Advent Wreaths & Calendars

I must admit that December snuck up on me this year.  I've wanted to do something special in our home to bring Jesus to the forefront of this holiday and Satruday night I realized I was not prepared at all!

So today, in between work, homeschooling and doctor appointments I struggled to find the supplies I needed to create an Advent wreath and calendar for our family. 

This is our first year of doing an Advent wreath and we are obviously celebrating the first candle two days late, but all things considered I think it turned out pretty good and the kids participated quite well.  We could not find a pink candle so we found the lightest red we could get for the 3rd Sunday candle.  Tyler is really excited about doing the wreath this year.  The boys are as well, but their attention span is pretty short.  It was very nice to sit at our table to pray around it though and see all three kids with their heads bowed and hands clasped.

I was looking for three of those cheap cardboard advent calendars with the chocolate already in them - but no luck.  I did stumble across the below item though and found that each day has just enough room to stuff in three chocolate kisses!  Therefore, I now introduce you to the Smith Family Advent Calendar!

Being the youngest I let Jesse open the first door.  You should have seen his little face light up when he pulled out three chocolate kisses.  I asked him what he was going to do with them and his response was "Eat them!" 

"Jesse we are celebrating Christmas though, what should you do with THREE chocolate kisses on Christmas?  What do we do on Christmas?"  I asked hoping to prompt the reponse "we share."

Instead Jesse looked at me with a huge smile and said "Eat them!"  I then mentioned sharing them and he willingly handed one over to Tyler and one to Austin.

I'm hoping this is the beginning of two soon to be long standing Smith Christmas Traditions.