War on Santa - Attack no. 2 (aka...Christmas Tradition - Advent)

Here is the first of my more detailed descriptions of some of the Christmas Traditions we are starting this year (that I promised I'd do earlier in the week).

Advent Calendar

The main reason that we are doing an Advent calendar is so the kids (and us) are reminded of the reason for celebrating Christmas, every day leading up to Christmas.  There are a couple of reasons I think this is important:

1. So the kids (Ben especially) become familiar with the details, meaning and significance of the birth of Jesus.  Doing a little each day means Ben is able to memorise details of the story, so he can recall them whenever he wants to (which he does frequently when 'playing').  This means he is also able to tell his friends this knowledge, which they may not hear in their own homes.
   
2. It is a tool to help counteract the many messages about secular 'Christmas' (Santa, presents/materialism etc.) that bombard the kids everyday leading up to Christmas.

Ok...on to the details of what I have done for our family Advent calendar this year:

We are doing readings that concentrate on the events around the birth of Jesus. We have 25 readings mainly from Luke and Matthew's gospels.  I got the material from Wendy, who specifically wrote it to aim at a preschool age audience.  Each day there is a Bible passage to read (we're using the NIrV version); some questions to help reinforce the main points of the reading and check/aid comprehension of the passage; then there is a key verse selected from the passage and some suggested activities related to the passage (usually drawing a particular scene or person mentioned).

The actual calendar is made up of paper lunch bags (tuckshop bags), each numbered and strung up on a ribbon.  Inside the bag each day there is a piece of paper with a paraphrased version of the key verse for that day, plus a 'fun' something for each of the kids (well not for Naomi, she's a bit young).  Some days these are small gifts (eg. balloons, bubbles, pencils, special food) and some days it is a special activity (eg. icing/decorating biscuits, special story time, having ice creams for afternoon tea).