Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
Encouragement and Inspiration for women choosing to rise above the “just survive” mentality and instead set their mind on thriving in all that they say and do. The ultimate goal is to equip you to pursue whatever is excellent in the midst of your ordinary life and in all that you say and do.
Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
11: Creating a Meaningful Advent Celebration
How do you make the Advent season special for your family?
Inspired by the unique way my six-year-old twins count down to Christmas, I've discovered that planning early can transform this time into one that’s both meaningful and joyful. Join me as I explore the beauty of Advent, a season of waiting, expectation, and spiritual readiness. From creating an Advent wreath and using calendars to family devotionals, we'll share our most cherished traditions, focusing on making this time memorable.
Choosing the right traditions for your family can elevate the Advent experience, centering on the anticipation of Jesus’s arrival rather than the commercial aspects. By thoughtfully planning, we focus on simple yet profound activities, like reading a chapter from the book of Luke each day, creating a pathway to reflect on Jesus's life and resurrection. Emphasizing joy, kindness, and generosity, you'll be able to cultivate a heart and mind ready for the coming King. Rediscover the essence of the season, celebrating not just the birth of Jesus, but also the anticipation of his return, making the Advent journey a true celebration of hope and expectation.
Resources mentioned in this episode linked below:
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp
The Manger Mission
The Giving Manger
Books for you to read during Advent:
The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Fully Love Story of Christmas by Ann Voskamp
Emmanuel: An Invitation to Prepare Him Room at Christmas and Always by Ruth Chou Simons
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You can find me on Instagram @mrs.leannetuggle or you can email me at leanne.tuggle@gmail.com. I love hearing from you!
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You can hear it. I'm looking at you, mariah, you can definitely see it. I'm pretty sure the decor has been up since. Like August, you might even be able to smell it Citrus and cloves. Christmas is coming.
Leanne:My six-year-old twins have been reminding me that Christmas is on its way since, like September, and since time is still hard for them to fully grasp, they have this odd sort of system for knowing how close it is to Christmas. One of my twins kept asking me when we were going to be getting our flu shots, and I thought that that was super strange, because I have yet to meet a kid who is excited about getting shots. But he kept asking until finally we got our flu shots. And then, right after, he exclaimed in absolute glee hooray, now we are closer to Christmas morning. I was very confused by that statement until his brother then explained that they now needed to check off eating the turkey, decorating the tree, reading all the books that mom likes us to read at Christmas, giving cookies to the neighbors and singing the songs at church, and then it would be Christmas morning. He was sure oh kids, right, they're so funny. And yet I can't help but think that they're onto something.
Leanne:The word Advent means coming or arrival, and, according to Christian tradition, advent is the period of preparation and anticipation for the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth at Christmas. It's the anticipation aspect of this season that children really seem to grasp, and I feel like we could learn something from them in this regard. And I feel like we could learn something from them in this regard, because while we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we can also anticipate his future return. The Advent season is marked by themes of waiting, expectation and spiritual readiness. It is also a special time to focus on serving others and extending kindness. All of these aspects make the Advent season so special and offer endless possibilities of cultivating beautiful family traditions along the way. So how do you prepare for the season of Advent, how do you decide what traditions are best for your family, and how do you do all the things and still have time to revel in the wonder of it all? This is what we're going to talk about today.
Leanne:First, let's look at the preparations. It's helpful to know that the season of Advent begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving or four Sundays before Christmas day, and this year, in the year 2024, that means that Advent begins on December 1st and honestly, that is so perfect and beautiful I can hardly stand it. Some families like to make an Advent wreath with four candles to represent the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. One candle for each Sunday, with the candles symbolizing hope, peace, joy and love respectively. Lighting one candle every Sunday is a calm and peaceful way to anticipate the celebration of Jesus's birth. You can incorporate a family devotional or a scripture reading to go with the weekly candle lighting. Your church might even provide you with some materials to go along with that. You might even see Advent candles lit in church.
Leanne:Some families like to keep Advent calendars. Now, I know that this is this has taken on a life of its own. There are so many different types of Advent calendars Now. I have seen chocolate themed calendars, wine Advent calendars, and I've seen something like Lego calendars or even Play-Doh calendars. There are so many different versions of Advent calendars. The idea with it is to creatively count down the days until Christmas.
Leanne:In our family, we like to embrace this expectation activity with a couple of different elements. We have a string of hand-stitched bags that are labeled with the days and, before you get any crazy ideas, I found these bags on Etsy. I did not make them myself, but you could absolutely do that if you like to. But inside each of these bags is a special treat, one for each of my children. And then some of the bags also include a fun activity for them to do. For example, one might have a little piece of paper that says go for a walk and drink hot cocoa, or drive around your neighborhood and look at the pretty lights, or maybe even read a Christmas book together under the tree. This is a great way for me as the parent to ensure that we enjoy the season in a simple and sweet way, with little activities to do along the way. It helps me kind of space them out over the course of the month as well, and now is a really good time to begin thinking about those activities and what you want to prioritize as a family, and then how you can sprinkle them in throughout the month instead of being overwhelmed with them. So thinking about those activities now during the preparation stage, is hugely helpful.
Leanne:Another way to embrace the Advent season is with family devotionals. You can do this weekly with the candles, like I mentioned before, or daily with a sort of advent calendar devotional. Our favorite family devotional is one by Ann Voskamp and it's called the Wonder of the Greatest Gift. This is a delightful book, and it includes this beautiful pop-up Christmas tree in the center of it, and then each of the little doors opens to include an ornament that can be hung on the tree. Each ornament represents part of the story of Jesus, from creation all the way through his birth, and it is described in this beautiful, kid-friendly way that your children will love, and they love hanging the little ornaments on the tree. This will be the sixth year that we have done this in our family, and my kids are still so excited to do it, so it's something you can do over and over again. And, as a note, all of these different ideas that I'm going to mention here on this episode will be linked in the show notes, so I will link this resource as well as a few more I'm going to mention. So check out the show notes if you have any questions or you would like to find these resources easily, including this one that I just mentioned.
Leanne:My children have also really loved participating in something called the manger mission. This is a wooden nativity scene. It's very simply made that you can set up in your home and then your kids get to put the wise men as far away from that stable scene as possible. Then every day leading up to Christmas they get to bring the wise men just a little bit closer to the manger until they are at the manger on Christmas morning, and that's just another fun way to let them participate in this expectation and anticipation for the birth of Jesus.
Leanne:One other tradition we have embraced is the giving manger. This is a sweet reminder of the true meaning of Christmas and it encourages your children to go out of their way to be kind to one another. So each act of unprompted kindness results in a piece of straw in the manger, making it a nice and cozy bed for Jesus. On Christmas morning, in the giving manger kit comes a book that really explains how it works. And then this really simply made manger with straw. And for everything that they do that is kind to their brother or sister or to others, they get to put a piece of straw in the manger that is kind to their brother or sister or to others. They get to put a piece of straw in the manger, and the more straw in the manger, the softer the bed for Jesus is, like the mentality behind it. And then on Christmas morning, the little baby Jesus is in the manger and they can be so excited about how they participated in that. This activity I find to be very helpful for shifting the focus from self to serving, and I think that is especially important during this time of year, which can be very me focused Like what do I want for Christmas, like the things on my wishlist and so by encouraging them to think outside of themselves and look at how they might help another person or give a gift to someone else is really lovely. I also like that it shifts the focus from consumerism to more of a idea of gifts don't always have to be materialistic. It could be giving of your time doing a chore for someone else instead of them doing it that kind of a thing. So it's a really great interactive activity that they can be participating in all throughout the month of December and then hopefully carries out throughout the rest of the year too. So that was a lot of different ideas that I just shared.
Leanne:How do you decide what traditions are best for your family? Simply put, you just decide. You are most likely the best candidate for deciding which activities and which devotionals would be best for your family. You decide ahead of time what you want to focus on as a family during this season. Talk it over with your spouse and then consider the ages of your children and choose one thing to introduce as a way of shifting the focus of the season from gifts or Santa, maybe, to the anticipation of Jesus's coming. You can save all of these ideas and you can come back to them in the future as your children grow. The point of the Advent season is preparing your heart and mind and soul for the coming King, and overwhelming yourself with too many activities ends up taking away from the sweetness and simplicity of the season. You want to savor the time spent together and not rush from thing to thing and activity to activity. So deciding ahead of time where you want your focus to be will then help you determine which resources, which devotionals and which things you want to participate in for the entire month. This is also how you begin to appreciate the wonder of the Christmas season, and it's not just for the kids either.
Leanne:I have found it helpful to read the Christmas story slowly during the days leading up to Christmas to really soak up the gift that Jesus really is to us.
Leanne:One idea is to read one chapter of the book of Luke, since there are 24 chapters in that book of the Bible.
Leanne:You can read one chapter every day from starting December 1st all the way through Christmas Eve, and what makes this idea unique is that you will actually find yourself reading about the crucifixion of Jesus on December 19 through 23, as that's where that part of the story lands in the book of Luke, and on Christmas Eve you will read about his resurrection and his ascension to heaven, as that happens in Luke, chapter 24.
Leanne:This is a really amazing way to be reminded that, while the focus of Christmas Day is on his birth, jesus is coming again, and that is what we can really anticipate in this season and for today.
Leanne:Much like my sweet boys checking off their little list with all the things that they need to do before Christmas morning, we can anticipate Jesus' return by considering what we can do while we wait for Him to come again, and when he comes again, it will be even greater than Christmas morning. I hope and pray that our Savior comes soon and that he finds us celebrating this season with joy soon, and that he finds us celebrating this season with joy and thanksgiving, that he sees us giving each other good gifts, just like he generously gives to us. I pray he sees our kindness towards others, and not just at Christmastime but all throughout the year, and I pray that he sits with us as we read His story to our children underneath those twinkling lights of our tree. It is a joy to prepare for the Advent season. May you delight in cultivating a celebration that settles your soul and points to the Savior, who is Emmanuel.