Waiting with Wonder: Three Simple Ways to Celebrate Advent as a Homeschooling Family

Two decades ago our family began a journey of faith and memory-making that would knit our hearts to one another and to our God forever. 

The moment lives in my memory: my first child was days away from his fourth birthday, and I was full of expectation and excitement. Finally I could share my favorite Christmas traditions with him! 

I’d bought his very first, chocolate-filled Advent calendar and patiently explained how to open the doors, what was inside. And then his baby brother needed my attention…

I turned back to my oldest to find his mouth ringed with chocolate, and cardboard scraps all across the kitchen table. And I realized something vital.

Advent and Christmas were about more than chocolates in a cardboard calendar!

That year we began to celebrate Advent and Christmas on purpose. 

Below I’ll share three easy ways we incorporated celebration into our homeschool and into our lives, because making memories doesn’t have to be complicated!

First, however, a question: if Advent isn’t a Christmas Countdown, what actually is it? 

The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus meaning coming or arrival. But adventus wasn’t used for just any ordinary arrival, rather it announced the coming of someone of great importance. Like the King of kings!

Celebrating Advent, or Jesus’s coming began in the early days of Christianity. We have historical records of sermons as early as the 400s encouraging a time of reflection and fasting, including the sermons of Perpetuus of Tours (who died around 490). At the Council of Tours in 567 and the later Council of Mâcon in 581 a season of fasting and reflection was instituted beyond France and Germany to the whole Christian world.

Advent originally began on November 11th, St. Martin’s Day, and was called, “St. Martin’s Lent” with fasting and other Lent-like practices. Gradually through the Middle Ages, the 40 day season shortened and began four Sundays before Christmas. The first day of Advent now changes, so while our modern Advent calendars often begin on December 1, the season of Advent can begin anywhere from late November to early December. 

Advent, since the early days of the Christian Church’s history, marked the beginning of the Church calendar. The weeks leading up to Christmas were (and still are in many traditions) weeks of joyful expectation as we await, with Mary, the birth of the Christ: fully human, fully divine, the only One able to bring redemption into the world.

Yet even with our joy, Advent is also a season of repentance. Like the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25, we’re awaiting another coming, the coming of the Bridegroom to the wedding banquet! We ask ourselves during Advent, “Are we ready to meet the King?”

Contemporary marketers may focus on the chocolates in the Advent calendar, the countdown of shopping-days-till-Christmas, but as Christians, Advent is so much more!

How do we make Advent a meaningful part of our home celebration, no matter how young (or old) our children? How do we give them memories of joy, and opportunities to reflect on the true meaning of Advent and Christmas?

We’ve discovered three easy ways to bring Advent from chocolate-filled calendars to a season of celebration, memory-making, and joy!

1 – Morning Time (& Evening Time!) 

Morning time is a homeschool specialty of warmth and togetherness. Every morning throughout the year we light a candle, read Scripture or a devotional together, share prayers and togetherness. During Advent we add Carols and lessons to our Morning, but we also take our celebration into the evening.

In those after-dinner moments when the dishes are still in the sink, we dim the lights, light the candles in our Advent Wreath, and share a few moments together as a family. We read from an Advent devotional, hang a Jesse Tree ornament on our little tree, and enjoy a Christmas Carol! 

We began this evening Advent celebration twenty years ago, and bit-by-bit assembled our favorite art, Carols and prayers into a free daily digital Advent calendar to share with everyone.

With the Joy of Advent Digital Advent Calendar, every day becomes a celebration of art, music, and deepening faith!

2 – Holidays Within the Holidays

Throughout the seasons of Advent and Christmas, we pick special days within the seasons to celebrate. 

Did you know that today is St. Nicholas Day? This holiday was part of my own childhood where even in my little Christian school, we lined up our shoes in the hallway and eagerly awaited a visit from Sinterklaas (the Dutch St. Nicholas), who would sneak through the halls depositing gifts of candy, fruit, and nuts in every shoe. 

With our own children, we’ve added the tradition of St. Nicholas letters, a special meal, and the true story of Nicholas of Myra who was born around 270 in Patara, in what is now Turkey. This guide to St. Nicholas Day tells the story and shares all the recipes we’ve used over the years.

3 – We Keep Christmas Going through the 12 Days of Christmas! 

We’ve found tremendous joy — and relief! — when we first learned that Christmas is a season and not a single day! The 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas day and continue through New Year’s to January 6th, the Feast of Epiphany.

What is Epiphany? It’s an ancient Christian celebration of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. God said through Abraham he would bless the whole world — all peoples. And at Epiphany, the three gentile magi, bow in worship of God incarnate, the infant Jesus.

When the rest of the world is packing up their decorations and focusing on New Year’s resolutions, we’re baking (more!) Christmas cookies, watching Christmas movies, visiting friends (a traditional practice for St. Stephen’s Day), and moving the magi closer each day to the nativity set. 

That’s right! The magi didn’t arrive at the stable to worship Jesus — they came later. We begin their journey from the moment we set up the nativity, placing them in another part of the house. All throughout December they move just a tiny bit closer to their destination, arriving at last on January 5th, the eve of Epiphany. 

We also love to host a party complete with games and a King’s Cake. It’s surprisingly easy, as this guide to Epiphany will show step by step. As homeschoolers, we have all been gifted with the flexibility to build memories through celebrations. We can give our children the true gift of pointing them toward Christ, whose coming we joyfully celebrate this month!

Happy holiday homeschooling, friend! 🎄

Want More Holiday Homeschool Tips?

Check out these great holiday homeschooling posts!

• Simple Holiday Countdown Activities Kids Love
• How To Incorporate Christmas Traditions Into Your Holiday Homeschool
• Meaningful December Lessons: Low-Prep Holiday Learning That Still Counts

Thanks To Our Series Sponsors!

Homeschooling Through The Holidays would not be possible without the generous support of our series Platinum sponsors!