Can't Silence These Lambs: Advent Bags

If you have been following the blog, a month ago you read my post about the new Advent bag tradition I started. I think it was a fun tradition that we will do again next year. I've actually already bought some surprises that I found at the holiday clearance at Hobby Lobby! The boys loved having a bag to open every day. It really helped Max how many days were left until Christmas. Max would say, 5 more bags mommy means 5 more days! The best thing about the bags was that it gave them a daily reminder of what the season is all about. We read bible verses, learned new stories from the bible, we learned new songs like this little light of mine when we lit the candle and Amazing Grace when we got the flashlights. We also did acts of kindness like when we gave the mailman a thank you note. One of my favorite nights is when we went Christmas light looking as a family and Max and Alex chose which houses we put a Thank you note in for their hardwork on their light display. The bags also had fun surprises like candy, or games, or crafts. I'm excited to say the tradition is one we are going to keep. I'm looking forward to seeing what new ideas we come up with through the year and how we change up the bags next year. Below I took some pictures of the boys getting their bags, doing the activities, or opening their daily chocolates.

Our Advent Tree in the dining room

We did pretty good on our advent goals for this year. One thing we did was take the boys to Walmart, and pick out a boy named Micheal that needed our help. He wanted clothes and a remote control car and soccer cleats. Max and Alex learned that night how to help other people in need. We also took a meal to the Ronald McDonald House in Mercy Hospital, and the boys helped us carry the food in. We also hosted a Neighborhood Christmas party and met new neighbors and gave them all a gift of a new ornament for their tree.