Day 1: Holiday Tradition

On the first day of Blogmas, The Petite Mrs and The Coastie Couple gave to me...

This is something that is very important in our household as we have Princess, who is almost 3, and Little Man, who is almost 6. By having holiday traditions that we do every year, we are shaping how they view the holidays. They are learning that there are some things that are important.

Now, some of the things we do, help explain the meaning of Christmas. Every year for the past two years we have had the opportunity to light the Advent Candle at church. For those of you unfamiliar with Advent, Advent is the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas where Christians prepare themselves for remembering the birth of Jesus. There is a wreath with 5 candles (some only have 4). Everything on the wreath has meaning. One candle is lit every Sunday during Advent, save for the center white candle, which is lit at Christmas Eve Service.

Everything about the wreath has meaning. The 3 purple (or blue) candles represent Hope, Love, and Peace. The pink candle represent Joy. These are all things Jesus brings us. The white candle is the Jesus candle and this why it is lit at Christmas Eve service. The greenery is from evergreen trees to represent the everlasting life that we get through Jesus. The circle is for God's never-ending love. The red holly berries symbolize Christ's blood that was shed for our sins.

These two traditions have only recently started as we have begun attending our new church. But they are something we are very glad to be apart of to keep Christ in Christmas in our household.

We have a couple of other traditions that you are probably more familiar with and probably do yourself: Elf on the Shelf and an Advent Calendar.

Our elf, Jingle, came to stay with us two years ago. He USUALLY comes on December 1, but this year, he came early! I will try to do a weekly round up post here on the blog. But if you want to see his antics, follow me on Instagram.

And as for the Advent Calendar, here's the deal on that. I wanted something that DIDN'T have candy, chocolate, Legos or anything else when you opened the door. I wanted one that I didn't have to buy new every year. We had a Scooby-Doo one before the Big Crazy Mess (divorce). But I wanted something that also explained the meaning of Christmas at the same time. Fortunately I found this one on clearance a couple years ago at a Christian bookstore. It was PERFECT! Not only was it my FAVORITE Christmas TV special ("A Charlie Brown Christmas"), but it actually told the story of Christmas by the end. Every year now, Jingle the Elf brings our Advent calendar on December 1.

So those are our Holiday Traditions. What are yours?

Up tomorrow: Day 2: Random Act of Kindness.

To learn more about our beliefs, here are a few helpful links!

Advent and Christmas (Go her to find out what it means by "The Twelve Days of Christmas!")

Advent and Christmas Resources

Jingle The Elf Returns!

So our Scout Elf, Jingle, returned the day after Thanksgiving. He usually doesn't arrive till December 1, so this was a surprise! So here is a round up of his antics for the past week.

He arrived by special mail from Santa! The kids actually walked by it A LOT. He didn't get opened until about 9am!

The next day he moved from the shelf to the table. The kids weren't that great so he brought them a reminder to get back on track.

On December 1, Jingle brought our Advent Calendar.

I still haven't figured out how the snowman with no arms was able to play Connect Four with Jingle....

Little Man has been having some problems with accidents, even though he is almost 6. I'm not sure if this is something to do with his dad having a new girlfriend or the fact that Princess still isn't potty trained. But either way, Jingle didn't move because of it. :(

If you want to see our adventures with Jingle the Elf as they happen, follow me on Instagram.

This is where I got our Santa Labels and Stamps.

And the Good Deed Cards and Joke Cards. (The blank card was with the Good Deed set.)

Jingle's Final Activities This Year

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet! So here it is!

Jingle has gone back with Santa. Santa came to our house early because Little Man will be spending the night at his father's house. So Jingle got picked up by Santa after he delivered gifts

But since the last update, Jingle has gotten into some things.

For one, he tried to hang from the chandelier in the dining room.

Then, he actually brought Little Man a book: The Polar Express. It was a little above him, but we did things in Playschool about it, so it all worked out.

The next night, Jingle climbed to the top of the bookcase and left a note.

He then got in the candy the next night.

Then, I guess he figured it would be a good idea to lock Little Man in his room. (Yes, that is a baby gate on his door. It's not to keep Little Man in; it's to keep the dogs out of his toys at night.)

Then, the last night he was here, he left them his goodbye letter and a couple of gifts.

Inside were new jammies for both kids to wear to bed, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" DVD and hot cocoa.

Jingle's Antics This Week

Jingle must have gotten back really late, because we found him under the Keurig waiting for coffee to drop into his mouth.

The next night he must have been really hungry, because he wanted a bowl of Kix.

I guess he wanted to play with Little Man's cars. (Little Man didn't like that too much because he played with the wrong dumper.)

Then he made it snow on Little Man. He really liked that one. We still have "snow" in his room that he plays with.

Unfortunately, Little Man moved Jingle when he went to turn off his night light (Jingle had camped out on his nightstand). So I had to look up The Elf Magical Recovery Kit. But before we could repair Jingle's magic, Little Man had a bad day. He was all defiant and crying after his nap. So he got a letter from Jingle saying that he couldn't hang out that day. The next day, he came back with the magic elf dust. (I missed getting a picture of Jingle with his elf dust from Santa, but this is the letter.)

The next morning Jingle got his Elf Certificate of Health. He also must be missing the North Pole because he spelled Little Man's name out in mini marshmallows and stacked up donuts like snowmen. We are back on track!

Jingle Weekly Round Up

Previously, we had had Randall the Reindeer. He was WAY cheaper than the Elf on the Shelf. Well, through the Big Chaotic Mess, I didn't manage to snag Randall, so we bought Elf this year. His name is Jingle and he showed up the Friday after Thanksgiving.

So his first night we had him, He went to bed in the Kleenex box.

The next thing he did was jump in Little Man's stocking after redecorating over the fireplace with toilet paper.

Then he decided to decorate the tree with Little Man's undies!

He took a ride on the huskies pulling the snowman in the sleigh.

Of course he had to hold baby Jesus from our Nativity set.

And why wouldn't he be riding a reindeer?

Can't wait to see what he does this week!