Creating an Advent Tradition

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One of our favorite things to do this time of year is to celebrate the Advent season.

What is Advent?

The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God.  (The Voice)

 

For the past decade or so, our family has been reading three wonderful Advent books that have become our family tradition, and have been permanently imprinted on our children’s heart.

Read the full article at The Marathon Mom.

Donut Tradition Lives On....Maybe

Early this morning, Daddy surprised the kids with donuts!  Some of you may remember that we used to have a fun donut tradition. 

Back when Greg was an on-the-truck-Fire-Fighter (he is a Fire Inspector now), he worked 24 hour shifts (24 on, 24 off...7am to7am).  Every other Friday was "Payday Friday" and he happened to be off on payday Fridays.  The beloved tradition was that he would stop at Krispy Kreme on his way home from work, specifically on "payday Fridays". 

It's something we did for years.  And it's something our kids looked forward to and loved very much.  Sadly, the Krispy Kreme closed and our tradition came to a screeching halt.  Yes....there was always the grocery store, but buying donuts from the grocery store just wasn't quite the same.  In addition, Greg no longer works the 24 on, 24 off shifts, which means he works on "Payday Fridays".  : (

So for those of you who haven't read about how much our kids love donuts....or the story about the devastating day we realized Krispy Kreme was shut down, you gotta go back and read them.  These were written about five years ago, back when my blog was called Sabo Family Dynamics.  It was primarily a family blog that I kept out of the mainstream public.  But since I went public and have new readers (hi, new friends!), I'd love for you to read some of my older stuff.  :)

As far as this morning, well, a new donut shop opened up about 8 miles down the road.  But of course, it's Saturday and not Friday.  I suppose we could begin our tradition again, but "Day-after-payday-Friday" doesn't quite have the same ring.  And 8 miles down the road isn't on Daddy's way home (because he's already home).  So, I think we'll just make it an occasional fun surprise like we did this morning.  :) 

It was neat to see the looks on their faces when Daddy unexpectedly walked in the door with those iconic boxes.  They all thought he was still sleeping.  Sneaky...and so fun!

Does your family have a special tradition that would be utterly sad to see come to a sudden stop?

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Making Advent Special

*Repost

I cannot believe we're almost finished with October!  In just a little over a month, our family will begin reading the third book of our favorite Advent series. 

Jotham's Journey, Bartholomew's Passage, and Tabitha's Travels by Arnold Ytreeide are all beautifully interwoven stories that lead up to Jesus' birth.  Each character is lead on a different journey full of adventure and nail-biting cliffhangers.  Your kids will hardly be able to wait for the next day's reading.

Even though our older children have heard these stories numerous times, they still look forward to hearing them again every year.  And for our younger ones, it's a brand new story as they grow each year and begin to understand the beauty of Advent.  It's become a wonderful tradition in our family....one that we hope they'll continue in their own families.

You begin reading the story on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and read a section each day until you finally arrive at Christmas morning...the reading of Christ's birth.

Our first night of reading, we sit around the table with big mugs of hot chocolate.  It is such fun time for our family.

On Christmas morning, the tradition is to eat breakfast first.....gotta feed those hungry vulchers.  Then, we do nothing else until we've read our final Advent story.  It really sets the tone for what Christmas means to our family as Christ-followers, and why we celebrate His glorious birth.

If you're not already reading these, I highly recommend them.  If you can only order one, begin with Jotham's Journey, and try to collect one a year until you've acquired all three. 

Your family will love these, and the time spent reading together is a time to be cherished!


















"With these books you will begin a rich tradition of nativity celebration in your household."



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