Advent Preparations

Advent is full swing! And our little family is building traditions around this sweet season. We are basically just jumping in on a couple of age old observances of Advent. So, both the Advent Wreath and the Advent Calendar have entered the Helveston home this year!

As with everything, Trader Joe's and Pinterest loaned me their best holiday food and visual inspirations and ideas. Then, I added my own realistic and resourceful twist. Being a procrastinator, I spent barely any time planning for the introduction of this tradition into our family Christmas festivities. But God was gracious and I was able to sketch out a rough Advent plan over peppermint tea and some evening Netflix marathoning.

My goal is simple; to teach my children the beauty of Advent. Advent is all about the coming of Jesus. So really, its all about Jesus.

For the kids, I'm letting the Jesus Storybook Bible do much of the work for me, and will be following along with the reading plan offered here.

Its FREE and printable and colorful and will help give my kiddos the element of "story" which we Helveston's hold in high regard. If you love the Biggest Story (bible) an Advent reading plan is not yet available (that I've found). Please let me know if I'm missing it! It's another family favorite and has the most incredible illustrations. Here's a trailer for the Biggest Story just for fun!

In addition to the Jesus Storybook Bible Advent reading plan, I'm creating my own curriculum of sorts and exploring weekly themes which will guide us through scripture and focus our family as a whole on Jesus. Each Sunday, we'll light the correlating candle on our Advent wreath to set us off on the right foot for conversations and teachable moments as we go about our days and nights.

If you follow me on Instagram (@LauraHelveston), then you've seen that #Adventweek1 is "Light". Feel free to start following me to catch a glimpse of my week one posts which include scripture, chalkboard Apps and holiday flare from our home.

Because I love to #bringbeauty, a creative visual element is a must as we make this happen little by little. My Pinterest paroosing produced these visual inspirations.

Wall hangings are a favorite of mine. They may take some time, but are completely DIY possible. This little blue number from Thepolkadottedpuppy caught my eye.

I love the driftwood cross bar. Driftwood is a regular occurrence in my home. Collecting it from the shore of my Grandfather's Lake Michigan cottage is a best pastime to say the least. So I'm always looking for another creative opportunity when it comes to this stuff.

This resourceful Advent calendar is DARLING! Each days activity or reading is numbered chalkboard style and tucked away inside a toilet paper tube. Talk about "re-up". Clever and cute gets my vote! Don't be surprised if at least one or two TP tubes show up on our family's advent calendar. We don't have two potty trained kiddos for nothin'! Here's the link to the blog which sourced this inspiring piece.

And speaking of chalkboards...this brown paper package chalkboard calendar is farmhouse Christmas perfection. I love vintage and simplicity at Christmas. Well done, "Between You and Me".

Our family's compilation of these lovely inspirations is in the works! I'll be spending the weeks including the kids in the creative process, and doing a sort of reverse advent calendar. Instead of counting down the days and opening as we go, we'll be building and creating the calendar each week.
This idea came as a result of the overwhelming prospect of doing this on my own and totally ahead of time. Did I mention I am a procrastinator? Because Advent wants nothing to do with her distant cousins "Hustle and Bustle" I decided to take it slow and construct this years calendar little by little and in our own time. I hope to have a beautiful display to share with you as we go. So, here we go...