http://blissfullydomestic.com/family-bliss/parenting-family-bliss/purposefully-preparing/18458/ Fri, 25 May 2012 12:01:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 http://blissfullydomestic.com/family-bliss/parenting-family-bliss/purposefully-preparing/18458/#comment-15663 Kerry Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:49:01 +0000 http://blissfullydomestic.com/?p=18458#comment-15663 In addition to our advent wreath and family devotions on Sunday we made an advent calendar this year. Each mitten has a task for the day and many of them involve doing things for others or reflecting on blessings or spending time in prayer for those that have less than we do. It has been so awesome to see the children get excited about the daily tasks. They even made the bell ringer at the mall cry when they explained that their advent task that day was to give money (of their own) to a bell ringer's bucket. This year, more than many, the focus of our entire family has been on giving over getting and be grateful for our blessings. It was even hard to get a Christmas list out of my 4 (ages 6-13) for their grandparents. They just weren't in the I need, I want mode. In addition to our advent wreath and family devotions on Sunday we made an advent calendar this year. Each mitten has a task for the day and many of them involve doing things for others or reflecting on blessings or spending time in prayer for those that have less than we do. It has been so awesome to see the children get excited about the daily tasks. They even made the bell ringer at the mall cry when they explained that their advent task that day was to give money (of their own) to a bell ringer’s bucket. This year, more than many, the focus of our entire family has been on giving over getting and be grateful for our blessings. It was even hard to get a Christmas list out of my 4 (ages 6-13) for their grandparents. They just weren’t in the I need, I want mode.

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