The Advent of Christ

The word Advent means "coming". Each morning our kids can hardly wait to open the next door on our Advent Calendar as they anticipate the "coming" of Christmas. At their young ages this serves many purposes. First, it makes the abstract concept of time concrete as they count down the days until Christmas. Secondly, it allows for repetition of the Christmas story. Children learn through repetition and in this busy season with so much talk of Santa, presents, and parties it is nice each morning to take a moment and talk about the "coming" of Christ and what that meant for the people of God 2000 years ago, and what it means for us today. As the children mature, we will include disussions about the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and the second "advent" of Christ that we are anticipating. But for now, I am content to answer the questions such as "Did Mary really have a pink dress on?" "Did the shephards bring their sheep to Bethlehem or leave them in the fields?" and "What is Myrrh and why would a baby want it?"