Homemade Avent Calendar- The Greatest Gift

This mama has been a busy bee for the past month creating this special Advent calendar.  Three years ago, my good friend Lindsay displayed her version of this calendar at our moms ministry auction.  I have wanted it (but have never been able to bid high enough at the auctions) for three years.  So this year, when my paddle had to come down, I buckled down and committed to making one myself.  I'm so glad I didn't win the bid this year, because now I have a handmade-with-love by ME keepsake that will hopefully stay in the family for years to come!  If any of you would like all the instructions and patterns for this, let me know and I can email them to you.  I'm so excited to open our first pocket tonight!

 Each pocket contains an ornament that represents an attribute/name of Jesus along with a devotion for that day.  Each devotion takes you through scriptures that tell of who Jesus is.  Just like the Bible, it all points to our only Hope, Jesus Christ.  The devotions are short enough for the little ones, but deep enough for the whole family.  And the ornaments are a visual memory cue for remembering each attribute, I love it!

 You wrap each ornament in tissue paper so that opening each one is like opening a gift.  Each member of the family takes a turn doing this of course.

 Here are the ornaments (I'm not quite finished with them, still need to fill with fleece, tack together fronts and backs and sew on all the snaps).  The star is ready for tonight's devotion though:).

 Here's what the devotion cards look like.  Each one has a song as well, that you can either sing if you know it or read as a poem if you don't.

 A close up of some of the adorable ornaments.

With the help of this calendar, I hope we can keep our eyes on Jesus this Christmas season, on the author of our Hope and Salvation, truly the greatest gift we've been given!  Happy Advent!