For the last few years I have created an Advent calendar for my family. It originated several years ago when I made Advent calendars for our student ministry in order to encourage them to SLOW DOWN and have families spend time together.

The Advent season (“advent” means “a coming or arrival”) is the period of anticipation before the arrival of Jesus. We all know that Jesus arrived in the little town of Bethlehem now we await His second coming. We wait for Jesus to return to make everything right. So in the advent season, we practice the patience of waiting expectantly for something wonderful. Many church traditions observe Advent every Sunday, this year Advent starts on Sunday November 29th this year I hope you will celebrate with us.

A few notes about the calendar:

SUNDAYS: You will see scripture that is aligned with what church traditions would use for their advent services. Our family will be taking a few minutes of SOLITUDE, time to read the SCRIPTURE. We will write on a white board, in our kitchen, one word that the Holy Spirit places on our minds as we read from the scriptures each day. Here is that white board that we currently are using for Thanksgiving.

TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS: We will be using “Touching Wonder” by John Blase for our devotionals. Similar to Sunday, we will creatively display what God is communicating to us. We have teens and a college student, so social media and the use of their phones is always prevalent. If you have children you may want to have them color it or make a craft. On these days there is a word next to the scripture reading. Several years ago Rethink Church created what is called Visio Divina ("Divine Seeing" contemplative practice). Here is how it works, we will take that word ponder it’s significance and then create, find or take a picture of something that best represents that word to us. We will then put that picture on instagram with #holtfamilyadvent and #(whetever the word is). For instance if it’s peace it will look like this, #holtfamilyadvent #peace. Feel free to follow us and participate as well. I’d love to see your creativity. We did this with our small group a few years ago and it was a lot of fun!

READING GUIDES: Feel free to use whatever devotional guides you’d like. Here are a few that we have used and like that you might want to use. Honestly, there are a huge assortment of devotional books, just look on Amazon.

Advent by Erik Willets (If you have teens) *DISCLAIMER: IF YOU’D like to support a great organization that is doing great things for teens then go to The Youth Cartel to order this book. Adam Mclane and Marko Oestreicher do a great job!

God is In The Manger by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Adult and College Oriented)

Advent Devotional For Busy Families by Laurie Ostby Kehler (Young Children)

Celebrating Christmas With JESUS by Max Lucado (Adults, teens, college students)

SERVICE: Every year we do our best to spend time making cookies and Christmas goodies and giving them to neighbors and friends. We are commanded to give rather  than receive! This year our family will also be serving at several of our churches 9 Christmas services. What can you do to serve others not only during the holidays but all year long? Mark 10:45

FRIENDS/EVENTS: We all need SUPPORT of friends. This time of year find ways to spend time with friends and family. You will find that during this time of year we LOVE to do family times and many times this is done with friends as we go with them to many of the events we attend. The events will need to change for your location and your traditions but the ones on the calendar have become yearly traditions for us and our friends. Yeah.... I even take my kids to the Family Force 5 Christmas Pageant,  you gotta have some fun!

THE CALENDAR: Here is the calendar I have created for our family to use. (ADVENT CALENDAR 2015) It is a PDF that I created using pages. If you’d like the pages version so you can edit yourself let me know and I’d be more than happy to send that to you. That way you can edit the calendar for your family.

Whatever you do this year take time to slow down, take some time of solitude, pause to  read the Christmas story from scriptures. Find a way to serve those around you, hang out with those close to you, that support you and who knows…these may become some of the most significant events in your life!