9 Ways to Celebrate Advent as a Family and Bring Meaning to Christmas.
Choosing to celebrate Advent as a family has brought so much meaning to the Christmas season. Advent is a significant way that we keep our focus on Jesus and not on all the gifts and treats! There are so many ways to make Advent special. Perhaps you already have some family traditions or maybe you are wondering what language I am speaking here!
What is Advent?
Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus which literally means “coming.” So, celebrating advent means celebrating the coming of Christ. It has a double meaning because it celebrates his first coming when he was born in Bethlehem. Advent also anticipates Christ’s second coming!
If you grew up Lutheran or Catholic you are certainly familiar with Advent. Most liturgical church traditions recognize Advent as the beginning of the church calendar. If you grew up Baptist or Non-Denominational it might be a more vague concept for you. Either way, there are no set rules regarding how to celebrate Advent so I hope to give you ideas that will prompt a brand new tradition or refresh an old one in your family!
When is Advent?
Advent includes the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and Christmas Day. Different traditions include a range of just the four Sundays plus Christmas to each individual day in between. This year (2021) Advent begins on November 28th! A key to successful celebration in our home has been planning ahead. With such an early start this year, being ready for Advent will make a big different for us. I encourage you to check out my article about Getting Ahead on Christmas and print off my FREE PRINTABLE CHRISTMAS PLANNER to help you!
9 Ways to celebrate Advent at Home
Sing Carols
Even if you aren’t a musical family, singing carols at home is a great way to bring celebrate Advent and set your hearts on Christ together. I can (sort of) play the piano, but we generally just sing A Capella at our house. It doesn’t always sound “professional” but we don’t care! We have hymnals we use, but we have also printed off song sheets with words before. I made a FREE EBOOK for you with 10 of our family’s favorite carols. You can download and print it off here:
Since we have young children we try to choose one or two each year to sing regularly so that our children can really learn the words. These become cemented as favorites and their “Christmas Carol Banks” grow a little each year. Then, when we sing these carols in church my little kids can sing along and participate more fully.
We also like to pull out little kid instruments for them. We want this to be engaging and memorable and a little shaker will do that for a 2 year old!
Use Advent Candles or an Advent Wreath
Many traditions use candles or an Advent wreath with candles. You can buy them or create your own. There are 4 (sometimes 5) candles – one for each week of Advent and sometimes one for Christmas Day. You light one candle the first week, two the second week, and so on. Each week the light is brighter as a symbol of the light of Christ coming into the world. Often you’ll see purple and pink candles but you can use any color!
In our home we like to light our advent candles plus a bajillion more. We turn on our tree and turn off all the other lights. There is a mood that feels so special with just the candles and Christmas lights!
If you have little kids candles might feel a bit risky on several levels. In our home we have taught our children that candles are hot and that they can not touch them without our help. We’ve never had an issue. We do watch them diligently as toddlers! If you are real worried about burns, wax spills, and fire you could opt for battery operated candles or just put them out of reach. Setting the “mood” is great way to celebrate Advent no matter how you do it!
Choose 4 Readings or Topics to Celebrate Advent
Before children my husband and I used to read from a devotional or choose a poem for each week. When kids entered the picture we learned that we “lost” them with our adult level readings. The point is to celebrate Advent as a family and our kids are an important part of our family! So, we consider what will be meaningful for the little ones and then, after they’ve gone to bed, my husband and I will carry on a little later with something higher level for us. Here are some ideas we’ve used:
- Talk about 4-5 characters in the Christmas Story. For example, spend a week on shepherds, angels, wise men, Mary and Joseph, and then Baby Jesus!
- Learn 4 verses of a Christmas Carol
- Choose 4 short verses in the Bible and read those.
- Choose 4 children’s picture books and do a read aloud each time.
- Utilize a family devotional that is at the level of your family.
- Write and do a family skit! You could do a different skit each week or 4 scenes. If you do this, use props!
- Choose 4 reasons that Jesus came and briefly talk about one each week. For example, He came to be the light of the world, He came to die, He came to dwell with us, He came to live perfectly because we can not, etc.
Tie Advent to a Special Meal or Treat
If you’ve read any of my other blog posts you might pick up on the fact that I feel strongly about tying spiritually significant events to tangible experiences. When you think about Christmas chances are that along with the joy of Christ comes warm fuzzy memories of traditional foods and smells in your home! That is what I mean. Connect Advent celebrations to special foods!
It might be a special cookie or candy. Egg Nog or Cocoa will work. Maybe you make something together and form that into a tradition. Or a special meal! Be creative here – there are no boundaries! We have a meal that we eat upstairs in our living room. Yes, it does get messy sometimes – nothing our dog and vacuum can’t handle! We have egg nog, summer sausage, cheese, fruit, cookies, pickles, etc. The reason for our choice is twofold. First, we all enjoy those foods. Second, it involves no cooking and almost no work for me!
Make Celebrating Advent Engaging and Fun for Little Ones
I think I have touched on this in the above points, but it needs to be enjoyable for everyone. A stuffy and boring tradition is not worth the effort. You want to impress upon hearts something that will last through generations. Use instruments even if they make an obnoxious racket. Do fun activities. Allow more cookies than you normally would. The coming of Christ was the most joyful event in all of history! Your celebration of it should at least include a fraction of that joy! You can get some more ideas from this post on family devotions.
Celebrate Advent with a Calendar
There are different types of Advent Calendars. There are the kinds with 24 little doors that each hold a little candy. Those accomplish the “fun” part but don’t add a lot of spiritual meaning. Then there are the kind where you talk about a different symbol or a different part of the Christmas story each time. If you look up “Jesse Tree” on Pinterest you’ll find loads of ideas for these. We have one we do each night at dinner to celebrate Advent.
This Jesse Tree Advent set looks nice and you can get it through Amazon
VermontChristmas on Etsy.
This one is from MandysFavoriteThings.
Open 4 Gifts During Advent
Our kids are always so excited about the gifts part of Christmas. We like to have them open a little something during Advent too. Sometimes that is one of their gifts. We’ve also given books, ornaments, pieces to our Nativity set, or more “stocking stuffer” type gifts. We don’t do Santa or stockings in our house so sometimes Advent is a nice opportunity to give them things like new markers or tights that they can wear with their Christmas dresses!
Do Something to Share Hope with Others
I have a friend who always gives and Advent basket. This was a tradition she shared with her mom before her mom died. They would gather up 24 small gifts (chocolates, books, socks, ornaments, etc.) and wrap and number each one. They would find a huge basket or container and deliver it anonymously to someone at the beginning of the season.
You could go caroling with your family or gather up a group from your church! Caroling may seem like a thing of the past but it is an incredibly fun way to celebrate Advent.
Perhaps your family chooses to volunteer in some way or contribute to a charity each week of Christmas. Or find 4 ways that you could serve others in your neighborhood or in your church. Let them know that the reason you are doing it is because of the overflowing joy and hope of Jesus!
You could bake together as a family and bring cookies to someone each week of Advent. Or perhaps you know a family who has fallen on hard times and you give gifts to their kids. It can be fun to do this anonymously too!
Tether December Traditions to Celebrate Advent
If your month is real busy this might be a great way to “kill 2 birds”. You could choose some different traditions and make them part of Advent. Week 1 you decorate the tree together, week 2 you bake cookies together, week 3 you wrap gifts for neighbors and friends together, week 4 you go caroling. As you plan out how to celebrate Advent consider if multitasking in this way might bless your family. If you do it, I think it would be a good idea to write it down and repeat the same routine each year so that it becomes a tradition.
This is how our family Celebrates Advent
I remember celebrating Advent growing up. My dad worked in retail and I think, in part, this was a way to help him to unwind, let go of the stress of work, and focus on Jesus. We have incorporated some of the traditions of my childhood and added new ones to make this our own. Keep in mind that you and your husband should not default to what one of your families always did – but make your own new traditions as a family!
On Sunday evenings we close out the weekend with our Advent celebration. My great Aunt had these little glass dinner trays that were passed down to me. We load them up with our favorite “snacky” foods such as summer sausage or ham, cheese, crackers, fruit, pickles, olives, lefse (I am super scandinavian), and plenty of cookies and sweets. We also have egg nog or apple juice for the toddler. The kids run around and turn off all the lights while my husband lights candles and turns on Christmas music. We gather upstairs near our tree and eat dinner together.
After we’ve pretty much eaten we light the next Advent candle and my husband will lead us in whatever reading or “devotional” we chose that year. We try to keep this short and engaging. Then we sing! We start with whatever new carol we are learning and then do “requests” until it feels like we are done. The little kids pull out our shakers and maracas and dance while we sing.
At the very end sometimes we have the kids open a small gift. This is different for us each year. Then, it is off to bed for the little ones. Usually my husband and I will come back and re-light candles and sit together. We’ll read something together or just talk.
I hope that these tips help you to make Advent a memorable time for your family! Don’t forget to sign up for your free ebook so that you can easily sing carols together as a family!
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of my links and then go on to make an Amazon purchase I may receive a small commission. The Etsy links are not affiliate links. All ideas are my own and I am not paid to promote anything.
Ruth, it is so encouraging to realize that some of the values I wanted to pass on to you as your mom “took”. I have many fond memories of our family Advent celebrations… in 42 years of marriage, we haven’t missed a single year. Truthfully, they were not always warm and cozy and successful – I remember some of my “best laid plans” being sabotaged by my own lack of preparation, fighting siblings, sullen teenagers – and a crabby mother (me!) But, the significant memory that stands out is the way that prioritizing celebrating Advent those four Sunday evenings each year truly focused our hearts and minds on the celebration of the Incarnation. Christmas became so much more than one day, decorations, and presents. I would encourage your readers to start small – don’t start “traditions” that are so involved and complicated that you won’t be able to carry them on. Enjoy the opportunity you have in this season of your children’s lives – make this FUN! Ruth, reading your blog brings great joy to this mom’s heart.
Thanks Mom! I am so thankful for the ways you made our home intentional growing up – I wish everyone could experience the same thing! It is interesting how different a mother’s perspective is: When I look back I only remember the sweet times (none of the “sabotaged” plans!) Love you!