It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas (Reads) GIVEAWAY: ‘Tis the Season Family Advent Activity Book

today’s 2nd book: ‘Tis the Season Family Advent Activity Book

Yesterday we kicked off this year’s blog series spotlighting (over 70 this year) new and recently-released Christmas reads! This is the 7th year for the Christmas Reads Giveaway series, and I think I get more excited about it every year 🙂

Christmas is still 41 days away, according to Google, BUT it’s never too early for Christmas stories. Beginning now and continuing through just after Christmas, I’m going to spotlight several Christmasy releases from 2023. So… snuggle in, grab your fave hot beverage (wassail anyone?) and comfiest blanket, turn on some Christmas tunes and start your bookish Christmas list! And no doubt you know the drill by now – there are GIVEAWAYS with EACH POST in this series??!! (Because authors are awesome!)

‘TIS THE SEASON FAMILY ADVENT ACTIVITY BOOK
PUBLISHER: Ink and Willow
GENRE: Family Christmas Devotional/Activity Book
RELEASE DATE: September 5, 2023
PAGES: 65

Framed around four central devotions, this Advent activity book invites parents and kids to come together year after year in celebrating the deeper meaning of the season as they count down the days until Christmas.

Designed to follow the four weeks of Advent⁠—Hope, Faith, Joy, and Peace⁠⁠—’Tis the Season Family Advent Activity Book features an Advent calendar with lift-the-flap windows that can be used year after year. Each of the four week-long sections includes a short devotion on each theme followed by reflection questions and simple action prompts for every age level. The book also contains game ideas, recipes, holiday tips, fun facts, and encouragement on how to live out the themes of Advent as an individual, with your family, and in your community.

Because this unique activity book is designed to be used year after year, you can make this book part of your annual tradition. Special features include the keepsake section at the back of the book for recording holiday memories and the special built-in, undated Advent calendar for creating and sharing Christmas cheer, with an original activity each day:

• Try a new cookie recipe
• Deliver treats to a neighbor
• Start a family tradition
• Visit someone who needs cheer
• Create a new ornament
• Learn “Merry Christmas” in a different language

As you return to this book year after year, may it bring smiles and create memories that you will cherish for many Christmases to come.

affiliate links used
 

Why Celebrate Advent?
A Parent’s Guide

The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord. —HENRI J.M. NOUWEN

When we hear the word “advent” today, different images might come to mind—from candles on decorative wreaths to calendars concealing chocolates to the overall season of Christmas itself. Despite its history, however, the majority of believers in the Christian tradition mostly define Advent as the four-week (or forty-day) preparation period leading up to December 25, the date chosen by most church calendars as the day to recognize and celebrate the birth and incarnation of Jesus. While that may be part of what Advent is, it’s not quite the full story.

The word advent is derived from the Latin adventus and the Greek parousia, which both signify a “coming.” In the time of the early church, the practice of Advent began in a response to Jesus’s command: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42). So the origin of Advent is less about Jesus coming to earth as a baby and more about preparing ourselves for his second coming.

As we read in the book of Acts, this “anticipation” began immediately after Jesus ascended to heaven. The disciples, staring upward and no doubt experiencing a range of emotions from confusion and sorrow to wonder and amazement, were confronted by two angelic beings, who asked, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

How to Use This Book

This book of memories and traditions was created with families in mind. And since all families are different, you’ll find multiple options for customizing your family’s experience, whether with the reflection questions, the application activities, or even the recipes. You know your family best, so feel free to adapt the content to what suits you!

While the format of this book has been created to follow the traditional rhythm of Advent—with enough readings and activities in each section to fill one week—the devotions and activities can be enjoyed in any order and even over the span of several Christmases. If there are any activities or pages you don’t get to one year, feel free to leave them as “unopened gifts” you can enjoy the next year.

As your kids grow older, you can always return to this book year after year and get something new out of the activities and prompts. And the best part is that what you record in the Christmases Past section will quickly become a time capsule of memories shared with your favorite people during one of the most wondrous seasons of the year.

Excerpted from ‘Tis the Season Family Advent Activity Book by Ink & Willow. Copyright © 2023 by Ink & Willow. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Ink & Willow encompasses a line of interactive products that infuse contemplation and inspiration into the regular spiritual practice of creative-minded Christians, wherever they are in their faith journey. Each thoughtfully curated gift product is based in biblical truth and sparks a reminder of how God reveals beauty in the midst of our ordinary.

Ink and Willow is offering a print copy of ‘Tis the Season Family Advent Activity Book to one of my readers! (US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What about you? What makes you want to read ‘Tis the Season Family Advent Activity Book by Ink and Willow with your family?