The joyful preparation and anticipation of the birth of Jesus – we are starting the period of Advent! We don’t just want to decorate our apartments from the outside: with Advent wreaths, window decorations and maybe an Advent calendar … Of course that’s beautiful too! And if we decorate in a clever way, these decorations can help us prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus as well! And that’s more important than anything else, don’t you think?
Martin, Lisa and I came up with a super cool Advent calendar last year! Lisa was still too little, so Martin was the main artist: he drew, coloured and cut out of cardboard all the figures: the donkey, who carried Mary, and St. Joseph who was leading them on their way. Then – again from cardboard – we cut out 25 round stones and stuck them to our wall in a row. On this winding road the Holy Family set out for Bethlehem. Each day, we moved them one stone further and so they slowly approached Bethlehem. But that’s not all! The important part of this calendar was not the counting of days! Martin and Lisa wanted to help the Holy Family on their way! But how? We decided to help the Holy Family on their journey by providing them light through our love and through our acts of kindness. Every good deed is like a bright star that shines in the dark night and helps the Holy family on their way to Bethlehem!
The more we love, the more stars we can give the Holy Family and illuminate their way and the better (and faster?) they will find their way to Bethlehem! (Martin, 6)
Martin drew, coloured, cut and glued a lot last year, so we can use those figures this year as well. We have the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and the donkey, but we also have a stable, a shepherd and sheep, an angel and of course we had three kings too! You too! Use your imagination to draw and create your own figures too! This is how your calendar will truly be the most special!
Be brave in coloring!! Use lots of colors and patterns to make your figures special and original! For example Martin drew a very colorful donkey because he wanted a happy donkey to carry the Virgin Mary! He also drew Mary very colorful, and he gave her a tear in her eyes: because Mary was so glad to carry Jesus under her heart that she even shed a tear of joy! For the angel Martin drew a baby angel on her garment: so that Jesus can also have a baby angel when he is in the manger. I am very curious what and how you will draw!! If you like, send us a picture of your artwork to our address: joyintheireyesforever@gmail.com we will be very glad!
But if you feel, that it’s too much work and you can’t do everything yourself, we thought we’d help you. You can download the whole set of figures and characters that you need for your special Advent calendar right here.
All you need to do is subscribe …
… AND send us an email with the message
“Advent Calendar 2022”!
How to put it all together? Print, colour and cut everything out a use a glue stick to stick everything onto harder cardboard first (recycle some cardboard boxes!). Each day is a rock on the road towards Christmas and Jesus’s birth. Till then you need to move Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem every day. The stars are to be stuck around the Holy Family as they move along and that’s how our Calendar grows.
There are sooooooo many ways how to do this and it is completely up to your imagination! But we can give you a few ideas:
- Onto the wall: This is the obvious solution… We just use sticky tape and put it all up on a big wall in our living room and it becomes an important part of our living space. It is an excellent reminder to keep trying every day to really walk with Mary and Joseph and shine a light for them with our love!
If you want to try something different we had some other ideas too… for these variations we prepared an easier printout for you: There is a small picture of Mary and Joseph while on their way and a set of pictures for Christmas when Jesus is born and the shepherds and the three kings come to visit Him.
- Onto a wall on a string: Another great idea is to lace all the stepping stones onto a string and tape the string on the wall. The Holy family can be glued to a wooden laundry pin and that’s how they can easily move from day to day. And the stars for each day can hang down from each stepping stone like this:
- Onto a magnetic board: You can glue small magnets on the back of each piece of the Calendar and then you can easily add the icons as well as move the Holy family on their way… It is more accessible for the little ones and it becomes an activity as well…
- Onto a pin board: This is an idea for bigger kids. Again, just stick the pins between the printouts and the cardboard and it will be neat and seamless…
You see, there are so many options and I am sure you can come up with another few… If you like you can share your ideas and photos with us via email: joyintheireyesforever@gmail.com!
If you would like to have an Advent Calendar in your windows, click to download the templates!
And we also love our Nativity rocks!
Joy in their Eyes 
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