We asked one of our favorite bloggers, Erin from Home With The Boys, to share about her family’s experience with Everyday Emmanuel. Everyday Emmanuel is a Christmas count-down experience for the whole family. As you can see from Erin’s post below, Everyday Emmanuel is a fresh take on celebrating Advent together as a family and is easy to incorporate into the traditions you participate in already. Download a free sample of Everyday Emmanuel here.
We’ve tried many different Advent calendars and activity books over the years because, let’s face it, I LOVE Christmas and everything associated with it. And I love it even more when I share it with my kids.
When Everyday Emmanuel was released last year, I was immediately interested. The What’s in the Bible? series has become a favorite for everyone in our home and I loved that they were taking on Christmas as well!
I was right to be excited about Everyday Emmanuel because the whole family ended up loving it! A few of the reasons we loved it so much…
- The DIY Advent Calendar
We had so much fun putting together the do-it-yourself Advent calendar based on the instructions in the book! The kids were able to help me cut and glue and decorate. I could tell all through the month they were extra excited to go to the calendar each day because it was something they made! And I loved that it wasn’t too complicated and cost very little money!
- The Countdown Activities
The activity suggestions included to go in the Advent calendar pockets were a perfect mix of fun and meaningful activities to make our Christmas season memorable! We particularly loved sleeping by the Christmas tree, donating items to a local charity, singing everyone’s favorite Christmas songs, and seeing who could put together the best Christmas-themed outfit! You can always add your own, but there were more than enough great ideas to choose from in the book!
- The Videos
What’s in the Bible? characters + Christmas = awesome. Buck Denver and friends make learning about the history and tradition of Christmas a really good time for all! There is one video for each week, but if you’re like us, you might end up watching each video more than once!
- Weekly Advent Devotionals
This was my favorite, and even now, as I write this almost a year later, I get a little emotional when I think of the special moments we had during these weekly devotions. I looked forward to each Sunday evening when we would gather around our dining room table for Bible reading, hymn singing, candle lighting…it was all really beautiful. And the big questions were great jumping off points for discussion as a family. This is the part of Everyday Emmanuel I will treasure the most and I can’t wait to gather in the same fashion with our boys again this year.
Everyday Emmanuel is not just one more thing to complicate your holiday season. It is a fun AND meaningful way to bring your family together this Advent. And who wouldn’t want to spend Christmas with Buck Denver?!
Erin from Home With The Boys is a follower of Jesus Christ, wife of a first-year internal medicine resident, and stay-at-home mom to three lively young boys! She and her husband have been married for 10 years and enjoy running, watching football, and shopping at Target. They are raising 3 boys (ages 1, 5, and 7) and Erin is the co-founder and creator of the M.O.B. Society for moms of boys by moms of boys. Keep in touch with her at HomeWithTheBoys.net.
