Celebrating Advent in Your Morning Time with Teens

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The holiday season is approaching.

The train has left the station.

Do you feel like you hopped on?

Or were you left behind?

Maybe you are still running to catch up.

For our family, Advent is a part of our holiday observance.

Apart from the cute pipe cleaner reindeer and the constant Christmas parties,

how do we prepare for Christmas with teens in the house?

Why Practice Advent?

Advent is a season of the liturgical church year.

Regardless of your denomination or doctrine, we all benefit from the practice of Advent.

It keeps the intensity of the holidays in check.

Advent is a time of watchfulness.

We’re waiting.

Or what you’d like to include as part of your observance of Advent.

Your Morning Basket Guide is now providing Morning Time plans for families. You can get the Advent Morning Time plans for FREE right now.

  • Planning is done for you– which means no extra work and allows for flexibility with the frame work already in place
  • Curated content– the content is chosen for you to match the theme of Advent and it’s ready to implement
  • Includes the content– stories, poems, hymns and carols are all included with the Morning Time Advent Plans so you don’t have to search for them on your own.
  • No Cost– It’s free! That means zero dollars for you to download it and try this Advent season.

Activities for Advent Morning Time

As the holidays approach, the pressure sets in.

It’s play time!

Only you have a few high schoolers.

Who might be taking online or dual enrollment courses.

Or seniors who are still working through the college application process.

So, how do you handle the urge to do holiday school from the end of November until Christmas?

Liturgy.

Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of Christ.

It’s possible to do both well.

But, it may not look like it did when your kids were small.

Here are a few favorites we keep around.

  • Light candles– during morning time. Follow the Advent wreath candle tradition and light a new candle each week. Light both candles starting with the oldest candle and lighting the newest one last.
  • Build a nativity– through out Advent. We use a felt calendar that was made for our kids when they were young, but you can use a navtivity with separate pieces and add one each day.
  • Make ornaments– the ornaments can match the them of the Advent candles or you can make any sort you want. I went through a phase after having four of everything our kids made of not making ornaments. Until I realized last year that the only ones we have that are hand made are from when the kids were little. It was time to up my game again!
  • Bake Holiday Foods– some families have a Christmas cookie tradition. What new traditions can you establish?

Other Favorite Advent Resources

But Advent is like Narnia in more ways than weather. It’s a magical time, set apart from ordinary time: we listen to special music; we decorate our homes, streets, and clothes; we eat particularly delightful and delicious foods. We experience a heightened sense of excitement and expectation. Those expectations are not only about the giving and receiving of gifts but also about Advent and Christmastime offering us a glimpse of a world that’s kinder, more just, and more joyful than the one we usually experience. To truly enter that world, as Christians, the door we must walk through first is Christ. – Advent in Narnia

Advent in Narnia: Reflections for the Season– one of my all time favorites. Because you must know we love all these C.S. Lewis. This book keeps an intense schedule, so we’ve been working on it for a few years.

Nature Study through the Holidays: Nature Studies for Advent– a Nature Explorer’s mini book on studying nature as we wait for Christ.

December Nature Calendar– the last in a year long monthly nature study. Download a nature calendar to record your Advent and nature activities for the month of December.

Advent Activities– an oldie but goodie post with lost of Advent books and ideas. This gem is from my first year of blogging in 2007!

More about Morning Time

How to Include Teens in Your Morning Time– strategies and materials for working with teens during a morning time together

Fostering Collaboration with a Morning Meeting Time– no matter how old our kids get, we try to meet together once a day to do some collaborative school time.

Morning Basket– a peek at some of the materials for our morning basket over the years.

Morning Time Plans– Seasonal and history based morning time plans in the same format as the Advent plans. You can find preschool topics like hibernation and others. Available for one time purchases and as part of a subscription to Morning Time Plans.

As we approach Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks, let’s give thought to a plan for Advent.

A plan that will still the busyness of the season.

A plan that will help to focus our hearts.

As we wait expectantly.

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