Today is the first day of Advent!

If you don’t know what Advent is, it’s basically a Catholic tradition which celebrates the coming of Christ as a child and his promised Second Coming – and it runs from roughly after Thanksgiving until the beginning of January.

Now, I’m not Catholic. But after being exposed to the tradition of Advent a few years ago, I quickly realized that this is a great opportunity to keep Christmas focused on Christ – and not only that, but have fun celebrating it all month long. Since Christmas is my favorite holiday.. I’M ALL OVER THAT!!

Each day this week, I’m going to tell you a little about our Advent traditions and activities. I’ll share a little about how we celebrate Christ during the month of December. Check out this line-up for the rest of the week!

• Tuesday - Our Advent Calendar, Advent Wreath, Traveling Nativity & Other Traditions
• Wednesday- Decorations, using symbolism to add meaning; Baking – YUM!
• Thursday – Giving: Taking time to give to others.
• Friday – Keeping Christ in Christmas; Christmas morning.

Ooh, isn’t this exciting??

What I want to know is what do YOU do for Advent?

Here’s your opportunity to sign up and share. You can share an old post, you can share a new post, and it doesn’t have to be Advent specific. Tell us at least one way you help your family keep the focus on Christ during the Christmas holiday season.

WAIT!!!

What about the door prizes? Yes, that’s right. There are door prizes!

THE PRIZES

I have two books for celebrating the seasons and holidays with your children of all ages. The first is called Seasons of Faith by Marcia Joslin Stoner.

The second is a book for preschool aged children with reproducible pages called Celebrate the Seasons. (I would say that this book could also be used with Kindergarten and 1st Grade aged children.)

The winners for these two books will be drawn at the end of the week and everyone will have multiple opportunities to enter the giveaway throughout the week.

I’m also giving away**:

• Christmas themed blog header by Momma Knows @5 Kids & A Dog
• “Wishes” by Sara Teasdale, a 28 page poetry copybook for homeschoolers, by Momma Knows @5 Kids & A Dog
• “Christmas Covered Chocolate” by Kelly @ Designs of Mine

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Check out all the ways you can enter to win! Each of the following will “earn” one entry into the proverbial hat!

1. Linking up with an Advent/holiday post. You can link up anytime between now and Friday at 2pm, CST.
2. Commenting on this post with a holiday tradition or idea (you can do this if you don’t have a holiday post or if you’re not a blogger.)
3. Subscribing to my feed – leave an additional comment if you do so, for an additional entry.
4. Blogging about The Advent Event on your own blog – leave an additional comment with the link to your blog post.
5. Leaving a comment on any of the other four Advent posts this week.

That’s a possibility of seven entries! I know, this could get a little cRaZy! ;P

OH! And when you comment, tell me which item you’d like to most win, if you were chosen as winner – I’ll try to accommodate your wishes as much as I can. I aim to please.

Now that’s it! Sign up. Visit. Read. Comment. Share the Advent love. And come back tomorrow to see how we get our Advent season off to a good start with our homemade Advent calendar and other traditions.

Amber

**If you’d like to sponsor a door prize, contact me before Thursday morning with the item you’d like to donate and for more details.