11 activities for Christian families to brighten your advent season

How do you feel as December approaches? I had an email this week from someone saying she has little capacity for anything past the middle of December, so work-wise, there’s only six weeks left this year. ARGH! I think she wanted to encourage me to focus on what I would get done in those six weeks, but instead I just felt totally panicked!

I have a few friends who start making Christmas gifts in January (she’s a slow knitter!) and others who follow The Organised Mum who has a Ten Week Countdown to the beginning of December, helping you get everything organised (and all the gifts bought!) by the time December starts so that you can relax and enjoy it all. I’d love to tell you it works, but I’ve never followed her ten weeks properly, so I’ve always had stuff to do (usually buying presents!) in December.

In the midst of All The Stuff, it’s easy to let “the reason for the season” pass us by. We might be active at church events but are we taking time to treasure the mystery of God being born as a baby in our hearts? I’d like to encourage you to take a moment to pause and see how you might want to do that this Advent.

Here’s some questions to help you reflect:

1 What does ‘faith at home’ or being a Jesus follower look like in your home? Do you listen to worship music? Do you have a family devotional time?

Advent is a busy time, so not necessarily the best time to start a NEW thing, so why not incorporate something focused on the birth of Jesus into what you already do. For example

2 What does your family do to have fun together? Do you enjoy chats over dinner or watching movies together? Do you go out on your bikes or go for a walk in the woods? Do you play with lego or Play Mobil? Do you play instruments or love a read aloud/audio book?