



Each year, I feel like Advent arrives suddenly and I'm ill-prepared to deal with the onslaught of projects, parties, and decorating, let alone the meaningful times of teaching our children and reflecting on the birth of Christ, that tend to come in full flurry at this time of year.


Since I know I'm not alone in this, I've put together a few tips for preparing for the season. Here are six things to consider to keep the season joyful this year.

Prepare Your Advent Calendar



The Jesse Tree


A Jesse Tree is a unique Advent calendar, if you will. Basically, it's a small tree that gets covered with symbols of God's relationship with His people and the prophecies pointing to Christ's birth. Usually Advent calendars break the actual Christmas story up into little bite size pieces so that you take the full month to read the account of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, the birth in the stable, the arrival of the shepherds and Wise Men, and maybe even the escape into Egypt.

Those narratives are a wonderful way to get to know the Christmas story itself, but the Jesse Tree takes it a step farther and gives it deeper meaning. Through all of Advent, rather than reading parts of the Christmas story itself, the Jesse Tree focuses on readings drawn from throughout the Old Testament that point to Christ's coming. During the week of Christmas, we arrive at the Christmas story and on Christmas Day, we read of Christ's birth. It is an absolute joy to watch children grow in their understanding of why Christ came to earth and why His birth was so incredibly special.

Supplies to gather ahead:

  • ornaments OR gift tags and art supplies – there are many lovely pre-made sets of Jesse Tree ornaments you can buy, as well as pre-designed symbols you can cut and paste through the month. We have found it simplest and the most meaningful, however, to have our children make their own ornaments each day reflecting the day's reading and discussion, usually by drawing a depiction of the day's story on a gift tag and then hanging that on the tree.
  • ornament hooks
  • a Bible

Other Advent Calendar Ideas



Make a Gift Idea List, a Budget, and a Timeline

Now is the time to think about gifts. If you're making homemade gifts this year, you need time to gather your supplies and actually make them. If you're purchasing your gifts, it's helpful to decide whether you can find what you need locally or whether you need to source them online and account for shipping and handling time.



Plan Your Charitable Giving

This is a season of giving and when we find ways to give generously, be it with our money or with our time, our hearts and spirits are kept light – it's good for us, not just for the recipients of our gifts.

The key here is to be both creative and generous. You could anonymously pay for someone else's coffee, bake and deliver cookies to a local old-age home with your children, help serve a meal at a soup kitchen on Christmas Eve, give a donation to a local charity, or purchase an “alternative gift” through organizations such as World Vision or Partners International.


Organize Your Calendar

It obviously makes sense to write down parties and and your children's school Christmas program on the family calendar, but I find it essential to also plan all the decorating, cookie-making,  tree-trimming, and even meals for the month so that nothing gets lost in the shuffle and I can see what's coming. For example, from experience I know it will take our family one evening to choose a tree and get it home and an entire separate evening to decorate it. Thus, I know I have to look at the calendar and find a time when we have two consecutive evenings available and then plan extra-quick meals on those nights. It's one of our favorite parts of the season, so we make time and it's worth the effort!

Decide What's Important THIS Year


What I have found helps make the season more joyful is to look ahead and to realistically decide what I can incorporate THIS year. If I know I just won't have time to bake the hundreds of cookies that I love to do each year, I can decide ahead of time that that's not realistic and then set that expectation aside. If I know I'll have plenty of time for handmaking all my gifts, I can schedule it in and then get them all done, but if I know I won't have the time or energy this year, I can go back to my gift idea list and choose a frugal, meaningful, purchased gift and relieve myself of the expectation that I can work on those handmade gifts “tomorrow” and end each day stressed that I still didn't get them done.

This extends to parties too. If you want to make family time a priority this year and you know that all the party invitations you'll receive will affect that time together, choose a set number of party invitations you'll accept and then stick to that number, or choose only one day of the week that you're willing to attend social functions, such as Saturday. Choose what works for you and fill your schedule according to your priorities.

Enjoy the Season



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