There are 24 days until Christmas, and there is just something about this month that brings back lots of memories. As I trim the Christmas tree, I do a lot of reflecting, each ornament carrying special meaning, and I thought this might be a good time to share some of those thoughts. So as I take a trip down memory lane, I hope you will join me and will stop back for more in days to come…
When my kids were small, I loved to do Advent calendars. Sometimes I would buy the paper kind where you flip the door open to see what lay beneath. Other times we had the chocolate kind, but that didn’t work as well with three kids unless I bought three calendars, because everyone knows you need three pieces of candy, one for each child, and the calendars only held one.
So one year, to remedy that single treat situation, I decided to make my own calendar. I took a big piece of red felt and strung it on a wooden dowel, then cut squares of red and green felt to tie onto it with red or green yarn – red squares got green yarn, green squares got red yarn. I remember jabbing myself with the scissors pretty hard in the process of making it, so you could say that calendar was created with blood, sweat, and tears…mostly blood and tears, but oh well…We hung it above the couch and each day the boys would take turns opening the pouches. Inside were tucked little surprises – candy, small toys and trinkets, and verses that told the story of Jesus’ first advent to earth.
Besides the Advent calendar, we also had an advent wreath and would light the candles each Sunday of December and together would read the Scriptures. I had a book of advent ideas and we used a few of them. We made paper snowflakes with verses on them and hung them from the overhead kitchen light.
We also had a big flannel board that we set in front of the fireplace (when we weren’t using it.) It was actually just a big piece of plywood with soft material draped over it. On it, we would set up the scene with flannel pieces of Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, and as the days of Advent went by we added the shepherds and wise men and their animals. Just seeing the visual in the family room was a constant reminder of why we celebrate.
That was just one of our nativity scenes. More on our nativity displays next time…
Selah~
