Advent Traditions

     It's hard to believe that the season of Advent is already here.  I was caught a bit unprepared and had to rush to uncover the Christmas decoration boxes from the basement in time to light the Advent wreath on Sunday.  I have the one that I used growing up, since my brothers don't have families of their own yet.  Perhaps some day...

     Now that the girls are a bit older, I think it's time to start a few new Advent traditions. So each night of Advent this year, we will light the Advent wreath and follow along in this book, The Christmas Countdown: Creating 25 Days of New Advent Traditions for Families.  I purchased the book on Amazon and downloaded it to the Kindle app on my iPad.  It was quick, easy, and inexpensive.  So far, we've had some interesting dinner table discussions from the prompts given in the book. I love that we're repeating old traditions, like lighting the Advent wreath and setting up our nativity set, but also creating new ones as a family.  For example, one of the suggestions from yesterday is to have the girls "make" wrapping paper.  They love arts and crafts, and I love a great "green" Christmas idea. 
     What Advent traditions do you have in your family?  Did you have them growing up, or did you create them on your own?  I'd love to hear from you!