Advent Ornaments

This year, as I thought about Christmas I reflected on advent, it's importance and the value of taking time out of our Decembers to remember why we celebrate Christmas. 

I thought about how we often put our tree up on the first Sunday of Advent, and I figured it would be fun to have themed ornaments for each Sunday, to reflect the different weeks as a way to remember the bible story. 

It didn't happen quite that way... 

BUT I did manage to get the ornaments made before Christmas!! 

Each one represents a different part of the story, a different character and how the different themes of advent would have effected them. The images are those parts of the story, and on the back is a bible verse. 

Hope: 

Hope was the first one that came to my mind (possibly because it was the first week of advent...). For me, the characters that embody hope are the Wisemen, biblically we know very little about them except that they were from the East, brought expensive gifts, and knew the prophecies about Christ. 

How much hope would it take to embark on a long and dangerous journey with an expensive gift for a baby? What did they think and feel on that trek? How did they feel when they saw the star that foretold his coming? 

It amazes me that not only did they see the signs and know what to look for, but also that they followed the star.  They believed in Christ so deeply, they were so full of hope that the baby they saw would change the world, that they took an amazing journey and will be remembered for it forever. 

Joy: 

While shepherds watched their flocks by night... A boring old night job, maybe lonely, definitely not glamorous or powerful in any way. If anyone needed something to be joyful about I bet it was these guys. I can't even imagine the excitement that seeing an angel would produce, especially one saying "good news!" And they didn't just see one! 

I love that God chose shepherds to share the birth of Christ with, the wisemen came to him, he got the shepherds, Christ was born for ALL people, which in and of itself is a reason to celebrate! 

Peace: 

Do I assume that Mary's birth was painless and her baby was perfect? No, I do not, and I also don't think she walked an easy road, being an unmarried teen mom 2000 years ago. But "Mary treasured up all of these things, and pondered them in her heart." The common image of Mary is one of peace and tranquility, and I think there's a reason for that, through it all, Mary's posture was one of obedience to God. She was not worried about what Joseph would think, she didn't ask why it couldn't be a married women, or even to wait till SHE was married, she simply said, "let it be as you have said." Peace is not about what's going on around us, but where are roots our planted. Mary's had grown deeply into God. 

Love: 

Above all, put on Love. 

God is Love. 

Faith, hope and Love. 

A cross is not a typical Christmas emblem, but I felt I would be cheating my original intent without remembering. 

For the cross was why Jesus came to the manger. 

Christmas is not an isolated event, it was a step that the son of God himself took, a desperate move into enemy territory. 

For us. 

For you and me, the manger was a step to the cross, God himself came down to save us.  

If you ever, EVER feel like God can't or doesn't or won't love you, for whatever circumstance or sin, IT. IS. A. LIE. 

The manger and the cross prove that. 

He already has come for you, he was born a baby on Christmas day, he died for your sins, he rose again, it was for you. It was for love. 

Making the ornaments was quite simple, I found a great link to baking soda dough recipes on-line (http://theimaginationtree.com/2012/12/white-clay-ornaments-tutorial.html) and used a mug to make perfect circles in the dough, and used a straw to punch a hole in them for the string. 

The images and bible verses were all done on Adobe illustrator, but it would be easy to do them by hand or find clip art. 

Once the ornaments were dry I used Mod Podge to put them on, which worked really well. I had to sand the ornaments on the sides and the backs, they did not come out evenly, but my family is insisting that they look good anyway. And I very much recommend the coloured boarders, the clay looks perfectly white until it's right up against paper! 

In summary, this is a simple DIY that would be good to do with kids (or just by yourself, whatever). And when you have them at the beginning of December NEXT year you can put them up on the Advent day and reflect a bit on the reasons we celebrate Christmas. 

Happy Holidays!!