Celebrate the Advent

The Advent Wreath

Jesus...said, "I am the light of the world." John 8:12

Advent means the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.  Christians celebrate the advent leading up to our Savior's birth.

Bring the hope of Christmas and Advent into your home by decorating with evergreens and holly that symbolize the ongoing life and joy that the birth of Christ brings to the world.

Purple and blue, the colors of royalty are sometimes used to welcome kings.  Look around your house for items with these colors.  Maybe you have a  purple table cloth or blue plates.  Talk about how these colors remind us that Jesus was a king.

How to make your own Advent Wreath:  

Once a week before Christmas, traditionally on Sundays,

light a candle to remind you of the coming of Christ.

• Make a circle wreath to celebrate God's everlasting love.

Trim branches from evergreen trees or pick up holly from your local nursery.  You can use plastic decorations or pretty cloth as well to make a wreath to sit on a table.

• Around the circumference of the wreath evenly space four tall candles - three purple and one pink.  
• A larger white candle, symbolizing the purity of Jesus, stands in the center.

Here is another simple option.  

Make your Advent Wreath base from felt, cut out construction paper or card stock to fit around an LED candle (they sell these at Dollar Tree fyi.)

Make a center "candle", not shown in the picture.

*November 30th - 1st Sunday of Advent 

The Prophesy Candle - The Candle of Hope,
the expectation of the coming of Jesus

Light one purple candle, to symbolize Hope.

Read Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7 and Luke 1:30-35, 

Say a prayer together and then extinguish candle.

Christmas Cookbooks

Check out these free online Recipe Books, 
just in time for Christmas baking, parties and entertaining. Just click below and enjoy!

ifood.tv Christmas cookbook

and

Pillsbury Holiday Recipes

Flip the 'pages' in the bottom right corner.

Thanksgiving Turkey Crafts

It's fun to use God's nature in our art and craft projects.  Take a nice autumn hike in the woods and let the kids scavenge around for some pinecones to make this simple craft.

You'll need:

Pinecones

Elmer's Glue

Googly eyes

Construction Paper 

or

Pipe Cleaners

1) Laying the pinecone on its side, insert the feathers into the back.  Cut construction paper pieces into the shape of feathers and glue into the pinecone.

or

Bend a pipe cleaner into a loop and glue into the pinecone.

2) Glue on the eyes and beak.

Decorate your windowsills, table or use them as place cards for your Thanksgiving table.  Just slip the name card in front of the 'feathers', into the pinecone.

 

The Thankful Tree

1 Thessalonians 5:8 

Give Thanks in all circumstances, because this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Making a Thankful Tree is a wonderful way to recognize all of the blessings The Lord has given you and your family.  The simplest of things are often taken for granted and this craft will help your children appreciate those seldom recognized blessings in our lives...a favorite toy, a pet, a friend, a cozy blanket, a story book, love and hugs.  God is good, all the time!

What you will need:

•Construction Paper (red, yellow, brown, green, orange) or card stock

•putty or tape (for applying to wall)

•a Marker

 You can use these templates for your leaves or make your own :
(thanks to Enchanted Learning and My Cute Stamps Blog)

     

1) Cut out a tree trunk, the size of your choosing, with or without branches. Tape or Putty to a wall in your home that the children will be able to see up closely easily every day.

2) Cut out leaves, one for each child per day until Thanksgiving.  You can either apply all of the blank leaves at once or apply one per child each day.

3) Each day, have each child think of something that they are thankful for and write it on the leaf.  Put the leaf above the tree trunk (for branch-less) or on a branch.  

4) As the leaves are put on the tree, say a prayer to thank God for that blessing.

Thanksgiving pot holders

What a great idea Tammie came up with.
Make a set of these cute little Thanksgiving memoirs 

for you and each set of Grandparents:

Supplies needed:
Fabric paint
White or light colored pot holders (I've seen them at the dollar store)

Step 1:  Paint child's palm and thumb brown, paint the four fingers various colors.

Step 2: Lay the hand down onto the pot holder, pressing down on each finger and hand,  to make sure the paint transfers.   Lift hand straight up.

Step 3: With the fabric paint, add the legs, eye, beak and whatever you choose to write underneath.

Thanksgiving table decor - diy napkin rings

    So many adorable varieties and easy for the kids to make!

Indian Corn Buttons
Supplies needed: felt, buttons, popsicle sticks, tacky glue and a small paintbrush

For each napkin ring, cut a 4" x 5.5" piece of felt.  Starting at one end of the felt, glue on 12 popsicle sticks, using the paintbrush to spread the glue.  Line the sticks up side by side.
Once the glue is dry, form a ring by gluing the overlapped felt together.
Glue on rows of buttons.  Once glue is dried completely, they are ready to use.  Just insert a napkin!

from Family Fun

Button Rings

Supplies needed: 20 gauge craft wire, needle nosed pliers, buttons

Cut a 7 inch section from your wire.   

Using needle nosed pliers, crimp one end of the wire to prevent buttons from sliding off.   

Begin sliding on the buttons in random order.

Once your wire is full, use the pliers again to twist the two ends together.

Beaded Rings
Same concept, just use beads instead.  Too cute!
Supplies needed: 20 gauge craft wire, pliers, various beads

from Buggy & Buddy

Acorn Clusters:
I really like the idea of making the sweet looking wool roving acorns, but not sure if I will have the time to tackle them this fall.  I do know that the more I look at them, the more I want to make them! 

Click above picture for the tutorial on making these wool acorns.

Heart warming holiday commercials

Publix Supermarkets  in the south sell these cute salt & pepper shakers.  I still have mine and remember their adorable commercials & had to share with you!