Advent Activities 2012: Week One Wrap-Up

Each week,

not only do I hope to "wrap-up"

our homeschooling week,

I plan on summarizing our weekly

Advent Activities...

Here goes Week One's Fun...

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First,

let me "introduce" y'all to our...

...Advent Calendar.

I purchased this sweet felt calendar one

at Hobby Lobby

(I think)

at an after Christmas sale.

I have filled the pockets with different items

throughout the years.

Last year the pockets were filled with

countdown cards from

The Truth in Tinsel-

you can read more about our lovely experience with it

by looking through my

Christmas Countdown posts from last year.

This year the pockets are filled with...

...activities and ideas from Phil Vischer's

Everyday Emmanuel.

While the family goes through

this book together,

I have personally been reading through the

Good Morning Girls

Advent Study: Keeping Our Hearts Focused on Jesus.

As for our Advent wreath,

I needed to go "cheap,"

but I still wanted it to look cute,

so I headed tot he Dollar Tree with a mission...

I purchased four battery powered candles

and decorated them with Washi tape letters

to represent the different attributes discussed during advent:

Peace, Hope, Love, and Joy.

I then placed the candles...

...in a Dollar Tree wreath.

There ya have it-

an advent wreath for $5-

Woot! Woot!

***************************************

On Saturday morning,

December 1st,

the kiddos awoke to a

"Build Your Own Snowman" Breakfast

provided by...

...our

Elf on the Shelf,

Chess.

They created doughnut snowmen with icing,

mini M&M's, and peppermint marshmallows

while Super Dad read

"The Elf on the Shelf"

to them.

We then looked in the Advent Calendar,

which instructed Super Dad to read

John 1:1-12,

and discuss how Jesus brought light

into the world.

To celebrate his light,

we finished decorating...

...our Christmas tree,

and spent the evening enjoying looking at the 

Christmas lights...

...at Dollywood.

*************************************

On Sunday evening,

under the guidance of 

Everyday Emmanuel,

...we "lit" our candle of Hope,

read some scriptures,

had soem discussion,

sang a song...

...and made Hope ornaments.

We jazzed up our Hope ornaments a bit...

...by adding tissue paper squares to the back

of the "O" in Hope.

That way the Christmas lights can shine through

the ornaments...

...to remind us how Christ brought the light

of Hope into the world.

(I love the details Jungle Girl added to her Hope ornament-

she is such a creative girl!)  :0)

**************************************

On Tuesday,

we answered the question,

"Why do we call it Christmas?"...

...with the help of Buck Denver and his friends.

The kiddos also made their own advent wreathes...

...with the help of Catholic Icing's tutorial.

Other Advent inspired activities we have 

completed during week one 

included:

*Looking for our Elf Chess everyday,

and seeing what mischief

he has gotten himself into

*Watching the movie Elf

*Making Christmas Cards for our friends

*Taking Peppermint Mocha Coffee

and Sugar Cookie Pop Tarts

to a favorite friend

*Completing some gingerbread inspired

homeschool learning activities during 

******************************

My hope and prayer for myself

and my family is that throughout all our

holiday inspired fun

we will remember the reason for the season,

and keep our hearts focused on the Savior's birth...

Luke 2:10-11

 But the angel said to them,

“Do not be afraid.

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;

he is the Messiah, the Lord."