According to the traditional church calendar, we are in the season called Advent, meaning "coming." It's not hard to see signs of the Christmas season all around us and they seem to crop up earlier and earlier each year. I don't know of any other season filled with such anticipation of its arrival. You already know what I'm going to say about all the hype and the focus being on commercialism, materialism, busyness, blah, blah, blah. I'll spare you the lecture. We all know that Jesus is the object of our anticipation. The question is HOW do we celebrate the Advent of Jesus in a way that is meaningful and not just one more thing to do on an already too long to-do list?

The thing is, unless we intentionally set aside time and space to do this, it likely won't happen on its own. Life will take over...that's what life does. So I challenge you and encourage you to pick something you will do as a family to keep Jesus at the center.

Here are a few ideas and links to get more info:

Attend Morning in Bethlehem with your preschooler on December 11^th at the Old Mill campus. This is a fun time for families to travel back to Bible times and participate in activities pointing to Jesus' birth.

Host a Birthday Party for Jesus. Sign up for a ready-made box with everything you need to host your own party with your kids and their friends. You can sign up in the Atrium at Old Mill or at the Information table at Sarpy. Or you can send an email to darlab@cccomaha.org. We did this for the first time last year and could not believe how easy it is!

Use the Homefront Weekly as an Advent Devotional. Pick a time this week to read the Bible Story your child will hear on Sunday morning. This week's Advent theme is hope. Take time this week to reflect on the hope we have in Jesus and what it means that he came to us and is coming again. If you didn't pick up the Homefront on Sunday morning click one of the links below:

Preschool/Kindergarten Homefront Elementary Homefront

If you have other ideas to share about how your family celebrates Advent, share them with a comment.