Advent kind of snuck up on us this year... It started earlier than usual (and as early as possible), so it took us a few days to get our things ready, but I'm loving how we're celebrating and preparing for the birth of Jesus!
John Paul gets a new issue of Magnifikid! every Sunday (they send it a month in advance and we got a promotional month for Advent - want to buy him a subscription?), which has a special morning and evening prayer for each week. So we light the candles morning and evening and pray together as a family (Cecilia whacks herself in the chest repeatedly while we cross ourselves and then babbles along, it's adorable), singing one verse of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" before we blow out the candles.
It took a couple of weeks, but John Paul has stopped insisting on rearranging the Nativity. He got VERY upset for the first few weeks, asking where Baby Jesus was. I told him he was in Mary's tummy and he immediately lifted up his shirt and said, "And in John PAUL'S tummy!!!" Nope... So now he underestands that Mary is pregnant and Jesus is in her tummy and will be born on Christmas. Watching him kiss Mary and her tummy good night is pretty amazing.
Sister sent us this Advent calendar last year and John Paul is LOVING it this year. He gets to read a new little book in the series every day and then we hang it on the fake tree that Andrew and I bought the first year we started dating. He gets SO excited about what day it is because that means he gets to read the corresponding book! "TODAY is DECEMBER EIGHTEENTH! BECAUSE YOU GET TO WEED BOOK NUMBER EIGHTEEN!"
I'm hoping next year we can be organized enough to 1. Start Advent on time! and 2. Have the majority of our Christmas shopping done before Advent even starts. I'd rather spend this time getting excited about Jesus's birthday than be anxious about what we're supposed to buy various people...
And BOY OH BOY is John Paul excited for Jesus's birthday! Partially because he knows he's getting a basketball hoop for Christmas (he talks about this at least once a day). But also because that means we get to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus! And we get to put Baby Jesus in the manger!
One of his current favorite activities is "Talk about Mawy?" He takes the angel and Mary from the nativity Sister sent and brings them to me. Then we tell the story of the Annunciation together: "And cawwed him... EMMANUEL! Which means... GOD IS WITH US!!!"
This is definitely a more fun time of the year when you have kids to prepare with :)
He gets a really tender smile on his face when we get to Mary in A Peek-A-Boo Christmas, too. And then he says, "Mawy heaws a peacefuw sigh." And he looks very pleased.
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