I’ve had a number of questions about our advent calendar so I thought I’d share.
A number of years ago, I became disappointed in attitudes of the heart that I was seeing around our house. I decided that Christmas needed to take on a different focus and become more about giving than receiving. And I wanted that to happen on a daily basis.
The 24 Days of Service advent calendar was born and we’ve done it every year since. It’s become a special and much-loved tradition in our home.
I started with a homemade advent calendar.
Each drawer has a candy for each of the kids {I’m not a total Scrooge} and an act of service to be performed that day. Some are simple and some require more work. We do some of them every single year but I always try to add a few new ones each year to keep it fresh. The kids don’t enjoy every service opportunity but they have been blessed by every opportunity.
It’s a tradition that I love and one we’ll continue for years to come.
– do something kind for a stranger
– wrap gifts that will be given to a family in need
– take a treat to the fire station
– pray for the homeless
– deliver treats to neighbors
– do some work at Grandma and Poppa’s house
– do something kind for a sibling
– make a holiday box for the homeless
– tape candy canes and notes to local ATM machines
– babysit for the _______ family
– bring the neighbors’ garbage cans up after garbage pick up
– pray for someone who will be alone on Christmas
– pray for those who are hurting this season
– find a way to serve someone in your family
– deliver water bottles and snacks to construction workers
– bake cookies and deliver them to the Christmas Cottage
– be a secret Santa for a friend
– take cocoa to the garbage men when they pick up the garbage
– greet the soldiers at the airport
– work a shift at the Giving Tree at the mall
– pray for somebody who needs to know Jesus
– pick up garbage at the neighborhood park
– take a prayer walk around the neighborhood
This is a beautiful thing.
That is an awesome idea! Love it. 🙂
Glad you posted your ideas, we’re doing it this year and I have only have about 10 ideas 🙂
great ideas! love advent calendars and this has an even cooler twist!
I’ve never seen those holiday boxes for the homeless, they are a good thing ! I wonder if they do them in my area… hmmm…
they remind me of blessing bags:
http://nestfullofeggs.blogspot.com/2011/11/blessing-bags.html
I love your advent! Your kids will look back at this with very fond memories 🙂
Thanks for this! I’m shifting our advent this year to give the kids a “challenge” each day that ties into a reading. I was just trying to come up with some more ideas to include and you have a lot of great ones.
Those are the cutest lil’ drawers I’ve EVER seen! I love this advent calendar! I am thinking that I need to do one like this, with Acts of Service! What a great idea! Thanks for sharing it at Sassy Sites today!
This is an amazing way to celebrate advent! I will definitely copy next year :-). Thanks again for inspiring idea number 8,473 🙂
Thank you for the inspiration!
http://www.amytriedit.com/2011/12/advent.html