rehearsals for my younger children for the Christmas service
Youngest Christmas school performance 'Away in a spaceship'
Plan Christmas Activities for December
Start collecting Christmas food ideas/leaflets
Christmas Prep Series:
Are Christmas preparations in full swing for you?