Advent | Activities | Christmas Day | Party | Twelve Days of Christmas | Books & Websites | Make an Advent Wreath
ADVENT
The purpose of Advent is to prepare for Christmas and to make the Christmas season a spiritually meaningful and joyous time.
General Guidelines:
1. Plan ahead— preferably before December 1st.
Evaluate, read idea books, meet with family (or roommate, etc.). Make specific plans.
2. Try to get tasks such as shopping and major cleaning done before the beginning of Advent.
3. Make Christmas a season, rather than a day. You may even want to use the words Advent or Christmastime when referring to the holiday(s).
4. Put your energy, enthusiasm, and emphasis on the traditions and activities you and your family truly affirm and enjoy. If there are other activities in which feel you must participate, do them as simply as possible.
5. Create traditions. Don’t be intimidated by cultural or historic traditions if they aren’t meaningful to you— Modify them, discard them, or adopt those you like from other cultures. Establish traditions for such things as devotional activities, annual events, readings, food, and decorations. Teenagers will more willingly participate in activities if they are traditions.
There are many traditions the Stockman family developed over the years, but one activity transformed our Christmas observance. This was a simple daily family worship time focused on reading the story of Jesus’ birth, a little at a time, in a handmade book designed like an Advent calendar. Ours used Christmas cards for pictures of Mary, Joseph, the angels, etc. (We did find a card with Elizabeth & Mary, but never one of Herod.) For over twenty years, we have been reading this Christmas story almost every night during the month of December, along with lighting Advent candles, singing a carol, and praying. God eventually led us to start sharing the ideas which we gathered and researched and then to publication of The Advent Book, first by Crossway Books from 2000-2007, now by us.
The published version of The Advent Book (Click Here)
Advent Candles & Wreaths
Advent candles may be any color. The most traditional choice is three purple and one pink candle. Purple is the color of repentance, an appropriate attitude when preparing for Christ’s coming. The pink candle represents joy and typically is lit on the third Sunday. White candles, which we use, are also common. The center Christ candle usually is white regardless of the colors of the other candles. Over the years, Christians have assigned various meanings to the Advent candles. Here are some examples.
First Candle: Prophets, Faith, or History
Second Candle: Angels, Joy, or New Birth
Third Candle: Shepherds, Love, or Jesus’ Second Coming
Fourth Candle: Wise Men, Hope, or Peace
Our family gives each candle two meanings. We call the first candle the Prophets candle, and it represents faith. The prophets had faith that the promised Messiah would come. The second candle is the Angels candle; it signifies joy. The news the angels told brought joy. The Shepherds candle, our third, is associated with love because the shepherds went to worship Jesus, who is love. Hope is the significance of the Wise Men candle, our fourth. The Wise Men from the East remind us that Jesus was sent not only for the Jewish people, but for every nation.
This is the basic format we use for family worship during Advent: We acknowledge the meanings we’ve given to the Advent candle(s) and light the appropriate one(s); we read the pages of The Advent Book, beginning with Day 1 and ending on the current date; we sing a carol, pray, and blow out the candle(s), again acknowledging the meanings we’ve chosen. We also enjoy extending our worship time as often as possible, reading an additional story or Scripture passage, singing more carols, and finishing up with hot chocolate and cookies.
We light a fifth candle on Christmas Eve. It is placed in a candleholder in the center of the wreath. We like to use a holder that is several inches tall so that the center candle, which represents Christ, stands higher than the rest.
We recommend using high quality tall candles if you plan to burn them often. We keep ours burning every evening during the entire family worship time and the first candle is sometimes only about an inch tall by Christmas Eve!
Our Favorite Activities for the Celebration of Christmas
MORE IDEAS FOR THE ADVENT SEASON
One alternative to an Advent wreath is an Advent log, which is a real log with twenty-four evenly spaced holes drilled in which to place candles. You light a new candle each night starting from the outside ends and alternating left and right sides each night. As in the traditional wreath, you relight each candle that was already lit. The candles will eventually come to form the shape of a Christmas tree if they are lit for approximately the same time each night. You could assign a designation or meaning to each candle if desired.
Give children a nativity set to play with or let them have a new figure to put out every day. (If you do it every day, you’ll need to use lots of sheep, shepherds, angels, etc.) Have Joseph & Mary and the wisemen figures “travel” a little bit closer to the stable every day. Start Joseph and Mary out in a nearby room and have them arrive on Christmas, when you can give the children baby Jesus to place in the manger. The wisemen can start out from a garage or basement, arriving at the manger on Epiphany (January 6th), which commemorates the day the Magi visited Jesus.
Playmobile Nativity Set
Decorate with Jesse Tree ornaments, symbols of important events and/or people in Biblical history from creation to Jesus’ birth. You can order Jesse Tree ornaments on Etsy.com or buy the book, The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp and download ornaments to print and cut out. (One Etsy option: Jesse Tree Ornaments by InspiredTraditions — See picture below.) Both of these resources come with readings. You could also read One Wintry Night, written by Ruth Bell Graham and illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson.
Another custom we’ve always liked is to choose one Christmas card to read each day at dinner and pray for the sender(s). If it’s someone like an out-of-town relative or an old college roommate whom your children don’t know, tell them about the person— especially if you have some funny or interesting memories. Even if you do not send out dozens of Christmas cards, consider sending a card along with a letter and prayer for that person or family to people you know might especially need or appreciate a greeting this season.
Listening to Christmas carols throughout the day always lifts our spirits. We especially enjoy listening to playlists that we created years ago, which not only allow us to hear our favorite songs again and again, but brings back warm memories. If you don’t have a personal Christmas playlist, we recommend you create one during this Advent season.
Have a “Silent Night” — no TV, CD’s, radio, video games, computer, etc. Meditate, read, pray.
Compile a special library of Christmas books to reread each year. Some parents wrap up all their books every year and let the children unwrap one every day. On Christmas Eve, have a new book to be opened.
Have dinner in front of the Christmas tree one evening. You can set up a card table, use TV trays, or just have finger food such as pizza. Play Christmas music or watch a Christmas movie.
CHRISTMAS
Christmas Day for the Stockmans always spent with Kathy’s family, most of whom live nearby. Over the years, we established many traditions. One that we feel has been particularly meaningful is a Christmas pageant performed by the cousins. It was first produced by the moms, Kathy, Mary, and Julie, but as the kids got older, they took on more responsibility. Each year we chose a retelling of the birth of Jesus from a different point of view, usually inspired by a children’s book, which we then turned into a script. Occasionally we were lucky enough to find an appropriate play and adapted that script to the number and ages of our children. We videotaped the plays ahead of time and watched them on Christmas Day, along with at least one or two tapes of past plays. Now that the “children” are adults, we no longer make plays, but have at least a dozen of their plays on a DVD that we still enjoy watching.
We also had mini Christmas recitals. In what was a fortunate fun tradition, most of the girls in the family chose to become flute players and the boys, trumpet players. (A few played drums too, but (un)surprisingly, we didn’t feature them on Christmas.) We enjoyed the special music—especially after the musicians had benefited from a few years of lessons!
One of the traditions that no one has outgrown is our Question Time. Years ago we made “goodie bags” for each family member. Each year we refill the bags with inexpensive candy, accessories, toiletries, etc. (We have kept these bags intact over the years by never allowing them to be removed from the room. After everyone has retrieved all their items, they’re issued zip lock baggies to use to take home them home.)
The goodie bags are distributed one at a time, starting with either the youngest or oldest person and going up or down. Before family members open their bags, they must answer a question. (A great resource for question ideas is the Christmas Chat Pack by Bret Nicholaus & Paul Lowrie.) We always provide three to chose from and we have new ones every year.
One is usually one “just for fun” ~ (i.e., What is the best gift you ever received?)
One is related to sharing a personal experience or family history ~
(i.e., What is the most surprising thing that happened to you this year? or What Christmas from your past would you like to revisit?)
One is related to the meaning of the holiday ~ (i.e., If you could send a Christmas card to everyone in the world, what would it say?)
The answers can be surprising, interesting, meaningful, and/or humorous!
Every year we also take a photo of all the kids with some fun silly prop. They have worn or held everything from flashing reindeer antlers or Santa’s beards to gift bags and halos. Here are a few of our past photos:
Party!
Christmas parties at the Stockman home alway follows the same format. We put luminaria up the front walk to welcome people and have decorations, candles, music, and fragrance to set the mood. The first part of the party is socializing over fondues— cheese and chocolate. When everyone has arrived and had a chance to visit with each other, we play a game. It is a specially prepared Christmas version of games like Taboo, Pictionary, Outburst, Trivial Pursuit, Scattegories, Name That Tune, or Wheel of Fortune. After the game (which is usually very boisterous and rowdy), Jack reads a Christmas story with the illustrations projected on the wall via slides. Then the guests have a chance to stretch out and visit over Christmas cookies & desserts with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. The next activity is an exchange of small gifts such as candles, coffees, Christmas ornaments, etc. (The gifts are placed under the Christmas tree when the guests arrive.) Before a person or couple can choose and open their gift, they must… Yes, you guessed it— Answer a Question! We follow the same format as with our family Question time, except that we do NOT take turns according to age. The party traditionally ends with the lighting of our Advent candles and singing of Christmas carols, closing with Silent Night.
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
The twelve days of Christmas is the time from December 26th to January 6th, Epiphany. (The word Epiphany means to appear to be manifest. The significance of the day Epiphany is the visit of the Magi to Jesus. Epiphany celebrates the fact that Christ came not only for the Jewish nation, but also for the rest of the world. It marks a turning point in history.) To take some pressure off of the Christmas season, we incorporate the Twelve Days of Christmas into our celebration. By December 26th (hopefully!) the decorating, shopping, and other tasks are done and it is a more relaxed time to savor Christmas activities.
When our children were younger, we gave them gifts to be used during this time—a game to play, craft project to do, or place to go together. One year when both of our children were away at college for most of the month of December and we were not able to have many days of Advent together, we gave them a small gift on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Some were very simple, such as a note stating that we were cooking their favorite meal and dessert (or eating at Taco Bell). Some were small wrapped presents. They enjoyed the extra attention, as well as the gifts. You might do this with other family members or friends—a certificate promising a spouse an evening out, a mom an afternoon tea or massage, a sister a day of babysitting, a friend a promise to accompany her while she braves the Returns lines at the mall— followed by a rejuvenating snack or meal in a favorite spot.
This is a good time to spend an evening looking at family pictures and videos of Christmases past. Make some popcorn~ You can not only eat it, but string it for outdoor decorations and/or to feed the birds.
The last tradition we always do each year involves taking down our Christmas tree. Due to the large number of ornaments we have, it’s a big task and not surprisingly, it lacks the sense of excitement that was present when we put them up. We invite a family over for dinner and warn them up front that the cost of the dinner is the expectation that they will help take down the ornaments and try to help us finish off the last of our Christmas cookies. We do excuse them from the unpleasant task of removing and untangling the lights and disposing of the tree!
Traditions have been an important part of our celebration of Christmas for over three decades, but there are also times when change is appropriate. We have had to make several in recent years, as our children (and nieces & nephews) have become young adults, gone away to college, moved, and married. Our goal is to hold onto what is important and still relevant, and at the same time, find new ways to enhance our family life.
We are always looking for new ideas for Christmas activities and traditions not only to use, but to share with others. If you would be willing to tell us about a favorite of yours, please share it on our Celebrations & Traditions Facebook page (Facebook.com/pages/Celebrations-and-Traditions) or email us at [email protected].) If you got the idea from a book, please let us know that so we can properly attribute it to the author. We would love to hear from you!
Celebration of Christmas Booklet
We offer a Celebration of Christmas booklet with a lot more information & ideas for free at our presentations and for sale on our store page. The booklet has a hundred good ideas for Advent, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the Twelve Days of Christmas, and Epiphany.
RECOMMENDED WEBSITES & BOOKS
The following is a list of websites and books we recommend. Some of the books are stories or devotional readings and others are resources for information and ideas. Many of the books were published in the 80’s & 90’s and are out of print, but hopefully all can be found through the Internet (second hand usually)— and they are worth the effort of searching.
Information, activities, poems & stories, skits, crafts, graphics, etc.
http://www.harrisdvores.com/skits/christmas_game.html
“So You Think You Know About Christmas” quiz show game
http://www.christiananswers.net/christmas/mythsaboutchristmas.html
Factual Information about the birth of Jesus
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/word-finds/religious-christmas-wordsearch.html
Christmas Word Search
http://www.orientaltrading.com/api/search?Ntt=nativity+costumes
Nativity Costumes
Christmas Stories
(In Alphabetical Order)
An Angel’s Story
Max Lucado
Thomas Nelson 2002
Baboushka
Traditional Russian Folk Tale
Our version was published with very colorful illustrations in 1982 by Lion Publishing
An old favorite
Christmas Classics for Children
Warren, Van Woerkom, Rutz, Marxhausen, & Moore
Concordia Publishing House 1981
Out of print, but worth looking for. Great short stories for young children (4-8)
Poor and/or outdated artwork unfortunately
Fair’s Fair
Leon Garfield
Doubleday 1981
Out of print, but worth looking for. Not about the Christmas story per se, but with good values.
One of Jack’s favorites!
Jesus’ Christmas Party
Nicholas Allan
Random House 1991
Out of print, but really worth looking for.
Short, simple, & humorous– but respectful– account of the birth of Jesus
One Wintry Night
Ruth Bell Graham / Richard Jesse Watson
Baker Books 1994
The Christmas story from creation to nativity
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Barbara Robinson Harper & Row / Avon Books 1982
“Chapter book” rather than an illustrated story book
Humorous & good
The Christmas Letters
Bret Nicholaus
Questmarc Publishing 2000
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
Susan Wojciechowski / P.J. Lynch
Candlewick Press 1999
Very good
The Christmas Visitor
Anneliese Lussert / Loek Koopmans
North South Books 1998
Very good
The Gift of the Magi
O’Henry
Our favorite version was illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger and published in 1982
by Neugebauer Press
Messiah
The Greatest Sermon Ever Sung
Tony Pittenger / Illus by Jonathan Mayer
www.Facebook.com/MessiahBook 2012
Devotional explanations & beautiful illustrations for text from Handel’s “Messiah”.
The Other Wise Man
Henry van Dyke / Retold by Pamela Kennedy / Illustrated by Robert Barrett
Ideals Children’s Books 1989
Wonderful touching story with a great message
A Family Favorite
The Tale of Three Trees
A Traditional Folk Tale
Our favorite version was published in 1989 by Lion Publishing
The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas
Madeline L’Engle / Joe DeVelasco
Harold Shaw Publishers 1984
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree
Gloria Houston / Barbara Cooney
Dial Books for Young Readers 1988
Out of print, but worth looking for- Good story
Takes place in the Appalachian Mountains during WW I
Artwork fits the story well
When Mother Was Eleven-Foot-Four
Written by Jerry Camery-Hoggatt & Illustrated by Mark Elliott
Revell 2007
A Christmas story about a single parent family learning to cope with challenging circumstances
Devotional Books
(In Alphabetical Order)
A Family Advent Celebration
Dobson, Swindoll, Boice, & Sproul
NavPress 1989
O Come Let us Adore Him
Melody Carlson / Tony Meers
Crossway Books 2000
One Incredible Moment
Max Lucado
Thomas Nelson 2001
Preparing for Jesus
Walter Wangerin Jr.
Zondervan 1999
The Christ of Christmas
Calvin Miller
Broadman & Holman Publishers 2002
The Greatest Gift
Ann Voskamp
Tyndale House 2013
Readings and Reflections for Advent
Includes free download & verses for Jesse Tree ornaments
The Mary Miracle
Jack Hayford
Regal Books 1994
Information & Idea Books
(In Alphabetical Order)
Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas
Sharon Jaynes
Moody Press 2001
The Christmas Book
Alice Slaikeu Lawhead
Crossway Books 1985
Out of print, but worth looking for. Was republished in the 90’s with a different title.
Best book we’ve found for stimulating thinking about how to plan a meaningful celebration of Christmas– Good advice, information, & suggestions
The Christmas Conversation Piece
Paul Lowrie, Brett Nicholaus
Ballantine Books 2005
Now available as Kindle edition only
The Christmas Conversation Piece
Paul Lowrie, Brett Nicholaus
Ballantine Books 2005
Now available as Kindle edition only
302 conversational questions to use for Christmas
Simplify Your Holidays
Marcia Ramsland
Thomas Nelson 2008
A Christmas planner to use annually
This binder has an eight-week plan to address all details of the season, breaking each task into manageable pieces. It also has a daily devotional journal to keep you focused on the meaning of Christmas.
Mixed Content (Example: Some ideas, some devotional thoughts)
(In Alphabetical Order)
Christmas Abundance
Candy Paul
Thomas Nelson 2000
The 25 Days of Christmas
Rebecca Hayford Bauer
Thomas Nelson 1994
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift
A Family Celebration of Christmas
Ann Voskap
Tyndale House Publishers 2014
Devotions with stories, Scriptures, questions & activities, and downloadable ornaments
HOW TO MAKE AN ADVENT WREATH
We liked the idea of using an Advent wreath made of greenery, both for the symbolism (representing life and growth) and for the way it looked, but did not find any in stores.
We solved that problem by learning to make one ourselves. If you are interested in making an Advent wreath of your own, here is the method we used: Spray paint a styrofoam ring (10” diameter by 2” tall) green, then cover the bottom with green felt. (Optional: Glue Spanish moss on the top and sides as additional cover.) Insert plastic candleholders (made for floral products) and individual evergreen branches into the Styrofoam. (If you can’t find the holders, you can just put the candles in the styrofoam, but it is better to cut the holes out first.) Weave ivy (tinged with gold spray paint) through the branches and embellish with decorations such as pinecones (which may also be gold painted), holly berries, and small fruits. These may be attached with wired floral sticks. You may also wish to thread ribbon and or thin gold wire though the branches.
A simpler version may be made by using a ready-made evergreen wreath. If you can’t find one with candleholders, just use a regular wreath. Arrange the boughs so that you can place four small candleholders among them and then decorate by winding ribbon through the branches and attaching holly berries. Wind a flexible garland of greenery around the ring to cover it and decorate with a few picks that have flowers, berries, ribbons or other decorations attached— The wreaths and the decorations can be purchased at craft stores like Michaels, Jo-Ann’s, or Hobby Lobby.