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Less is more. We’ve all heard it but until you have had. it. up. to. HERE. nothing changes. Well, I’ve decided to really pare down our Advent activities this year. Here is what we are going to keep.
Advent Books
We love to read and I snagged two books from Ignatius a week before Christmas last year– 24 Christmas Stories for Little Ones and 24 Christmas Stories to Welcome Jesus. I think we’re going to read both of these before bed in lieu of The Advent Storybook. Unless there is mutiny.
For our morning read-aloud time, we will begin with Welcome Baby Jesus. maybe this will be the year we are consistent about it.
For my own personal spiritual reading & devotion, I will be using the Magnificat Advent 2014 Companion app for my iPhone. I was lucky enough to get to review it at CatholicMom.com (coming soon to an RSS feed near you). And if you keep reading, 2 lucky winners will get a copy, too!
Advent Feast Days
I love our traditions for the Feast of St Nicholas and the Immaculate Conception. Those will stay the same.
Since we are reading about St. Juan Diego for the saint book club I’m going to try (again) to celebrate St. Juan & Our Lady of Guadalupe. I want to teach Lil’ Bit how to make God’s Eyes this year. I might even try doing an Our Lady of Guadalupe Tea. If not, we will eat burritos for dinner. Or maybe we will just get some Taco House; I haven’t even looked at the calendar to see what days they are yet :).
Catholic Advent Traditions 2014
We will have an advent wreath. This year we will use the washi tape advent wreath above. Looking for a more traditional one? Try these ribbon covered advent pillar candles I made a few years ago. They are still going strong!
We will attend our parish festival the first weekend of Advent. I have volunteered to bake a little since I can do that with tiny people underfoot :).
We will get a real tree and the girls can decorate it on the 3rd Sunday of Advent.
And we will read a ton! I also bought Christmas Mosiac last year and might try to work in some extra activities to go with our reading.
Looking for an Advent devotional app? Check out this giveaway from Magnificat! If you read CatholicMom.com, you will see my full review of this awesome Advent 2014 Companion app from Magnificat. Use the widget below to enter!
What are your favorite ways to observe Advent?
