Advent Season - Jotham's Journey

Did you know Advent season begins this Sunday? Did you know each color of the candles in an Advent wreath represent something different? Does your family pay attention to this part of the Christmas season?

We didn’t.

Sure, we've heard a few teachings from pastors over the years, but we've never been inspired to do anything more. This year, our pastor shared how his family of six recognizes the coming birth of Christ and celebrates the beginning of a new Church year in his own home.

We were inspired.

Come over to Grace & Truth Living and see how our family is celebrating this Advent season.

ADORENAMENTS

We try to do a morning devotion each day before the kids head off to school. At Grace's request, we are now doing these each morning as a countdown to Christmas. They are a product from Dennis Rainey's 'Family Life Today' organization. There are twelve different ornaments representing twelve different names used for Jesus. I have let the children each take a turn at reading the little devotion inside each ornament and sharing what it means to them. After reading, they get to place the ornament on our Christmas tree.

Our children still have the chocolate advent calendars every night after dinner, but this new family tradition I pray will become a lasting one. It has been such a blessing to bring Jesus front and center where He belongs this season.

**I checked and found out that they no longer sell these through 'Family Life' (they were a gift from Papa and Nana), and I couldn't find them on Ebay or Half.com either. Dagnabbitt!**

Do you have a traditional countdown to Christmas that you do with your family???

A Fun Craft To Do With The Kids

I was blown away by how many of you went out and purchased your own Thanksgiving tablecloths this week. It touches my heart to know that other families are going to have this same wonderful Thanksgiving tradition. So I decided to show you a creative little idea I came up with a few years ago (check out picture).

I put paint on each of my four children's hands (they picked out the colors of their own fingers, I mean feathers). Next I pressed their painted hands against a heavy piece of paper, card stock heavy. Have extra paper on hand in case of mistakes. Our youngest was three years old when we did this and he just couldn't figure out how to open his fingers. Afterwards, I added a few touches myself like, the eyes, the beak and the turkey feet. I also wrote their names by their hands (I wish I had let them do that instead) and of courss added the month and the year. When I was done I wrote on the bottom, 'God Bless Our Turkeys'

I purchased a nice gold frame to jazz it up and now it is an heirloom that I hang on our wall every Thanksgiving holiday. Just like the tablecloth, with each passing year it becomes more and more precious to me.

Our Thanksgiving Tradition

"Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving..." Psalm 100:4

Six years ago I was reading a magazine and saw what I thought was a wonderful Thanksgiving idea. The next day I ran out and bought a linen tablecloth and some fabric pens from the craft store. When the holiday arrived, after the family finished their turkey dinner, I got out the pens and passed them around. Everyone took their turn at writing down on the tablecloth what they were thankful for.

As the years have passed, this linen tablecloth has become more and more precious to me. Notes of my family's gratitude, for children, spouses, our country and our God, now dance across the pale yellow cloth. All of the grandma’s and grandpa’s in our family have signed it, each small child has outlined his or her hand on it. Now every Thanksgiving you will find guests gathering around the table reading and laughing at the memories. The children who are too young to read, look to find their handprints to see how much they may have grown.

Getting to read messages left by relatives and friends every year is something I am so thankful for. Though they may not be able to share in person each and every turkey dinner with us, their words remain to touch our hearts and to remind me to offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for each and every one of them.