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  Family - Seasonal Activities

Advent Family Sunday School

Fred & Anne Janssen

We are Fred and Anne Janssen. We made our WWME Weekend in June 1999. We live in Bothell, Washington and have three grade school aged children. Sarah, Lauren and Jonathan. We would like to share with you one of the ways we have prepared for Christmas.

Our family had a new experience this Advent. We attended the first annual “Family Advent Bible School” at our Parish. As a new way to prepare ourselves for the Christmas season, this 3-hour event was packed full with entertainment, fun activities, and fellowship.

We started with a soup and salad dinner, with families supplying the bread and desserts. (There was, of course, macaroni & cheese for the kids!) During our dinner, each family had a ‘family photo’ taken which was developed and ready for us by the end of the evening. We were also entertained by several young children and youth group members who preformed a narrated play “Jesse’s Dream”. This was a wonderful story of Jesse, King David’s Father, and a dream sent by God to help give him hope for the Future of all people.

Following the dinner and play the families were divided into groups to rotate through 4 specific stations. These included Crafts, Hayrides, ‘Shoeboxes of Joy’ and a ‘Journey to meet Jesus’. At the craft station each family colored one panel of a ‘stained glass window’ (transparency and colored markers), which was represented in Jesse’s Dream. The panels were clipped together and will hang in the Church Narthex for the remainder of Advent. We also made an Advent Wreath frame to place our family photo in as a take home reminder of the fun evening. The Hayride was lots of fun as we climbed onto bundles of hay on a large wagon which was decorated with pine boughs and flashing Christmas lights, and took a tour of the parking lot while singing Christmas carols and ringing jingle bells. ‘Shoeboxes of Joy’ was a station to fill shoeboxes with small personal items and treats and then wrap them. They were later taken to a local facility for mentally ill adults. The ‘Journey to meet Jesus’ was a Spiritual journey through phases of Jesus’ Life. We were guided by ‘angels’ (from our youth group) to different rooms where we heard recorded, thought-provoking narratives based on different scriptures. The different rooms were beautifully set up to reflect different parts of the story with at least one interactive part to each station. For the children too young to participate in the Spiritual journey, the nursery was open and there was a visit from St. Nicholas.

We ended our evening with a closing prayer in the sanctuary. (The original plan was to hold a closing prayer around a bonfire outside if weather was permitting, but it wasn’t). We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience, (the kids loved the Hayride and jingle bells especially!) and it was a fun way to start the advent season.

We wish you a wonderful Advent and a Merry Christmas!

Click here for a printable page (PDF, 32KB)