This post describes how we celebrated the Advent season with our kids when they were a baby and a toddler, one and three years old. We choose to celebrate Advent with toddlers so that they will always know that Christmas is about Jesus.
Advent encompasses the four Sundays and weekdays leading up to the celebration of Christmas. It is a period of preparation and waiting, of growing anticipation, as Christians prepare themselves to remember the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.
Outside of the Catholic church and other churches with more liturgical practices, we don’t often hear about the practice of commemorating Advent with young children in Singapore. That is, at least, my personal experience. Despite having grown up in a Christian church and home, we did not practise any traditions in the period leading up to Christmas. Or at least, none remain in my memory.
Christmas has always been a big deal in church and at home, but it comes and goes quickly. As a child, the focus was always on the festivities and gifts, and as an adult, I found Christmas became less and less special to me as the jadedness of adulthood wore me down.
For some background, I come from a protestant church that does not practise many liturgical traditions. I think this is not unlike most Christian churches in Singapore, and many of my peers would have the same experiences as I. In more recent times, I’ve come to learn about the beauty of liturgical practices, and how creating traditions at home (especially during special times such as Advent) can play a role in laying a strong faith foundation and in spiritual formation of both adults and children in the home.
So, I’m sharing this not as an expert, but as a novice who has just dipped my toes into the waters and is eager to share the wondrous discoveries I’ve found. There are many resources available in churches, books and even online that can better explain the church history and traditions around Advent, so please do approach your pastors and leaders if you wish to go further in-depth. In this article, I’m sharing but one way which we found to be doable and effective with our very young children. As our family matures, our practices will likewise mature, but the foundations and rhythms would have been laid from early on.
Advent, as in “Advent calendar”?
Yup. But instead of getting a treat or new toy or book each day, we uncover another part of the gospel story in the lead up to Christmas. Advent calendars for kids are gaining such popularity these days. If you’re looking for ways to create a rich spiritual heritage in your home, do consider swapping out or using a treat calendar in tandem with something that points to the meaning of the season!
A Christmas that is about Christ
As a Christian parent, I believe that it is my primary responsibility to present my children with the gospel, over and over. In years to come, they will have to take their own journey to discover God for themselves, and make a decision as to whether to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed to us in the Bible. While their decision is not my responsibility, I desire to present the good news in our daily home life, in our actions and speech, so that their senses may be more keenly attuned to the things of God around them.
Creating traditions makes the season something to expect. We are making a statement as to what is important to us when we make it a regular priority in our day. For example, going to church on Sundays, or having a daily morning time where we read the Bible together. Having a standard way of commemorating the season also makes it easier to execute year after year. Instead of having to think up novel ideas each time the season comes around, we can reach for that box in the storeroom and take out the same props that we use each year.
When we write Christ into the season as the main event, everything else revolves around Christ and it will be seen in the way we order our day to day. Our children, the keenest observers in the home, will definitely catch on.
“Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing!”
Lyrics from Joy to the World (Isaac Watts)
Creating an anticipatory atmosphere
Advent means “coming” or “arrival”. It is the first season of the liturgical calendar, leading up to Christmas where Christ’s birth is commemorated. To prepare ourselves to celebrate his arrival at Christmas, we want to create an atmosphere of anticipation. This helps us to be in the right posture when Christmas finally comes along.
God created us as embodied beings, with senses through which we experience the world around us. During this season, I think about how we can create traditions around the different senses, so that we literally feel the difference in the atmosphere. This could be by playing Christmas music (sense of hearing), hanging up Christmas art and decorations (sense of sight), lighting scented Christmas candles (sense of smell), and baking special Christmas treats (sense of taste and touch). Over the years, these little traditions will spark memories of the season for us and our children. Perhaps they’ll hear a familiar tune or smell the scent of Christmas cookies while abroad on their own, and be brought right back to their childhood days in our home.
What we did for Advent with toddlers
In 2022, we had a one year old and a three year old during the Advent season. Here’s what we did.
Preparing the home
Before the month started, and throughout the month, we decorated our home with a Christmas tree, homemade Christmas orange garlands, candles, and other festive decorations. We also made a paper chain for our tea time liturgy, with the Bible reference for each day written on each link. Each link of the chain would be torn off each day leading up to Christmas, where there would be no chain left.
Tea time liturgy
The main event each day that pointed to the season was our tea time liturgy. Instead of having this at a fixed time on the clock, we had it fixed as being after Mr 3 woke from his afternoon nap. As young children, they don’t know how to read time on the clock, but instead derive their sense of time from the regular rhythms of the day. By inserting this segment of our day into a regular “slot”, it became something he’d look forward to doing after his nap.
After his nap, we would set up the dining table with snacks, and light a candle. With the children gathered around the table with tea time snacks, we’d tear off the next link of our paper chain and read the Bible reference on it, then refer to the Bible for the verse. These verses told the overarching story of the Bible, while focusing on who Jesus is, and His days on earth. We’d then pray, add the next character to our nativity set, and extinguish the candle to mark the end of the “ceremony”.
Sometimes, Ms 1 might be napping during this time, or unwilling to join in the readings. While we hope for her to be present every day, it’s not always possible and that’s okay in this season.
Since our nativity set is a toy set, we place it on the toy shelf to allow the children to play with it in their own time. It is my hope that they would retell the stories to themselves through their play, and in so doing internalise all that they’ve learnt.
Closing thoughts
We are still very early in our days as a family, and we will continue to try out different ideas through the years to see what works best for us in each season. The beauty of the calendar is in its constancy and repetition. Once one year ends, another begins. This, I believe, is a demonstration of God’s unending love and grace toward us. For everything I didn’t get “right” this Advent, I have the next, and the next. It’s not about reaching a destination, but rather, travelling the narrow path and knowing that God will always be there with me to journey beside.
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
