“Advent is for Making:” Sharing a Gift From Your Family Culture

One of the most meaningful gifts I or my family has ever received came last Christmas from some dear friends of ours. Their family loves to read; they love a good story, fairy land and tales; and they love beautiful language and pictures. They spent time frequenting library book sales, and put together personalized stacks of books for gifting according to their friend’s and family’s interests. It is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received; but I mostly love it because in sharing a stack of great books, it was clear to me that they were gifting us a slice of their precious family culture.

This Advent, why not consider assembling or creating gifts together with your children to give to family and friends? If you are longing to simplify gift-giving, and avoid the commercialization of the holiday season, working with your children to craft gifts is one way to take the focus off of the things they are wanting, and transfer it to considering what they could create to delight others. Plus, it is a fun thing to do in the midst of our waiting; and a suitable preparation for the celebration of Christmas, in its proper time!

I’m including a few fun ideas below for your perusing pleasure:

Decorative match boxes (see, I stole our series idea from dear Leila)

Edible and non-edible projects on our Pinterest board

And of course, printables from Advent and Christmas last year, that you are free to use and gift:

We will be sharing a couple of fun project ideas as the women and children in our church complete our own “Advent is for Making” workshops in throughout December!