Advent Chain - The Names of Jesus

A couple of days late, but this one looks fun, easy to do, and meaningful, so I had to post about it (with thanks to the friend in my homeschool email loop who told us about it!) You can make a paper chain with the names of Jesus (found on this page), and either take a link off each day (to count down to Christmas) or add a link each day (which I think we might do). Each link has a related verse so you can read and discuss the name a bit. I know my 12 year-old will have fun doing this as an activity and even my 14 year-old will enjoy the discussion.

There's also a template for ornaments that goes right along with the links, and there is a short set of lesson plans, or a longer, 149 page set that you can do! I think we'll mainly focus on the links and reading the verses. We also like to use The Advent Book by Jack and Kathy Stockman, which is absolutely beautiful. Each day you open a richly ornamented door to reveal a beautiful picture of the Christmas story and read a short sentence or two about it.

For the last two years we've read Arnold Ytreeide's advent books--first we read Jotham's Journey, then we read Bartholomew's passage. These are exciting adventure books with a reading for each day, along with a discussion note or verse to ponder. From Amazon, "Arnold Ytreeide is a fine storyteller who cares deeply about spiritual growth in families." There is another called Tabitha's Travels that we haven't read yet, but this year we're going to do his Easter book, Amon's Adventures.

What do you like to do for Advent?