Thursday, December 1, 2011

25 Days of Christmas-Advent Countdown Tree

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25 Days of Christmas

I am thrilled to be participating in the 25 Days of Christmas.



As we get ready for Christmas we, as a family, try very hard to emphasize the importance of the celebration of the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. This starts at the beginning of the month with an observance of Advent, focusing on the joyful anticipation of his coming. Quite a few years ago I decided to create a countdown chart that would ultimately focus on this true meaning of Christmas. I originally saw this idea on a Christmas card and decided to incorporate it into our celebration.

I started by painting a Christmas tree onto poster board:



Last year I didn't want to paint a tree, so I just made one out of construction paper, but I prefer the painted tree. Tabitha loved the texture effect I was creating. In fact she wanted to try to make a tree herself and add texture. I will share the trees the girls made in a later post.

The children cut pictures out of old Christmas cards to use as ornaments/decorations on our tree. 



I then divided the poster board into 24 sections. 


And we attached the decorations with tape. I wanted to attach them with tape because on the back of each of them I had put the names of the people who had sent the card. We will pray for each person or family as we go through the month. 


In the past we have cut off a piece of the tree each day. I have put different things on the back of the piece being cut off. For example, my original tree (when the older children were little) had pictures that represented different Christmas symbols and we discussed how they related to Jesus. This year we have the Bible Verses we are going to read during our Bible time. I found a great site for Advent Activities. Homeschooled-Kids.com. Not only do they have the Bible readings (which I needed because I can't find my book I've had for years) but there are recipe and craft ideas.

The "tree" will not be cut until this evening, Dec 1st. Then each night we will cut off one section and read the verses along with singing the suggested songs and doing the activities. As we cut the tree we will reveal the picture underneath which is a cross.

I just drew a cross on another piece of poster board and colored it with crayons.


Then I painted fallen branches. 


The card I got this idea from had several pages in which the needles and branches slowly fell off the tree, until at the end we were left with a cross, a reminder that Jesus didn't remain a baby in a manger.  
On December 24th, after our Christmas Eve candle lighting service at church, we will come home to have Bible time and cut off the last piece. Revealing the cross underneath.


Originally the tree was huge (I actually covered the window in the trailer where we were living). So on Christmas morning my children were opening their presents under the cross, not by a tree. Here is a picture of the tree (couldn't find one of the cross on Christmas morning).


Here are a couple of shots of the tree I made last year (so you can see the difference in size).




The great thing about this advent countdown tree is that you don't have to start it today. There have been years that I procrastinated and the tree didn't get made until later in the month. You can customize how many days you count down by drawing less sections!


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Merry Christmas to All!


I am also linking to

 Chestnut Grove Academy Happy Go Lucky

15 comments:

  1. What a beautiful idea! I love how big and fun your advent tree is!

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  2. Hello and how wonderful to find someone else who is dong what I did when my children were growing up! Money was tight as is the case with a lot of young families, so I made my own Advent tree. You can hear about it on my Christmas blog, Christmas Pudding -http://christmaspudding09.blogspot.com/ although I don't have any pictures to share as it was so long ago. My kids loved the Advent tree and we used it for several years. Thanks for sharing and have a lovely day.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  3. Love this idea! I am doing a 25 Days of Christmas on my blog also!!

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  4. Great and wonderful idea. I am part of the Blogshare and I am your newest follower. Stop by for some frugal ideas. I would love a follow back.

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  5. Great idea. When our daughters were growing up we made an advent calendar that they looked forward to every year. As they got older, I switched to a tree. Sure do miss those days when they were little!

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  6. Great ideas. I love to see what creative people can come up with.

    Rachel
    www.wewillwalkforeverholdinghands.blogspot.com

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  7. Thanks for linking up with Brag Time Thursday!

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  8. This is a wonderful idea. Thank you for sharing it at NOBH.

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  9. Too cute! Such a great idea and a good reminder of what we're really celebrating! I'm so glad you shared at Shine On Fridays! Hope you'll share more great ideas this week!

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  10. very cute idea! Thanks for sharing at BTT!!

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  11. What a wonderful idea! Thank you for sharing with us and for joining our link-up.

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  12. Visiting from 25 Days of Christmas Blogshare. I loved making advent calendars when I was little, and later with my son. Thanks for sharing!

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  13. Of course it's OK to link-up, I think your tree is amazing and I think all the love that went into making it makes it even more amazing!!

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  14. What a unique and beautiful way to teach togetherness, love for others, and love of God!! That is a beautiful tree!

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  15. Adorable! I am featuring your advent tree on the weekly kids co-op at housingaforest.com Thanks for linking up!

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