Simple Family Advents to help Kids Wait for Christmas!
It’s sure hard for little ones to wait for Christmas. Here is a collection of ideas to fill the waiting time with love and laughter, peace and goodwill!
- Holiday Atmosphere
My friends Dale and Lori have a special tradition. The night that they set up their Christmas tree, they drink eggnog and then lay out sleeping bags next to the tree for all to sleep there. It is so fun to enjoy the wonder of the tree and its twinkling lights. Waking the next morning, the wonderful tree is still there!
Ann’s family has a simple tradition that brings ambience and wonder to their December mornings. It is simply a Christmas Candle. She likes to paint 24 tiny white dots on their long, tapered candle to count the days until Christmas. Her family burns the candle to the next dot each night as they read scriptures about Christ. It serves as a reminder of the wonder of the Christ-child and the warm light He brought to our world.
Jan has hung a string of small Christmas stockings, each with the letters to “Christmas.” Each stocking has a card in it with one attribute of the Savior that goes with that letter. It is fun for the kids to get the card from the stocking each day and read it. And Jan is glad to remind them of the traits they are all trying to develop!
Mark and I are blessed to have an advent calendar with pockets, each of which contains a felt figure of the nativity. By Christmas Eve, all the figures are there, and it’s time to put the baby in his manger.
- Secret Visitors
In Kamille’s family, a Secret Elf visits during the night starting December 1st. He leaves messages, sometimes written in chocolate chips! These memos tell the kids that he is watching them, and so to be good! The Secret Elf sometimes leaves treats, such as licorice!
Marci’s family also has a Secret Elf that comes in December. He lives in the Christmas tree and comes out to peek on the kids. This secret elf friend is the source of imaginary stories that the family tell each other about his antics and goings on deep within their tree!
Guy and Robbie have a secret friend as well—a Plastic Pickle who wears a Santa Hat! Every morning, Mr. Pickle is hiding a different place in their tree, and when a child finds him, she gets to make a wish!
Catie prefers to hide a Star rather than an Elf in her home. She was delighted to find the “Star from Afar” set that is for just that. Each day the star (and then the “wisemen”) moves/hides somewhere closer to the manger until at last, it ends up pointing to Baby Jesus! See http://www.serving-pink-lemonade.com/2015/11/a-new-holiday-tradition-christmas-star.html
- Silliness and Fun
Mark got the notion of starting a “Santa Look-Alike” Contest. We stuff pillows in our tummies, don a red hat, and apply shaving crème beards on our faces. We all laugh and take a picture quick, before the shaving crème starts to sting a little–then we wash it off! Friends of ours chose to use whipped cream to make everybody their Beard! Yum!
Bethany made a little series of advent boxes, to help the kids countdown until Christmas. Each has a slip of paper with activities or treats to make the time pass filled with fun.
Sara loves simply making red and green paper chains counting down to Christmas. Each night, one can be torn off. As the chain grows shorter, Christmas is closer! Karen modified that idea to make it even better: Each member of the family wrote one “Christmasy” thing they wanted to do on several strips of paper, such as “Visit Uncle Tim and Aunt Shelley” or “Go Caroling at the Senior Center” or “Watch a Christmas Movie and drink Wassail.” The strips were anonymously stapled into their chain. Then, each evening, there was a Christmasy activity to do together!
Michael had a fun idea. He wrapped a Christmas gift in 12 sheets of Christmas wrapping paper! Every night after Family Prayer, for the 12 days before Christmas, someone unwraps one of the layers. At last on December 24th, the gift is revealed! The kids love it! It doesn’t matter what the gift is, it’s just the unwrapping that is so thrilling.
- Service
Miranda’s favorite tradition is her “Giving Tree”. She simply makes a large paper tree and tapes it on a cupboard. Whenever her kids do service for someone during the month of December, they got to write that service on an ornament and put it on the giving tree! Her kids were so excited to come home from school and write what the service each had done that day!
Troy and Chara had a “manger” and straw for “hay”. Anytime anyone served others, they could put a piece of the hay in the manger, and the goal was to have a soft bed for the Baby Jesus before Christmas Eve.
Each of the last two times we have moved, someone has surprised us with the 12 days of Christmas. From December 13th until the 24th, there was a trinket at our doorstep! What a wonderful gift, to be remembered each night–and to be welcomed to the new neighborhood that way. It was so fun to receive a treat or a decoration or anything, with such an aura of mystery and excitement! Since these gifts were anonymous, we have wondered through the years who did it. Everyone became a suspect, so good feelings for all abound!
The Rogers family tweaked this idea by using Nativity figures as the surprise. For 10 days before Christmas, they leave a piece of the Nativity at a doorstep each night, a shepherd or a donkey, and a piece of the story of Baby Jesus piece by piece. Then, on Christmas eve is when the last piece, Baby Jesus arrives at the door.
- The Christ in Christmas
Hillary’s family reads a scripture about the Savior, sings a Christmas hymn, and tells a Christmas story for their devotionals in December. It gets everyone in the Christmas spirit.
Tamra’s very favorite tradition is their advent wreath. They use it to celebrate like they do in Germany, lighting one candle on the first Sunday night in December. Then two candles are lit on the second Sunday, three on the third, four on the fourth, and the fifth candle is lit on Christmas Eve. Each time, they dim all the other lights in the house, and sit together drinking warm cider and cookies and listening to a different account of the Christmas story each time. There is the one from Luke 2, the account in Matthew 1, the Christmas story in 3 Nephi 1 and many other stories of Christmas miracles. It’s a special time together to worship the Savior at Christmastime.
Steve and Marta have a large Nativity that they set up in their home at Christmastime. It is here where their wrapped gifts are laid. Yes, they do have a Christmas tree, and Santa leaves a gift under it for each of them. But the main focus is the gifts placed near the manger. They teach their kids that just like the Wise Men brought gifts to the Christ child, we give gifts to each other too. It helps their family focus on the reason for the Christmas season.
May your Christmas season be filled with love and joy.
See also: By Golly, Let’s Be Jolly!
Please comment below to share your Christmas traditions!