Advent 2020: Our Family Traditions and Plans

It's almost here! In the interest of getting my *own* planning done, I'll share our Advent plans this year in case you need a little inspiration.

Please know that if you're new to celebrating Advent, particularly with young children, these are not all must-do traditions! Our family practices have evolved and been added to over the years, with just a little bit being added every year until we've ended up with a rich set of traditions. If you're just starting out, focus on your Advent wreath and maybe a few beautiful books, and pick a feast or two to celebrate with extra gusto!

51/52: Baby Fountains and Gap-Toothed Grins

50/52: Orange Slices and Eyeball Cookies

49/52: Advent-ish

Taming the Present Obsession: The Christkindl Tradition

Last year we got tired of the obsession with presents the kids developed every November and December. Moving our family gift giving to Epiphany helped quite a bit, but there was still an unhealthy preoccupation with getting more STUFF and focusing on that and that alone, much to the detriment of all the rich traditions that accompany the seasons of Advent & Christmastide. My husband wanted to quit giving presents altogether!

Before resorting to that, though, we decided to try something different...

Our 2019 Advent Books {Book Stacks + Giveaway}

 

This year is one of those years when Advent begins on December 1 and syncs up with the secular Christmas countdown, and I kind of love it! Last year I put together a calendar of our Christmas and Advent books and coordinating activities, so feel free to use that as a basic guide for yourself this year. I couldn't help adding a few more to our list, though - here are some we're adding to our collection this year:

50/52: Gingerbread Time!

49/52: Advent-ing

Saints, Scooters, & Cocoons {7 Quick Takes}

Hooray, Friday! I told the kids we would take things easy for school for Advent and John Paul is NOT pleased that this means he doesn't get to just completely slack off... But hey, we still need to do MOST of our subjects, it's just very likely that science will get dropped soon because I don't feel like reading it by the time we're done with everything else.

How about 7 Quick Takes?

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Our Book-A-Day Advent Calendar

Every Advent we set aside quite a few of our school books and replace them with books that will help us prepare for the Incarnation. It makes things beautifully low-key, and I love what a wonderful tradition it has become! In an attempt to actually plan things out this year (instead of the usual fly by the seat of my pants that I do), I'm listing our plans here. Maybe you need ideas? I hope this inspires you! These are some of our absolute favorite books! And while I can pretty much guarantee we won't get to every single thing on this list, I think we can manage most of it.

Advent Prepping! {7QT}

It's October, and already I'm seeing Christmas decorations and Costco, getting started on shopping (so I can relax come December!), and gathering my mental inventory of what we have & need to enter into this coming liturgical season fully.

It doesn't start until December 2 this year! Super-late! But I guarantee it's going to sneak up just the same... Gathering things early means you won't be Amazon-priming come December 1!

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Grab your devotional! There are tons of wonderful options this year—I'll be working through Rooted in Hope from Take Up & Read.

I was curious as to whether this study would seem to "deja vu" since I worked through it last year, but after having read the whole thing while editing, I honestly didn't remember much from last year! There's a whole extra week added on to the end to carry you through to the new year, plus all the lectio boxes are filled in so it's definitely worth grabbing the new edition!

50/52: Penitential Gingerbread Houses

My Sunday Best, Volume 83: Advent Music!

Happy Advent!! We dug out our decorations last night and the kids are SO excited to start lighting candles! Even though they're last year's candles... We'll get new ones this week, I think.

Everyone was a little disappointed that we didn't get anything out except one print, the advent wreath, and Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem. "Where are the other decorations?? The Christmas lights!!! The other nativities!!"

Seems like they forgot that we decorate slowly! Veeeery slowly. And don't finish decorating until Christmas!

Living the Twelve Days

Fun Fact: The 12 Days of Christmas are actually the days *after* Christmas (well, beginning with Christmas Day itself). Does it drive you nuts to see the crazy buildup to Christmas just... die on December 26? I hate it! We build up slowly and really try to live it up during the Octave of Christmas and the full twelve days. We do our "big" family presents on Epiphany (January 6) and I like to plan one special thing for each day until then. A lot of the time this ends up being me flying by the seat of my pants and making things up as we go, but it works for us!

Want to try to make your 12 Days of Christmas special? Here are some things we've done to encourage spending time together as a family:

49/52: Craft Time!

(I know her grip is off - we're working on it ;) )

Advent tends to be our most craft-ish time of year, and this year is no exception! Between the pre-assembled craft kits I get, prayer cards/tracings/stencils/lacing they bring home from Atrium, and the steady stream of drawings & "birthday cards" the girls produce every day, we'd be drowning in paper and stickers if I didn't so ruthlessly purge everything at the end of each day.

This has resulted in many tears from Mary Claire, who has suddenly gotten the hang of drawing people (and writing, apparently?), and expects me to KEEP the 12 birthday cards she makes for Edith every day. I really just need to find her a folder to keep all these treasures in...

My Sunday Best, Vol. 33: Fourth Sunday of Advent!

I bet you're pretty pleased that I caught a picture of Edith mid-poop, right?

A Handmade Gift Guide

Happy November!

I love being able to support my favorite artisans, but I often don't plan ahead and miss ordering deadlines... Have no fear! That's why I'm getting you this gift guide nice and early - you've got plenty of time to order from these amazing shops (and tons of coupon codes to choose from!) before they close up for the holiday rush. And every time you shop from one of these amazing ladies, you're directly benefiting their family!

Make sure to read all the way to the end of the post to enter the giveaway for some wonderful prizes that might help you get your Christmas shopping done a little earlier.

For your walls:

Advent Home Stretch

 Well, we're in the home stretch. And dare I say, I think Advent has actually gone pretty well this year? 

We're on a break from "school" right now - we were taking it pretty easy and doing a storybook Advent (inspired by Elizabeth Foss) which I loved - this one was John Paul building a block replica of a story we read. Then he was allowed to take a picture and post it on instagram himself which was VERY exciting and basically what he's always, always wanted to do.

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!