Family Advent Activities ... December 16 - 22
Begin your family Advent devotion on December 16 by lighting all the purple candles on your Advent wreath. After the Advent devotion, move Mary and Joseph on their "Journey to the Manger" to position 2. Move the shepherds and sheep to position 3, and place the Wise Men at position 4. Remember to allow all family members to share in reading Scripture, reading devotional content, lighting and extinguishing candles, and moving Nativity figures.
The family activity we suggest this week is one of the first family traditions we established, and no other is more meaningful to us than this one. After moving the Nativity figures, talk together as a family to identify one or more events in the life of your family since last Christmas that were especially important, significant, or meaningful. Then decide on what kind of Christ-mas tree ornament could appropriately represent each event. Assign family members to make or shop for those ornaments and be prepared to add them to your tree on December 23.
Hint: An ornament can be almost anything not too heavy to hang on your tree. "Ornaments" on our tree may include pieces of cloth, small figures, two tiny toy trucks, a strip of copper, a slice of wood, small souvenirs from trips and events, tiny framed pictures, doodads, pieces of glass and ceramic, tiny books, and just about anything else you can think of. You can imagine the collection after almost 35 years! Our tree may look like a yard sale collection to you, but it is beautiful to us because almost every item on it has a special memory attached. We encourage you to begin now building your Christmas tree into a Tree of Memories.