Advent Activities To Celebrate the Holiday Season

Advent is the time period from December 1st to December 24th that identifies the days and weeks that come before Christmas. An Advent calendar or wreath is used to track the season, which represents "coming" as a derivative of the Latin word adventus. This time period celebrates the period leading up to the birth of Christ.

One way that Advent is prepared for is by use of a device known as an Advent calendar. A simple device, in many cases actually created by children, this device allows the celebrants to track how far they are along in the Advent holiday period.

Advent candles are the most popular way that is used to track the days in the calendar. Since Advent has 24 days, the calendar has 24 candles. The family celebrating the holiday gathers together and lights one of the candles each day of the Advent season.

Advent calendars come in all shapes and sizes. They also come in a wide variety of formats and designs. One common design of an Advent calendar is in the form of a Christmas tree. This design has 24 candles attached to branches that make up the tree and are lit each day.

Another Advent calendar design is a candy holder calendar. The candy holder calendar includes 24 pockets that are filled with candy. As each day arrives in the holiday season, someone, usually a child, takes the candy out of the holder and eats it.

You can also track the holiday season by using an Advent wreath. An Advent wreath includes 4 candles to track the weeks of Advent. You light a candle on each week of Advent to track the progression of the holiday season.

There are many ways that Advent is celebrated by the religious community. Special services are held where the congregants gather together for prayer, worship and to be edified and encouraged. The religious leader may specifically focus on a message of encouragement to remind the congregation of the coming Christmas holiday and why we celebrate the birth of Christ. The church may also sing special hymns and spiritual songs that celebrate and promote the birth of Christ as well.

For families that are looking to celebrate the holiday season at home, there are a variety of Advent activities that can be engaged in. Families with kids may have an Advent calendar creation time where the family makes and designs a calendar together. Other families may have their kids engage in Advent-themed activities, such as playing with Advent toys or coloring in Advent coloring books.

The Advent holiday season is a time of reflection, celebration, and rededication for the millions of individuals that celebrate it worldwide. As you can see, there are a number of different ways that you can choose to celebrate the holiday. You can use the suggestions and examples that we give in this article or you can use them as a starting point to come up with your own ideas. The choice is completely up to you.

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Copyright Kerry Beck, 2009

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Kerry Beck offers free Advent calendars with daily Christmas activities to prepare your family for Christmas. Your family will learn more about the origins of Christmas with some of her activities.