My 3 Favorite Advent Resources for 2019

Dec 3

After many, many years of wanting to engage with the Advent season, last year was the first time I finally got myself in gear before December 1st! And it changed everything - it stretched out the Christmas season in such a lovely way, and it felt like Christmas Day was really a culmination and celebration we’d been yearning for.

Advent begins on December 1st and ends on December 25th with celebrating the birth of Christ. It’s a season of intentionality, expectation, and learning to live with the darkness and waiting that comes before the light.

Here’s why I love advent: it helps me slow down in the midst of what can be a very full and over-scheduled month of the year. It helps us begin our days by focusing on what’s really important.

I realize it’s already December 3rd, but it’s not too late to start! Here are my 3 favorite advent resources for 2019 that I wanted to share with you…

Unearthing Wonder Advent Guide by The Peaceful Press

I’m super excited about this new advent guide we’re doing this year. It’s a new release from The Peaceful Press, which is also our favorite place to get all the beautiful homeschool guides we’ve been using that have helped us connect with each other and the people of our world on a deeper level. This advent guide isn’t just for homeschoolers though! You use it alongside the book All Creation Waits by Gayle Boss (which you purchase separately), and there’s a short daily reading about a woodland animal and then an easy activity that helps draw parallels from nature/the animal world with our own hearts in advent. The whole thing takes about 30 minutes a day. Bonus if you do your daily reading with a side of frothy vanilla coconut milk steamers and some Gluten-Free Peppermint Jo-Jos. :)

We even took it on the road with us to North Carolina - this is at our rental house in the mountains :)

Shadow & Light Advent Book & Playlist by Tsh Oxenreider

My friend Tsh Oxenreider, who I’ve had the joy of working with this year on her blog The Art of Simple and the Simple podcast, is releasing a brand new advent book next year called Shadow & Light, but right now you can download the entire first chapter for free! This link has all the details, including some helpful articles related to advent, artwork that corresponds with the daily reading, and.a vibey Spotify playlist (I don’t have Spotify, so I searched for all the songs in iTunes and made a new playlist with them).

Martin & Sylvia Audio Advent Calendar from Sparkle Stories

We’ve loved Sparkle Stories for several years now - they’re a treasure trove of original audio stories full of wonder created by a husband and wife couple, David and Lisbeth McCann. (I know that years from now, the first few notes of the Sparkle Stories theme song will always remind me of my girls’ childhood!) You can listen to some Sparkle Stories for free on iTunes, or you can be a monthly subscriber and listen to unlimited stories of all different characters. Our favorites are the Martin & Sylvia stories, and there’s a free Martin & Sylvia Audio Advent Calendar with a new story for every day leading up to Christmas! I genuinely love listening to these stories alongside my girls.

P.S. Don’t have an advent candleholder? Here’s an easy DIY…

And just for fun, here’s my advent candleholder I made last year using a piece of salvaged driftwood I took home from the lake a few summers ago. You could use any log sawn in half lengthwise, or really any piece of wood with a flat bottom. The more rustic, the better! All you need is a power drill with a spade drill bit (you can get a cheap set of spade drill bits from Harbor Freight). Choose the drill bit that looks slightly smaller than the base of your taper candle (so the candle fits in tightly) and drill 5 holes evenly spaced across. Just be aware you might become obsessed and want to make holes in everything after making this!