Admittedly, I'm a bit of a Christmas fanatic. I start listening to Christmas music around Halloween. My tree and living room were decorated before Thanksgiving this year. I've already finished most of my Christmas shopping, and I've already planned and bought tickets to a Christmas concert and to White Christmas at the Alabama Theatre (both of which are two of my Christmas traditions). But a couple of years ago, I wanted to become more intentional about focusing on Christ throughout the holiday season and not just on Christmas Day. If you're looking for some resources to help you with this, especially as December 1st approaches, check out our recommendations below:

  • She Reads Truth Advent Study
    • If you're like me, I prefer an actual book in my hand, so I actually ordered their 2017 Advent study this year, which you can purchase here.
    • While they put out a new printed study each year, you can also - for free - go online each day and read the previous year's Advent study. Click here to access the 2016 online study, Christ Was Born For This.
  • Paul David Tripp's Advent Devotional
    • If you want a devotional for each day of December, check out Paul David Tripp's book Come Let Us Adore Him, which you can get as a paperback or as an e-book. This one is a good choice if you're wanting something to do with your spouse or as a family since it includes notes for parents and children.
  • Scott James' Advent Guide & Book
    • Scott is one of Brook Hills' Elders, and a few years ago, he took a resource that he had originally developed for his family and had it published. Entitled The Expected One: Anticipating All of Jesus in the Advent, it's a great resource for families.
    • Scott has also written another book, which was released this year, and it's a children's book about Advent called The LIttlest Watchman, which you could read through with your preschool and elementary age kids.
  • Advent Calendar
    • A couple of years ago, I bought one of these from a local gal who was selling them to raise money for Lifeline, and I strung them on twine and hung them from my mantle. Each night during December, I would read the card for that day. They are beautifully designed and written, and this year, she has another set that she's created, which you can view and purchase here.
  • Emailed Daily Devotional for Advent
  • Listening to Christmas Music
  • Daily Advent Christmas Ornaments & Daily Scripture
    • If you have kids and want something to do each day, you can tell the Christmas story using arts and crafts and Scripture by making ornaments surrounding Old Testament prophecies related to the Messiah's first coming. Or maybe you don't do it every day, but you take the concepts and do one or two a week. If you're the crafty sort and this interests you, click here, here, or here for ideas on what this can look like. It can also be something simple that kids draw, color, and cut from paper to make into ornaments, so it doesn't have to be fancy. The point is to help them learn by a tangible activity they can do, so don't stress on making the ornaments picture perfect.

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