Family Preparations for the Christmas Season: Picking Out an Advent Calendar and Nativity Set

Posted by
Renee Carver
Nov 19, 2008

With Christmas just around the corner, it's time to start getting holiday decorations and accessories ready for the season. Make sure your family begins December with everything you need in hand!

After all, why brave the crowds of shoppers on Black Friday when you could instead spend a fun, relaxing, post-Thanksgiving day at home with family members filling and hanging your Christmas Advent calendar and setting up your Nativity set? That way, when December 1st rolls around, you can jump right into a nightly tradition of opening and enjoying each door, pocket, or compartment of your Christmas calendar.

Both Advent calendars and Nativity sets help make concrete for children some of the intangible aspects of the Christmas season. For secular households, an Advent calendar focuses children's attention and energy on the coming of Christmas day. They can see and count easily how many days are left until Santa visits. Their anticipation can grow in a fun and organized way when they receive daily treats from an Advent calendar or take part in suggested activities and holiday outings found in each of its pockets.

For religious households, each day on an Advent calendar can also become the focus of a specific activity that prepares children spiritually for the birth of Jesus. The nightly ritual of opening another pocket together and then reading and discussing a Bible verse, singing a hymn, or even doing a good deed can draw a family closer day by day until Christmas arrives.

I've put together a series of articles to walk you through the process of selecting (or making) and filling an Advent calendar and then finding the Nativity set that best meets the needs of the children in your family.