Advent is such a beautiful time to prepare for the coming of Jesus. But having children and getting to share these traditions and teachable moments with them during Advent is so fun. Here are seven of my family’s favorite and new Advent traditions to live liturgically! [LINK to video]
1. Advent Wreath. An advent wreath is a wonderful visible sign that shows the progression
through the season of advent. We keep ours in the middle of the table and light the
candles liturgically everyday during advent we light our candles at dinner, just like our parish does at mass each Sunday. You can buy an advent wreath or you can make your own like I did. I purchased three purple candles and one pink candle. If you are lookin for a advent wreath devotional this is a great one.
3. Put up a Jesse Tree — The Jesse tree is a popular tradition, and it’s one of our family’s favorite ones. It walks you through the lineage of Jesus. You’ll read a passage from the Old Testament every day leading up to the birth of Jesus on Christmas. For my full blog with lots of fun ideas CLICK HERE to read!
3. Giving Manger. My kids are very visual, so the Giving Manger is a great visual
representation of how the kindness and good deeds we give to others helps to prepare our hearts to receive baby Jesus at Christmas. How it works is you set out the empty manger
at the start of Advent and each time your kids do a good deed or an act of kindness, they get to put a piece of straw on the manger. The more good deeds and straw that goes in the
manger, the softer the bed for baby Jesus. You can either buy or make a giving manger.
The parts you will need are the manger, straw, and baby Jesus. Growing up, my parents made their own out of cardboard and paint and we used yellow yarn for the straw. I created a special printable prayer and explanation CLICK HERE to get your free copy!
4. St. Nicholas Feast Day. On December 6 we celebrate St. Nicholas’ feast day with small
gifts and baking cookies! The night before, the kids put out their shoes in anticipation of
St. Nicholas day the next day. Each child will get a different book that I wrap and put under their shoes, an ornament, Christmas Matching Pajamas for the Advent/Christmas season my favorite are these Christian Pajamas from Holy Pals and then some candy in their shoes. I started the tradition of getting each child an ornament each year and writing their initials and the year on it so that when they grow up and have their own tree, they will have some ornaments to decorate it with. In addition to celebrating on December 6, I hide a little St. Nicholas doll (pictured below) somewhere in the house every night during Advent. The kids love looking for St. Nicholas and under Saint Nicholas is a chocolate gold coins, which they can have with lunch. This is a good alternative to “elf on the shelf”. For even more ideas check out my Blog for all 7 ideas CLICK HERE to read.
Here are some fun items for a Saint Nicholas Party.
5. St. Lucy Day. We celebrate St. Lucy’s feast day on December 13 by reading her story,
eating cinnamon rolls, and having our oldest daughter Bella dress up as St. Lucy. Every
year I read the book “Lucia Saint of Light” because it tells you everything about
the feast day in story form. One of the traditions is that you make sweet rolls or hot cross buns for the day, but I cheat a little and do the cinnamon rolls out of a can, which is special for us because we never have these. The night before, Bella gets to sleep in a white night gown and then in the morning we tie a red ribbon around her waist and she gets to wear this sweet felt St. Lucy crown. She absolutely loves it and helps me make the cinnamon rolls in the outfit. The rest of the day is normal until after dinner when each kid gets a mug of hot chocolate and a cookie and we go and look at Christmas lights because St. Lucy is known as the saint of light! This part is just so much fun because by this time our whole neighborhood is full of lights and we get to listen to Christmas music while we eat our treats.
6. Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is our new tradition for this year and I can’t wait. I will be making enchiladas, horchata, and other Mexican food for the kids to eat while I read the story “Talking Eagle and the Story of the Roses.” I love making themed foods for kids to eat while they listen to a story because it is such a great teachable moment. I have actually been to Mexico City to see the actual Our Lady of Guadalupe so I will actually be able to tell the kids what I saw when I went to see the tilma of St. Juan Diego. Also for All Saint’s Day this year Bella dressed up as Our Lady of Guadalupe (I found a red dress dress at a thrift store and used this blanket for her head piece) So she will dress up again for Our Lady of Guadalupe feast too, she is so excited! Don’t worry if you don’t have the book, becauseyou can find the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe for kids on YouTube
7. Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. This feast day we keep a little more simple, but
I do make a cake decorated it like the Immaculate Heart using strawberries and then we say
a rosary together as a family. This year I am also considering doing the Christmas Novena St. Andrew prayer as a family, which is typically done during advent.
I hope you and your family have fun preparing your heart for Christ’s birth with some of these
Advent traditions!
And this isn’t Catholic but a super fun tradition in our family for the Advent & Christmas season is having matching pajamas for the kids! (These are great St Nicholas gifts too) We love them so much every year and all the kids wear them the whole Advent/Christmas season we all wear them Christmas Eve! The best Christmas Pajamas are from Holy Pals Plus 10% off with code HEATHERJ
2 Responses
These are good ideas. Me and my family will do some of these ideas. We dont celprate st. Lucy on 13th december because we do not have a girl. We have two Boys. We ma Ke coocies on st. Nicholas day.
What wonderful ideas!! For me the cookie link loaded the giving manger. Do you mind sharing again? Thank you for this article!