This year I researched a lot on Advent and how to incorporate it into our family Christmas.  I came up with a good schedule of activities and crafts and Bible passages.  I also found “The Christmas Angel” instead of jumping on the Elf on the Shelf bandwagon.  Our Christmas Angel showed up every morning to tell us how we were going to bless someone else by spreading the real meaning of Christmas.  It was precious and I loved it.  The boys liked her too.  I hope to find new and different ways to do this every year!  We did fun and interesting things all throughout December and read and re-read the Christmas story a LOT!

We go to Krispy Kreme every Christmas Eve!  It’s a tradition now and the boys talk about their snowman donut all year long!

 We made LOTS of Christmas cookies and treats and bagged them up to take around on Christmas Eve.

We visited the hospital and the boys passed the treats out,

We took some to the policemen who are working on Christmas Eve instead of being home with their families.

I ran by the nursing home and then the boys played for a bit at a local train park!

We were having a very normal Christmas Eve until Noah woke up from nap with a very high fever.  I packed us up and headed to the ER to get this under control so we wouldn’t just be sitting there over Christmas waiting for the doctor’s office to open.  We were in and out in record time and I was so happy about that but it wasn’t exactly the Christmas Even I had planned or envisioned, but you go with the flow!  Noah and I got back home around bedtime and I was so concerned because I had SO much left to do, but alas, my wonderful husband thought ahead and had the boys help him do the cookies so they would have something to leave Santa before bed.

I was so surpirsed when I walked in the door and they already had the cookies rolled out!  What a thoughful husband!  He really helped me out!

Cookies and milk were ready for Santa and our boys were ready for him to come.  It wasn’t a normal Christmas Eve because Noah and I were at the ER but I definitely can’t complain!  It was a fun and educational Christmas season around here!  We had a blast!

What this Advent season taught me was that if I’m intentional about it, I can show my boys, even on the most normal of days, that we can do small things to show the love of Jesus to people around us.  It also showed me that I do a really BAD job of doing this throughout the busy year.  I’m trying hard to cultivate these things into our regular lives.  As usual, I’m not perfect but I’m a work in progress always, praise Jesus!