Advent Week 1: Make Your House Fair (as you are able...)

Twist my arm and get me to write a post about Advent, eh?

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We're reading books from this list and listening to this CD on repeat (kid-friendly AND adult-friendly advent music? Sign me up! Thanks for the tip, Erica!), as well as Advent at Ephesus. I do NOT have all our presents bought, but I think I have ideas for everyone. I think. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime, though... I always forget somebody!

We're three days into this calendar and really enjoying it, as the kids do every year. I still haven't figured out what to do with the books because our mini-tree ends up getting dragged all over the house, and the twins are FREAKING OUT if I don't put the books back every time I read them so... For now it's just sitting on top of the stack of books for Advent.

Nobody has noticed that the stack of books is just hidden under that towel right there. Sneaky mom, right here. Also, get yourself this candle snuffer and eliminate the issue of over-zealous candle blowers who spray wax on the walls! 

What, are mine the only kids who do that? Well, in any case, the snuffer is working great!

This was the Advent wreath until this evening - it's been raining nonstop so today was the first day I could look in the yard for decent greenery to accessorize. Of course, Peter decided to take a 10-minute nap, so it ended up just being my mom taking the other kids out to look for stuff. Most of it they took to their atrium classes to build a wreath there, but we can get more.

I decided not to try to incorporate the moss...

I added their sweet little pinecones, though, and replaced our old sad candles with nice new beeswax ones that Andrew ordered. 

I've decided to abandon most of our schooling, replacing most subjects with our Advent books - today John Paul was given the option of telling me about Mortimer's Christmas Manger (gosh, it's just such a sweet book!) by copying a sentence from the book, drawing a picture, or making a mouse out of construction paper. 

Instead, he decided to make a ton of paper stars, which I interpreted as him trying to make the chain that's on the Christmas tree. 

Mostly it just ended up being construction paper scraps everywhere. 

And he decided to trim some of the larger stars in a very odd way... I think he was trying to make them fit into each other?

Thankfully, at least one of the twins was entertaining herself...

I'm gonna go ahead and call this #sign for Theme Thursday and #HolyLens because I forgot to take that darned tag off the wreath!!!

I feel somewhat festive, because we have a wreath up earlier than usual (thanks to my sister!). But other than that, I haven't felt inclined to do a ton of decorating yet. The outside of our house is begging for quite a bit of decorating, but I'm holding off and waiting for post-Christmas sales so I can get good deals on garlands and ribbons and wreaths so that we can really deck the place out next year.

There seems to have been a horrible accident! Mary and Joseph are face down outside the stable and there's a hatchet next to the fire...

I like to get out one nativity each week so that they're not overwhelmed by ALL THE TOYS all at once. I'm going to need to revisit that policy though, because there's been so much fighting over the Playmobil nativity that I've been tempted to get others out just so everybody has a chance to play! Mostly it's Cecilia taking the wings off the angel to turn her into a little girl named Angela (fitting, I suppose) while John Paul makes the shepherd be a wizard and then they all play family and try to get Mary Claire not to throw everything on the floor.

Needless to say, I think they'll be happy when they get their new Little People Nativity for St. Nicholas Day...

Peter's stocking came in the mail and the kids keep filling it with toys and hanging it up (accompanied by Cecilia's "Rapunzel braid" in this picture), and then I get confused about where all his toys ended up... Now I remember why I didn't hang the stockings until Christmas Eve last year - because this is what ALWAYS ends up happening!

Meanwhile, this weekend will be full of what I'll call totally Advent-appropriate activities: Tree planting!

Because root of Jesse, right? And tree roots? Totally counts...

 That's a lot of trees. Meanwhile I'll be trying to keep the kids out of the way while perhaps also trying to help John Paul build a stable for our nativity. This will end well, I'm sure...

How goes YOUR Advent? Best ever? Am I the only one on the internet NOT doing a Jesse tree? (One of these years... I just really couldn't add anything this year, once again!)