Wednesday, December 15, 2010

An Advent Calendar for Orthodox Christians

I first saw this adorable project here. So I clicked over here for all the details. I just love crafty bloggers :) So cute I just had to try it!!! What I really love is that this project wasn't locked into the typical 25 numbers found on every advent calendar on the market. With an extra 15 buckets, I could create an advent calendar with the 40 numbers needed for an Orthodox Christian advent.

I wanted something super easy so instead of drilling holes, I decided I would look for a peg board. After a trip to the local chain lumber yard, I had this...
A can of green spray paint later...
After it dried we brought it inside to continue with the project...
I went to the dollar store and sure enough...look what I found...
While I was at the dollar store, I looked for stickers that I could use to number the buckets. Sure enough, they had alphabet and number stickers...in RED. I bought several packages and then each bucket received a number...
Now here is where I deviated from the original in a big way. See this advent calendar also serves as our Jesse Tree. By searching the internet for FREE clip art images, I was able to find most objects suggested by this group. I printed the small images and then used M*d P*dge to affix the image to the correctly numbered bucket...


And the buckets ended up looking like this...
Using pegboard hooks I purchased at a local hardware store, I arranged them in the shape of a tree and hung the buckets in order.
Ta-Da!!!


So, here is how we use our advent calendar/Jesse tree. At the beginning of the season, all buckets have the numbers facing out. Each day, we read the reading of the day and one of the children turns the bucket over to reveal the image for the day. For each day, the children are to do something nice for someone else (but they cannot tell the person "this is my nice thing I'm doing for the day"). They then write down what they have done on a slip of a paper and place it in the bucket for that day. On Christmas day we will gather all the strips of paper as our gift to Jesus Christ for His birthday.

Now, just so you'll know this was a fairly inexpensive project even with my changes. The pegboard cost about $1.75. A can of spray paint $3.50 and the hooks were $0.16 each, which came to about $6.40. 4 packages of stickers for $4.00 and 14 packages of buckets for $14.00.

Fun crafty project from a minimally crafty mom.

May God bless you abundantly this Christmas season!
theresesophia




Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Daybook 12-7-10


Outside my window...
It is dark and cold. It is supposed to be bedtime :)

I am listening to...
my husband play PS3 and my son helping him

I am wearing...
socks, black sweat pants, and my favorite Stars "sweater"

I am pondering...
the power of prayer.

I am reading...

In the kitchen...
still not quite sure where that is. Probably need to go to the grocery store before I get too excited about trying to make a meal :{

I am thinking...
about our school updates for the coming semester and the things that need to be done to bring about some positive changes.

I am creating...
a Christmas project that I will share here this week!

Towards a living education...
we have hit a major shift in how we need to do school. I have been teaching the way I wish I had been taught but that is not necessarily how my children learn. I am revising lots of our curriculum and am working towards creating the best learning environment for them rather than ME.

Beauty in the home...
we have been working on decorating our home for the Christmas season. Simple touches to most rooms to bring the season alive... a tin small tree in the washroom, a music box nativity with a few small ornaments on a shelf in the dining area, a festive bow and towels in the kitchen. The tree is up and the kids and I decorated it on St. Nicholas day... a wonderful tradition to continue.

The domestic church...
Liturgy yesterday for the feast of St. Nicholas. A reading each day to take us through the season, from the Children's Bible Reader based on the list found here. And the project I've been working on...

I am hoping and praying...
for a very close friend of Princess. Her name is Rachel and she and Princess dance together. She suffered, we believe, an aneurysm last Monday. She was doing well and improving quickly although she had lost movement on her left side. She had a horrible set back yesterday but appears to be improving today. If you could pray for her and her family, I know all prayers are greatly appreciated!!!

In the garden...
the leaves have been raked and it looks lovely. The husband and Stinkbug put lights out for Christmas and the lights make me smile every time I see them, even when they are not on.

One of my favorite things...
Princess's dance teacher. She has been such a loving example to all of her students. She has been at the hospital by Rachel's side, much of the past week. She has comforted the students that are hurting and calls to give us updates when there is news of setbacks or progress.

A few plans for the rest of the week...
dance and hockey of course, several trips to the hospital, a trip to the homeschool store, Christmas shopping, school, and definitely a trip to the grocery store.

A picture thought to share...



Blessings!!!
theresesophia