Jennifer Blacklock Blog

Advent is such a special season- looking forward to the birth of our Savior with joyful expectation and anticipation! It’s a wonderful time to slow down, focus on God and His Word- particularly the birth of Jesus, and have fun together as a family in the days leading up to Christmas.

Wanting to make the most of this season, a few years ago our family started doing some sweet and simple activities throughout the month to add more tradition- traditions are so important to the strength of the family. (Habits of the Household and Memory Making Mom are two wonderful books relating to this). You probably have more traditions thats you realize already tied to this season!

Advent activities are a wonderful way to make the whole month special and memorable. We keep them simple and wholesome (I think it misses the point if the activities become stressful or expensive or worldly). We aim to do something from our list everyday, but if that’s too much for your family, maybe aim for weekends only or just pick a few and sprinkle throughout December. Below is our list for this year as well as a second list with more ideas, so there are plenty to pick and choose from!

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◦ Cut down a tree in the national forest near us (Christmas tree permits can be bought online for $5 in our area)

◦ Decorate the tree

◦ Set up nativity

◦ Hang stockings

◦ Sleepover in the living room

◦ Make salt dough or air-dry clay ornaments (paint the year on the back for memories!)

◦ Handmade gift crafting day

◦ Luminaria walk (this is a local event)

◦ Old fashioned Christmas downtown (another local event)

◦ Advent calendar

◦ Send charity gifts- Compassion International and World Vision are both Christian organizations that help those in extreme poverty. Kids love picking out gifts to send from their catalog like chickens, goats, blankets, etc.

◦ Make gingerbread cookies

◦ Watch Christmas movies (the Grinch [2018], the Polar Express, Elf, and the Star are our favorites)

◦ Read Christmas books (wrap books and put them under the tree for kids to open one each day)

◦ Make Christmas cards for veterans home or nursing home

◦ Make wreaths (collect fallen leaves, mosses, acorns, little pine tree boughs, etc., and hot glue them onto premade wreaths)

◦ Shepherds (like elf on the shelf, the shepherds “come to life” and night and get into mischief, searching for baby Jesus, and end up at the nativity set on Christmas morning)

◦ Present shopping at the thrift store and small shops downtown

◦ Hot chocolate with marshmallows by the fire

◦ Make Christmas cards for family and friends

◦ Bonfire with s’mores

◦ Decorate wildlife tree (string up popcorn and cranberries and wrap around tree outside for birds and deer)

◦ Christmas light drive

◦ Make apple cider

◦ Donate clothes and toys

◦ Make paper snowflakes

◦ Write letters to “Santa” (we don’t pretend Santa is real, but our kids still like to play along, and looking back at the old letters is SO cute!)

◦ Winter nature walk

◦ Make treats for friends

◦ Send care package to friend or relative who lives far away

◦ Make a Christmas simmer pot (cinnamon, cloves, rosemary, orange slices, apples, cranberries, pine [or any combination of these]- not essential oils but the actual things- makes the house smell amazing without toxins and chemicals that are in most “Christmas-scented” things)

◦ Church nativity play

◦ Bake cookies for “Santa”

◦ Christmas/advent devotional

◦ Potato stamp wrapping paper (cut potatoes in half; carve designs like stars, hearts, etc.; dip in paint or ink; and stamp onto packing paper)

◦ Clean for Jesus (from beautiful book The Light at Tern Rock– clean the house “until it shines”. Play some Christmas music and have a happy attitude that will rub off on the kids!)

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Other ideas:

◦ Make candy

◦ Dehydrate orange slices for decorations

◦ Make eggnog

◦ Hang mistletoe

◦ Have a play-in-the-snow day

◦ Family photos

◦ Go ice skating

◦ Go caroling

◦ Make stocking name labels

◦ Make double batch of soup and take some a neighbor or someone else

◦ Winter scavenger hunt

◦ Christmas party

◦ Gift exchange

◦ Roast chestnuts

◦ Hot chocolate buffet

◦ Random acts of kindness

◦ Make a centerpiece for table

◦ Birthday cake for Jesus

◦ Snow cones with real snow and real fruit juice

◦ Play a board game

◦ Do a winter scene puzzle

◦ Eggnog taste off

◦ Pie taste off

◦ Candy cane hunt

◦ Roast marshmallows in fireplace/on stove/candles

◦ Go sledding/other winter sport

◦ Paint rocks with nativity scene characters

◦ Paint peg dolls as nativity figurines

◦ Paper angel garland

◦ Christmas countdown paper chain

◦ Stargaze with blankets/sleeping bags

◦ Take Christmas cookies/treats to neighbors

◦ Paper plate wreaths

◦ Make your own pizza night

◦ Make stockings

◦ Learn to needle-felt, weave, knit, embroider or crochet