Advent Calendars

A way to help children and adults to prepare for Christmas is the creation of the Advent calendar, which has become quite popular, with a variety of variations that have developed in different countries. The most popular is a countdown to Christmas, as children bring an item to place on each day of December, as they reflect on the meaning of each thing, object or person related to the Nativity or the Christmas season. Of course our favorite is always a nativity display, like the one displayed above.

Another innovative way of creating an Advent Calendar is this Scandinavian idea of using the facade of a building with windows, and as each window opens throughout the month of December, a Christmas symbol is displayed.

And this past Sunday I made an Advent calendar for our children in my parish, and I invited them to color a section of the Nativity scene I drew for them, and day by day, the scene will become more colorful, as long as they do the chore or message they are asked to perform until the end of December. Click on the image to read the messages for each day, and you can save it and print it to use for yourself and your children.