I never remember talking about Advent when I was growing up. I do remember “Advent Calendars” but it was never about Jesus, only about trying to open the window to reveal a piece of chocolate each day. It has only been in the last 10-15 years that I recall Advent being common in my church and I love how it helps to shift the focus from the secular holiday to the real meaning of the season.

There are SO MANY great resources for families for the Advent season. I will link a few of my favorites below including tons of activities on my Pinterest board. One of the special things about lighting the candle each week is that it allows one to reflect on scripture and the gift of Christ.

Week one of Advent is HOPE. Merriam-Webster defines hope as “desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment”. Take time to talk with your family about the anticipation that God’s people had as they were waiting for the Messiah. Read together Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 9:6 and focus on the promise that was given in scripture. Because we know “the rest of the story” it can be easy to gloss over the fact that God’s people were waiting for hundreds of years for the promised Messiah. There is so much to learn from waiting, although it is the hardest thing to do! Just this week I needed something for a project and rather than stop what I was doing and drive 3 minutes to the closest store, I clicked on my Amazon app, and the things I needed arrived before I woke up in the morning! If I am honest, I was really disappointed that I could not get what I needed the same day between 2 pm and 5 pm. How often do we expect God to deliver exactly what we want instantly? What I have learned in this season of my life is that God’s timing is PERFECT and that I can fully trust HIS plan.

Here are a few of my favorite Advent resources:

Exploring Advent from Focus on the Family is a great overall resource from the basics of Advent to activities to do as a family. Find it here.

There is no shortage of ways that you can focus on Jesus this season and I have included many activities on my Pinterest board.

Now, let’s get back to that order I made from Amazon. Friendship bracelets are in style and I woke up the other day thinking about how fun it would be to make friendship bracelets that help focus on Advent. Here is my finished project! These are easy to make with your kids…especially preteens and teens!