November 27, 2010 4:18 PM
Advent - books, music, calendars, puzzle
This round-up of Advent resources contains some real gems. I was stunned a few years ago when a friend gave us a brand new copy of Jotham's Journey as I had wanted this book for some time but they were so hard to come by that used copies were going for nearly 100. the year before on Amazon. Turns out that this title was just re-released by Servant Publications and so back in the affordable realm. In 2009, Servant re-released Bartholomew's Passage. And this year they've re-released Tabitha's Travels) which last year was selling at 476. on Amazon (!). These are great Advent read-alouds.
We added the Passion Tree Puzzle to our Christmas traditions in 2008 - I highly recommend it as it is well-crafted, just the right level of difficulty for a family, and also a teaching tool/reminder/discussion starter - you can see in the larger image how the tree is surrounded by images from the story of the Bible - Genesis through Revelation. These images are repeated in reduced size as ornaments on the tree. For over 20 years our family has had the tradition of keeping a specially-themed Christmas puzzle going to build family togetherness. This one is my very favorite.
Over the years, our family has built a collection of Christmas books, music, and puzzles which stay in the attic until December. It is so gratifying when we get them out and see our children enjoying our family favorites. I'm timing this round-up for Advent, but there will be more to come as we draw closer to Christmas.
