Advent

I love Advent. I love the candles and watching one more be lit every week. I love the devotions. I love the Christmas songs.  I love everyone has their lights up.  I love being excited for Christmas.  And new this year I love Advent calendars!  There are a lot of calendars going on in this house right now.
       The first one is one of the pop up ones that you open a new window everyday.  Each window has a picture or a couple words and from that picture or those words you know where to look in a little book to read a little prayer and story.
       The second one is shaped like a Christmas tree and has a little box for each day. We all know what that means, CANDY!  Because there are six of us and you can't fit six pieces of candy in one little box, instead there is a little piece of paper in each box.  Ellen made a bunch of different kinds of candy right before Advent started.  I made a bunch of caramels and she made lots of different kinds of chocolate which include: dark caramel, dark peanut, dark, and my favorite dark coffee!  She made slightly different ones for the kiddos but I don't know what they each are.
       The third Advent calendar is one that I brought.  I didn't know before I came if the Benefields did Christmas gifts so to be safe my main gift which I brought for them was a different book for each day of Advent.  My mum wrapped them too which makes it very excited for the kids.  "Santa Claus" has been stealing the book each day and hiding it after leaving a note with a hint which the kids also love.
       The fourth and final Advent calendar was sent by my mum.  She got a bunch of people to write me notes on the back of a picture.  Everyday there's a new picture/note and they're all hung on a line in my room.  I am a BIG fan of this Advent calendar.  It's so nice to read a note everyday from someone letting you know that they're praying for you, and love you, talking about some  memories that they enjoyed sharing with you, etc, everyday. Plus it's so fun to see all the pictures.  Good job Mama:)