When Christmas time comes, we seem to hang these cute little stockings over the fireplace and then wait until Christmas Day to enjoy them. Well, not anymore!
One of our Advent ornaments is a tiny, red stocking. We use it along with our mitten Advent ornament that we place on our Advent tree. It reminds us to be the hands and feet of Jesus. It also reminds us that we are called to “put on” God’s character qualities including the spiritual fruits of love, joy, and peace. {If you want to see our mitten Advent activities, click here.}
This idea really came from the fact that Pork Chop, our one year old, was tearing these booties away from their special place. It gave me the idea to actually use these throughout the Christmas season instead of just looking at them. {…or hide them from a certain one year old!}
This was a fun game that went along with our Advent devotion. It required ZERO effort on my part. {Bonus points for mom!} All we had to do was find random things from around the house {which was not hard to do!} and guess what the items were inside. A dirty pair of socks, a pot holder, and some wrappers made for a few good laughs!
With this simple game, there was more time for fun and less time stressing over ways to keep the whole family entertained and engaged this Christmas.
If you are looking to incorporate the stocking or mitten into your Advent devotions, below are the verses we used.
Colossians 3:12-14 says:
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
How beautiful on the mountains
are the hands and feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
{You can use these verses all year round in your home. Here is a great parenting and teaching tool. The “Put On” chart is an amazing resource that has helped shape our children’s hearts. This study chart is designed to help children “put on” God’s character qualities. Check out this great resource for your home.}
The Hen House 