A Magical Advent

After a beautiful Thanksgiving day with family and friends, and a wonderfully relaxing family weekend at home, I am so excited to begin our Magical Advent of Giving. This year we wanted to share the magic and wonder of the season with our little ones, while truly focusing on giving - continuing the theme of letting our inner light shine, which we began at Martinmas.

There are so many different ways to celebrate Advent, many of which revolve around little gifts received each day, as one counts down to Christmas day. I wanted something that would encourage giving, acts of kindness and nourishing family traditions each day...something to help the spirit of the seson come to life for us all.

Magic, warmth, light, expectation, patience, love...these are the hopes for our Advent celebration.

This is what I came up with...

The Yule Elf of Kindness and Light

The heart of Advent for us this year is the Yule Elf. Mason found this envelope stuck to the door this morning...

And inside was a note, just for him...

Here is what it said:

I'm the yule elf of kindness and light,
Bringing missions of love in the dark of night.

Father Christmas needs help to spread hope and yule cheer,
And I'm hoping you'll help as Christmas draws near.

Each night I will leave you one simple task,
To do your best is all that I ask.

Often your missions will share joy with others,
Sometimes they are for your own spirit to nourish.

For the heart of a child, full of wonder, so pure -
Can spread all the love that is needed, I'm sure.

So let your light shine in all that you do,
And the spirit of Christmas will remain inside you.

As a token of thanks to you, from me,
A little something you'll find, tucked in your tree!

Inside the envelope was another card with a 1 and a shorter note, giving him his first mission. I'll share that in another post. The boy was amazed. At first he was a little confused, and then he fell in love with the idea. He kept telling people all day about the Yule Elf who needed our help to spread kindness and love.

To be honest, I don't have all the details completely worked out yet, but basically, the plan is for Mason to find a new note each day of Advent, with a new mission of kindness and warmth. I'm planning on sharing these throughout the season, so check back to see what we do.

Our Book Advent

We're also very excited about the Book Advent we're doing this year. I choose a book for each day of Advent. Some are books that we already had which had been put away until winter, others are newly purchased, and many are from the library. I'm pretty happy with what I found, though there are a couple I have on hold at the library, and if they come in I may switch them with some in the pile. Last night I got them all out and put numbers on them, one for each day.

Aaron wrapped each one (bless him) and we put numbers on them and put them in a basket. Here is our basket of books, after Mason and River unwrapped book one:

Here is a list of the books we included:

Advent Window Calendar

Mason also loves the traditional window calendar as a visual representation of counting the days. This year we have a woodland elf scene...

Martin and Sylvia Audio Advent Calendar

And then there's the Sparkle Stories Advent. Do you know about Sparkle Stories? If you don't, and you love stories, please visit their site. Sparkle Stories is a beautiful site that offers subscriptions to quite a few wonderful stories, as well as free stories, crafts, recipes and more. We've been listening to Sparkle Stories for over a year now...our favorites are anything with Martin and Sylvia, So Many Fairies, and Sparkle Sleepytime. The Martin and Sylvia Stories are about two imaginative children and their family, friends and community. I like to think our life is a lot like Martin and Sylvia's...second story loft bedroom, tall tree in the backyard, library days, homeschooling, festivals, magic...and in many ways the stories inspire me as much as they do Mason. This year they are offering a Martin and Sylvia Audio Advent Calendar, with a different story for each day of Advent. There is also a printable calendar with little picture clues to color in for each story.

We listened to the first story tonight, and after Mason colored in his first picture he cuddled up in my lap to listen to the rest. He loved that Martin and Sylvia's Advent is so similar to our own!

So that is how we are celebrating a Magical Advent this year...full of love and light, fun and magic, giving and gratitude. Now off to prepare for tomorrow...

Comments

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Ok, I think I'm hooked. Will your Elf come our way too? We are far too traditionless in our family. Time to remedy.

Posted by: plus.google.com/110867554037542864001 | 12/02/2013 at 11:37 AM

I believe the Yule Elf can come to anyone with a heart open to giving...or perhaps a heart that needs a little opening to giving...either way, the Yule Elf is for everybody. Please use anything here you find helpful. :)

Posted by: allisoncruse | 12/02/2013 at 01:15 PM