advent ornaments

A couple of weeks ago, I shared these advent ornaments as part of the CHRISTmas series at I Am Momma, Hear Me Roar. They are our new favorite Christmas tradition (and one you can still do too!), so I thought I'd share them on here as well.

Jord and I grew up in a home full of fabulous Christmas traditions. Looking back, my favorite traditions are the ones that reinforce the meaning of CHRISTmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ the Savior. I love having that legacy of meaningful family traditions. And as our kiddos get older, I'd love to have the season leading up to Christmas be full of meaning, too!

This box of twenty five ornaments, each bearing one of the names of Christ, is one of those traditions! We are hanging one on our tree each day of December as one way to learn more about Jesus and celebrate His birth.

To make a box of advent ornaments with your family, you'll need-
-a pile of twenty five ornaments (we used big clear ones, small plastic clear ones, plain wooden and ceramic ones, and a few random shapes [a star and a lion])
-some kid-friendly ornament decor (paint, crayons, glitter, jewel stickers, trim/notions, pipe cleaners, pom poms)
-a not-so-kid-friendly Sharpie
-ornament hangers or twine

To make our ornaments, first we found a list of Jesus's names (here). The list also includes biblical references so that we can look up the passages each time we hang an ornament.

And we narrowed to these 25 names-
King of Kings, The Vine, The Word, Lion of Judah, Lamb of God, Messiah, Savior, Alpha and Omega, Light of the World, Redeemer, Bright and Morning Star, I AM, The Good Shepard, Ancient of Days, Bread of Life, Living Water, Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Rock of Ages, Jehovah, The Truth and the Life, The Great Physician, The Lord of Glory, The Rose of Sharon, Lily of the Valley.

Then Burke and I set to work, making ornaments. He's three, so the joint ornament decorating was limited at best. Think paint splashing, glitter pouring, pom pom pushing, jewel bedazzling. Limited, but fun (and funny!).

After the decorating, I'd add the name of Burke's choosing to the ornament with a Sharpie. And, twenty-five names later, our little box of advent ornaments was finished.

In case you are wondering which ornaments received the honor of "Most Likely to Be Remade Next Year," there they are. Oh, Lion of Judah and Lamb of God ornaments. You are certainly the ugly ducklings of the crowd. But Burke loves you, so I love you.

Like I said- this is our favorite addition to our December List this year. Piper Jane and Burke are loving the ornaments and the family time- and hopefully we are all learning and readying our hearts for CHRISTmas as well!