As I mentioned yesterday, in the first week of Advent, I have always brought out my manger and my Mary and Joseph figures. I place the manger in the spot where my tree will go...Mary and Joseph will slowly journey to the manger over the course of the month.
When my son was little, Mary and Joseph started at the front door and moved a few feet forward every night, making a long and circuitous route thru our apartment.
As Mary and Joseph moved forward, we would either read a little from the Christmas Story, or discuss the wheres and whys and whats of the story. It is a simple and lovely tradition, and it makes the long-ago story just a little bit more real for the wee ones!
For the first week, for example, we would read, "And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed [or registered, or counted, depending on your version], (And this taxing [or census] was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)" from Luke on Sunday.
On Monday, we would look at a Bible map to see what area "all the World" covered - and how that compares to "all the world" today. And we might make a mark at Syria on the map.
On Tuesday, we would look up Caesar Augustus and talk a little about taxes and counting people.
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we would read about Elizabeth and Zacharias and John the Baptist.
On Saturday we would sing "Prepare ye the Way of the Lord" from Godspell!
I always try to string out the first few sentences of the story, as most of the Christmas story takes place at the actual birth...and I try to save that for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!
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