It is kind of like the home stretch in a marathon, that last week of Advent. We have gone to parties, made cookies, shopped for friends and family, sent cards and accomplished other more sundry tasks. We are generally exhausted and so on this night we do a great deal of nothing together. It is our movie night. Whatever favorite Christmas movie we haven't watched yet gets watched as we hang out on the couch or on the blow up mattress in front of the tv. This year we watched ELF - one of our all time favorites. We had already watched White Christmas and Sound of Music. (Why Sound of Music is on our Christmas movie list I am not quite sure but we always watch it this time of year.)
FAMILY ACTIVITY: Movie night and sleeping under our Christmas tree which always ends with a fabulous game of eye-spy. Popcorn, hot cocoa, and Christmas cookies are generally on the snack list.
FOCUS: Love. As John 3:16 states, love is the reason God sent His Son to earth. And so we celebrate that love on this night. We rejoice that God's love has no bounds and is unfathomable. We also rejoice that Love Incarnate will one day come again with Christ's Second Coming.
DINNER: An easy-peasy dinner is on the menu this evening. I usually order out for pizza or something else equally paper plate worthy.
ADVENT READINGS AND WREATH: We read week 4 out of Christ in Christmas: A Family Advent Celebration. We also read John 3:16-21 and Acts 1: 6-12. As always we light all the previous candles and add this last one. I usually review the meaning and reason for each candle as we light with the kids. We end the nights devotion by reading up to the appropriate page in The Advent Book.
ITINERARY: This night is super relaxed so we just kind of go with the flow. I don't think we even lit the fourth candle on this night. We had a carpet picnic and hung in the living room all night. We lit the candle the next night at dinner.
I think this night is my favorite Advent Night when it is combined with sleeping under the tree and playing eye-spy. I think because we don't have any plans and it is just us. We have a chance to chill out together, joke around, and laugh. This year we all fell asleep mid-way through the eye-spy game. Fabulous memories!
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