Adventures in Pinteresting: The Year of Christmas Advents

While Peanut is still young, I'm trying to find ideas that will translate into yearly traditions. This year I found two different Christmas Advents on Pinterest that I wanted to try. I believe that Peanut, the Woodman, and I are all enjoying these and will definitely turn them into some new traditions.

This first advent that I found was a Bible verse advent. There wasn't much to the pin, just a list of Bible verses to read December 1st through December 24th. I wrote out the list, pulled out my Bible, and read all of the selections. While I enjoyed reading it, I realized that the language in my own Bible would be waaaay over Peanut's head. The "My First Bible" that he got before he was born retold stories from the Bible, but there were no books, chapters, and verses. It was time for Peanut to get his own real Bible. After searching online and in book stores, we bought the Bible in the picture below. While it is still told in more of a narrative format, it is broken down like a traditional Bible. Peanut really enjoys reading out of it at night and begs for more when there is only a short passage to read.

The second advent that we are doing this year is, in my opinion as a book lover, amazing! I am so in love with this advent. I came across several different pins on Pinterest for Christmas/Winter book advents. I looked at several different lists of books, compiled a list for us (incorporating books that we already owned), and then started scouring the Internet for the best deals on the books that we needed to buy. We ended up having to buy 19 books and was more than what we should have spent, but we'll be putting them all away after Christmas and then reusing the same books each Christmas for quite some time. I found a lot of good deals on amazon.com and half.com.

The books ready for wrapping. At this point, we were still waiting on Mr. Postman to deliver a few more packages.

Here are the books we are using for our advent:

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess

How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston

Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney

Christmas is Here (Words from the King James Bible) illustrated by Lauren Castillo

The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers (This inspired a trip to see the ballet, which he LOVED and gets so excited every time he hears the music now!)

"I'm Not Santa!" by Jonathan Allen

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost and illustrated by Susan Jeffers

A Charlie Brown Christmas by Charles M. Schultz

The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats (we then listened to the song)

My Favorite Things (Rodgers & Hammerstein) illustrated by Renee Graef (again, then listened to the song...which is now one of Peanut's favorite things to do!)

Santa is Coming to Georgia by Steve Smallman

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell (Netflix watch instantly also has this movie)

An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco

The Twelve Days of Christmas illustrated by Laurel Long (some of the prettiest illustrations I've ever seen)

Good King Wenceslas by John M. Neale

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell! by Lucille Colandro

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell

The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter

The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Wendy Pfeffer

This is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten

Twas the Night Before Christmas (this book is my favorite because it was from when I was little, and I think it was old even then. Copyrighted in the 1950s, I believe. Can't check because it's still wrapped!)

Peanut is LOVING this advent. Who wouldn't want to open a package every night for 24 nights???? Below are a few photos of his excitement!