Our (homemade) Advent Calendar

I have fond memories of taking turns with my siblings, opening little windows on a paper and cardboard Advent Calendar when I was a child… How we looked forward to it every year!

We’re now compiling ingredients for our first Advent Calendar – a prize “after Christmas clearance” find from last year! Our main idea is to emphasize the Savior – the true meaning of Christmas. Therefore, in the little compartments on our Advent Calendar, I’m placing little objects that emphasize specific truths followed by the Bible verses that state those truths.

The plan is to start simply, using objects already on hand and making the rest out of clip-art on paper and cardboard (with the Bible verses, copied and pasted from BibleGateway [links included below], rolled up as little scrolls and tied with ribbons) – and then improve year by year…

Here’s the plan:

1. a heart
2. John 3:16
3. a little candle
4. John 8:12
5. a Christmas Star
6. Revelation 22:16
7. Mother and Child
8. Isaiah 7:14
9. a crown
10. Isaiah 9:6-7
11. Bethlehem skyline
12. Micah 5:2
13. the letters J-E-S-U-S
14. Matthew 1:21
15. a snowflake
16. Isaiah 1:18
17. a cross
18. Romans 5:8
19. a sheep
20. John 1:29
21. a shepherd
22. John 10:11
23. a small candy cane
    (reminiscent of “J” for Jesus and of a shepherd’s crook)
24. John 10:14
25. the nativity scene

Our almost four-year-old’s excitement is contagious! We opened Window #1 last night…