Create Your Own Advent Book

Transcription

1 Create Your Own Advent Book A Family Keepsake Written by: Laura Judah Time~n~Destiny Publishers

2 Thank you for your purchase of: Create Your Own Advent Book A Family Keepsake Written by: Laura Judah Reproducible pages may be copied for the sole use of immediate family members. No other portion of this text may be copied without prior written permission by the publishers. All scriptures are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation 1996, Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois All rights reserved. Copyright 2009 Time~n~Destiny Publishers

3 Dear Friends, Celebrating Advent, whether by using an Advent calendar or by retelling the story and lighting candles that symbolize Christ as the Light of the World, is a meaningful way to establish the truth about Christmas in our family. It is an expression of worship to our King. When our first child was two, we began reading the Christmas story to her, a little each night before bed. The next day we would re-read the parts from previous nights. The experience of snuggling on the couch, sipping hot chocolate, reading scripture and worshipping through song each night was such a joyful time for all of us. More importantly though, I found that my young daughter had the capacity to learn and remember the scriptures very well. By the time Christmas arrived, she had memorized a large part of what we had read. We ve continued this tradition every year and found it to be the cornerstone of our Christmas celebration. Now that our children are a bit older, we thought it would be fun for them to create their own Advent Books, similar to the Advent Calendar but making each page a door that opens to a truth in scripture. They colored their own pictures, decorated the doors and read the scripture themselves. The end result was a beautiful keepsake that they can be proud to take out and read every year. This is a wonderful family project to complete throughout the month of December. You may choose to make one for the entire family to enjoy or each child might want to make their own. The Advent Story here is taken directly from scripture, (New Living Translation) nothing added or taken away. As you and your children read it each day, the timeless truth of God s Word is being planted in your hearts. You are engaging your children in the process by having them create their own book of TRUTH. Celebrating Advent establishes the true meaning of why Jesus came to dwell among us in our hearts. Through frequent reading we learn from this story that before He came He spoke clearly and often about His arrival to those that had ears to hear. We are in the crossroads of His-story, when Jesus is preparing for His second Advent. During the past few Christmas celebrations, the Lord has impressed upon my heart that while it is wonderful

4 to celebrate Jesus birth, it is also important to recognize that He is no longer a Baby in a Manger. He is our soon coming King, Who comes as Almighty God, ready to destroy all that hinders Love. He is the Light Who comes to completely destroy darkness. In His Word, He has spoken clearly about the days before He comes again. Let us search the Word with great passion to prepare our hearts for His arrival. May we have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church, so that we can be as the shepherds in the field, responding in faith and running to His appearing with boldness and confidence. Let us look to His second Advent with great expectancy and whole-hearted devotedness to our Great King Who will establish the Kingdom of Heaven for all eternity! It is my prayer that you and your family enjoy this creative time around God s Word together as much as ours does and that it spurs you on to deeper intimacy with the Jesus, our King and Bridegroom. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas! The Judah s Mikael, Laura, Hannah & Joshua

5 Assembly Instructions for Advent Book This instruction guide is comprised of three sections. The first section contains the Assembly instructions, the second section contains the Scripture passages, and the third section contains the door templates. Each page of your book will be a door. Behind the door, you will have a picture and scripture. Here are some of my children s doors. You have five door templates from which to choose. Several of these styles can be used for either portrait or landscape orientation. For each day, I will give a recommended page orientation to help you in choosing your door style. Copy the template onto the desired card stock. Using a razor knife, cut on the dashed lines to create the door opening. Choose your coordinating plain paper. I recommend using Elmer s glue to adhere the card stock to the plain paper. Glue sticks don t hold up well over time. Apply a thin stream of glue to the outer edges of the back of the door/card stock and press against plain paper. For each day you have a link from which to print the corresponding picture. Your child can color the picture while you prepare the doorframe. Have your child cut the picture out. Some pictures are a tight fit in the doorframe. I have made notes for the ones that might need to be trimmed a bit. Or if you are able to reduce the size of the picture on your copier you may want to shrink it to 75% of it s original size. The scripture pages in section two contain a scripture for each day. Have your child cut out the scripture for the day. When you have completed the doorframe, have them glue the picture and scripture inside the door using only a thin stream 2009 Time~n~Destiny Publishers 1

6 Assembly Instructions for Advent Book of glue. Too much glue will saturate the paper which causes wrinkling and distortion of the coloring. The final step is to decorate the door for that day. You may want to set a theme for the doors (e.g. Each door has an animal on it, each door contains a hidden picture, etc) or just let your children be creative. Be sure to include the number of the day on the door. Once all 24 doors are complete, create a card stock cover for your book. I recommend taking it to an office supply store, i.e. Office Depot or Staples, and having them spiral bind it for around $5. Now your children will have a keepsake they can bring out and read every Christmas! Materials needed to complete one Advent Book: 24 pages of card stock for the doors (it is best to choose a few colors and repeat them throughout, eg. white, gray, dark blue, green, red) 24 pages of plain paper (can either be white or colored depending on how you would like to coordinate with the doors; heavier paper works better, but is not necessary) Crayons, markers and/or colored pencils Scissors Glue Razor knife Copier and Printer 2009 Time~n~Destiny Publishers 2

7 Assembly Instructions for Advent Book Day 1 Click here for picture Choose door style (portrait or landscape). Number door 1 and decorate. Print picture and color. Cut out star. Cut out scripture on Scripture Pages. Glue doorframe to picture page. Open doors and paste star and scripture on page within frame. Day 2 Click here for picture Turn to page 16 in the story. Choose door style (landscape). Number door 2 and decorate. Print, color and cut out picture of Mary with Baby Jesus. Cut out the scripture on Scripture Page. Glue doorframe to picture page. Open doors and paste picture and scripture on page within frame. Day 3 Click here for picture Choose door style (portrait). Number door 3 and decorate. Click on picture to print picture only. Color picture. Cut star apart from city. Glue doorframe to picture page. Open doors and paste star on page, then overlap city on lowest point of star. Cut out scripture on Scripture page and overlap slightly on city to fit within the doorframe Time~n~Destiny Publishers 3