Preparing My Heart for CHRISTmas

I know that we haven't celebrated Thanksgiving and this post is not to jump over Thanksgiving. I LOVE THANKSGIVING as I said in my previous post. It seems like the hustle and bustle of CHRISTmas seems to start November 1st. We prepare our CHRISTmas present list (whether it be for presents we will be buying or ones that we desire for ourselves), cards we need to send, foods we are going to make. We fill in our calendar with what seems like a never ending list of activities. We get our homes all decorated. As we prepare our lists, our calendars, and our homes for CHRISTmas, let's not forget to prepare our hearts.

What in the world am I talking about? Well, CHRISTmas is the time of year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and remember that the little baby in the manger was/is the Savior of the world. He is also the 33 year old man who lived a sinless life and died an unfair, unjust, unmerciful death on the cross to take away the sins of those who would believe in Him. He is also the King of Kings who sits at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf. And He is the Lord of Lords who is coming again. We think back on the past, are thankful for the present, and are hopeful for the future we have in Christ Jesus.

I will share a few things that we do in our home/family in case anyone is interested and I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU DO IN YOURS.

#1 - We celebrate Advent for the 25 days of CHRISTmas. We use a very cute program called The Advent Event - http://theadventevent.com/index.php. *I did not get paid to endorse this program.* Each day you read a story working your way through the Bible and the kids color an ornament. Last year we just taped them across the wall in sequential order. It is a great way to show how Jesus is prevalent throughout the whole Bible. In the Old Testament people were waiting for Him and in the New Testament He arrives. We finish by talking about how we are waiting for Him to return again.

#2 - We get an Angel Tree child and shop for him/her. Before the twins were born we would just pick a child, but now we get one the age Alexis would have been and do it in memory of her. It is a sweet way to remember her and bless another child.

#3 - We go CHRISTmas caroling with our church. It is so fun to go with a big group and sing CHRISTmas songs and bless people. It is so much fun.

#4 - We go to our church's CHRISTmas musical.

#5 - We do a countdown to Santa. We draw a Santa and put the numbers on his beard. Then we glue a cotton ball each day to show how many days until he will be here.

#6 - This year we will write a letter to Santa since Luke knows how to write better.

#7 - We make homemade ornaments. The last 2 years we made dough ones and baked them and Luke painted them. It is really fun because he gets to make the dough and cookie cut and paint.

#8 - We make homemade cookies. I love to get Luke in the kitchen and bake batches of cookies. We have so much fun and make a mess but turn out some yummy cookies.

#9 - We make a gingerbread house. We use a kit and it is really easy and fun. You can find these on major sale after CHRISTmas.

#10 - We watch CHRISTmas movies and eat popcorn.

My goal this year is to have an activity to do every day until CHRISTmas. I am still coming up with more ideas.

I would love to hear things you do.