It took me that long to figure out what Advent was and figure one out for my family and then make the darn thing…
I mean, granted I feel like I didn't really hear what Advent was until about two years ago.
I had downloaded the free Advent Book from John Piper last year but it never really hit me to actually do it with my kids. (I know, I'm a genius... why the Lord gave me children...)
A simple break down of Advent is when you basically spend the 25 days of Christmas highlighting the Birth of Christ. There are a zillion (and that is the official term I'm sure) different versions of Advent you could do. Some involve Candy or activities or follow books already made up…
Tons of options that you can find that will work best for your family.
I picked one I thought might work for ours. We'll find out by Christmas if it did but it definitely was not for the faint of heart.
While it was a blast to do, it did take me a pretty long time…
Granted I just had a baby and it's the busiest McCarty season ever with parties and family and turkey…
But let me just jump right in:
Last year I built a DIY Wall Advent Tree -
I was attempting to find an Advent that worked for me and my family and if it didn't work one year, try another the next until I found the one that really impacted my kids.
The one that really got what the entire season is about.
Jesus Christ.
Knowing me, and that my children are little mini-me's... I knew I couldn't do the cool advent that had presents attached to each day. My kiddos wouldn't understand that Advent is about preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ the Savior, they would just see it as an awesome time to get more gifts.
They get enough gifts. They have four amazing grandparents.
So I started with a tree and had the idea to use ornaments that the kids could put on the tree each day.
At the time it was a great idea. Did it work? No. Did the tree work? Yep.
I had this crazy cool idea of how to make an Advent tree with numbers…
While explaining my idea it kind of went like this to my husband:
It will go on the column and it will kind of be like the scrabble pieces that hold the letters you know? And we can drill holes and hang the ornaments off of it!
Yea, he was just as confused as you probably are. This by the way is how all my ideas start off. Me, incoherently trying to explain what is going on in my brain.
I figured I could use some molding to create my tree pieces. I went to Home Depot and scoured all the molding cause I was positive I could find what I wanted.
And I did.
See! They look like scrabble blocks to hold the letters don't they!?
No? ok...
Well, I bought one 8ft piece for under $15 bucks and brought it home.
I measured out my column and then decided how to break my tree up into pieces where all 25 days could fit on it.
I marked it on my molding and my sexy man cut them for me.
Then I took them and spray painted them green.
It was starting to look like a tree!
I took the last piece and painted it brown by hand to make it look like the tree trunk.
I asked my math loving husband to help mark where I should put the holes for the ornaments so they would look even.
Then I drilled them out.
I had to figure out a way to attach it to the column without actually putting nails in it.
In came the amazing Command Strips.
I just added them to the back and then stuck them up on the wall. You should use the Picture Framing ones. They work WAY BETTER than just the sticky ones I used last year… when I removed the sticky ones it pulled off my paint because I had to just yank it off since I couldn't get to the little tab.
Oops...
My husband came behind me and made sure they were level and centered and it looked amazing!
It's a tree! Success!!
Now I needed to make my numbers to indicate the days and let my budding crafter at the time help me out. Little did I know he would be a full blown crafty artist within a year. Ah… memories...
So, this was the tree last year. Purdy isn't it?
As I said before the ornament idea didn't really work… cause I actually didn't have 25 Jesus themed ornaments. But the tree looked awesome so I had to incorporate it into another Advent somehow…
Like with most things I just love everything Amy Fleming does. She did this post last year about an Advent she wrote out for her kids highlighting the Names of God. You can see it here.
I told her I wanted to do that and she came over and we had a Felt Party and went nuts!
She has an amazing quilt her mom made but since Quilting still scares me to pieces I opted to make a manger scene out of felt. It truly is a blast to hand sew felt. :)
It took me two months but I think the results look stunning plus it will last for years! (It better…)
Each of the little people are added on certain days as well with Jesus being added on Christmas!
Simple enough right? We even have a beautiful book Amy designed to go with it.
I know. She's a bit too perfect but you get use to it after awhile but I'm crazy thankful for her since she constantly helps me be a better mom and we all know I need that.
To keep the little things attached to my felt background I cut out little velcro pieces.
Then I hot glued the entire thing to a dowel rod and hung it on my column with care! This is what it will look like tonight so we can start adding things on throughout the Advent season. This Advent is only 18 days which gives us some wiggle room if we miss a day because let's face it… life happens.
But hopefully by Christmas it will look like this:
So, it may have taken a long time and prevented me from doing any other Christmas crafts but… I think it will really make a difference with my kids and that is worth all the effort.
Don't have an advent plan? Find one that works for you and your family.
This meant a lot to me but for a normal person it probably seems like a lot of work… which it was. I won't sugar coat it haha… but hopefully I am done forever now!!!
I hope you have an amazing Christmas season and I am blessed by each of you.
God Bless & Much Love,
Jessica
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