Our Advent Activities recap

These are in no particular order and I, of course, didn't get pictures of everything we did. We also didn't follow our plan exactly (as I knew we wouldn't) but it was so nice to have a plan and to have activities prepared in advance. My favorite part this year was teaching the girls about other countries and praying for friends/family serving in other places. Catherine can now correctly identify a handful of countries on the world map too, which is a plus.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

our multiple attempts at Christmas photos, outtakes included

The one we decided on

a runner up

Catherine looks so cute, but Ann is eating her own hand

 This is where they almost dropped Abigail...

...so we tried another pose. But that wasn't very successful either

Advent 2015

Last year my mother in law gifted us an Advent calendar and a box of prepared activities for the Christmas season. This year I wanted to do similar things but I know myself well enough to now that if I don't have it planned out in advance, it won't happen. Here's what we plan to do. I also know that there will be days that we miss, skip, or re-arrange. (Grace, people!) Feel free to use parts or all of this as it suits you. A few of the activities were left over from what we skipped/didn't get to last year. Many come from this blog  written by a friend of a friend, although we will only use the countries/cultures that have current meaning to our family.


 

Judd Advent Activities 2015

Date	Devotional	Fun	For others
1 Tuesday	TCM: Israel/Jerusalem	Advent party	Invite a friend
2 Wed		Hang stockings	Make/decorate a stocking to give away
3 Thurs		Make ornaments (photo below	Give some away
4 Fri		New puzzle	Hug in the mail (photo below)
5 Sat		Movement cards	Make a set to give away
6 Sun	WGWFC 1
7	WGWFC 2	Make Cookies	Share with neighbors
8	WGWFC 3	Bird feeder
9	WGWFC 4	Spiced dough ornaments (Photo below)
10	WGWFC 5	Make Cider
11	WGWFC 6	Take family photos
12	WGWFC 7	Ride yao yao che	Leave money for next child
13 Sun	Germany (Dec6)	Play packs	Invite German friend for dinner
14	India (Dec 2)	Indian food	Pray for M&A family
15		Play dough	Make some for schoolgirls
16	Nepal B’s and D	Give new stamps	Make cards for neighbors
17	Mongolia	Talk about our giving to developmental center
18	Prepare manger scene	Learn character’s names in Chinese	Tell the story to the school girls
19		Paint nails
20  Sun	France Dec 20 Tyson
21		Make cards	Give cards to service people (water man, dry cleaners, Qimuge, Wuye)
22	Ecuador Dec 22		Call Jeremiah
23	USA Dec 23		Call relatives/friends
24			Apples for neighbors
25	CHRISTMAS!

Most activities have links that provide attribution to the original author. For the photos above, they were given to me by mother in law. If you are the owner/author of these documents, please contact me and I will happily give you proper attribution.