A Star from Afar: An Advent Activity to Celebrate the True Meaning of Christmas
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I love the privilege we have as parents to help our children plant seeds of faith and water those seeds all year long but something about this time of year really creates an urgency to grow more in faith, love, and knowledge.
Sadly, though it’s hard to enter the Christmas season with undivided attention.
From commercials advertising the latest must-have toys to decorations popping up way before what was once considered socially appropriate and to that jolly old man in the red suit dominating most of our children’s conversations beginning the day after Halloween, our children’s hearts and minds are pulled in all different directions.
Now to be clear, I enjoy the gift giving and receiving aspect of Christmas, as well as all those beautiful decorations, most notable are the twinkle lights, and I even have a special spot in my heart for jolly old St. Nicholas… but I want my children’s hearts to be focused on the true meaning of Christmas too.
Which is why I enjoy Advent so much!
In the midst of trimming the tree, shopping and wrapping presents, visiting Santa at the mall, and driving through the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights, we have a built-in teaching opportunity to share not only the love of Christ with our children but to also help them to understand why we celebrate Christmas, to begin with.
[clickToTweet tweet=”We have a built-in teaching opportunity to share Christ & why we celebrate Christmas w/our kids” quote=”We have a built-in teaching opportunity to share Christ & why we celebrate Christmas with our kids”]
Advent activities in our house include beloved traditions, but this year we are introducing something new and I think my kids are really going to love it.
I think yours will too! 😉
Recently I received A Christmas Star from Afar in the mail and before I even pulled out the pieces, my heart began to swoon.
The Christmas Star From Afar is a game that celebrates the TRUE meaning of Christmas by encouraging children to go on a hunt for their Star, similar to that of the Wise Men.
Every day the Star is hidden and the children participate in a fun hide-and-seek game to locate it. Once they have found their Star they move all three wise men to its location. On Christmas morning the three wise men reach their destination when the star is found in the stable with the newborn baby Jesus.
The activity kit includes a wooden star, a full wooden nativity scene that matches the artwork of the book, and optional scripture to use throughout the month. It also comes in a beautiful box to store the treasured pieces away.
The quality of the entire kit is breathtaking!
While I love how beautiful the wooden figures are, perfect for little hands to play with and discover, I am most excited about the gorgeously illustrated hardback book.
It will be a treasured Christmas classic that we will unwrap the first day of Advent every year!
We naturally incorporated this into our simple & meaningful Advent plan and every single morning when my kids came down for breakfast after waking up, they immediately began looking for the star. In fact on their way to bed the other night, my oldest said, “Don’t forget to move the star mom so we can find it in the morning!” 🙂
This is a great alternative to those who don’t want to do the Elf on the Shelf but still want to build excitement and anticipation leading up to Christmas day.
Along with looking for the star every morning, they LOVED playing with the nativity set on the table.
If you are looking for a beautiful and high-quality nativity set, storybook, and a meaningful tradition your family will love, look no further than The Christmas Star From Afar!
Each set includes:
- Beautiful storage and gift box
- Hardback, beautifully illustrated storybook that also includes additional Scriptures to read during Advent
- Complete, wood Nativity set
You can purchase your Christmas Star From Afar Kit here.
We choose not to do Elf on a Shelf because it doesn’t promote the true meaning of Christmas. This would be a great alternative and would be so much fun for the kids. Thanks
That is exactly how I feel too Piper. I think this will be such a fun and meaningful alternative. Plus a great opportunity for our kids to share what we do instead of Elf on the Shelf! 🙂
I love this! It’s hard to keep my 2 and 5 yr old daughters focuses on more than just Santa thus time of year and I love that this is a daily game, similar to elf on the shelf, but much more meaningful and in line w our beliefs, which is that Jesus came because we can never be good enough to earn anything from him, as opposed to the elf or Santa watching your behavior to see if you did enough good to get rewarded. I shared on Facebook and pinterest!!
Thank you so much, Julia! That’s why I love it so much too. I have been resisting the Elf on the Shelf craze so I think this is going to be a wonderful alternative!
This is awesome! I don’t have children at home, but will gladly share via twitter to my followers too!
Thanks for sharing Marie! 🙂
This looks amazing! I would love to add it to our family traditions. I believe it would help us keep our focus where it should be. (I shared on Pinterest and liked them on Facebook.)
Jenn, I think this is a such a special new tradition to begin in our families! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Congratulations Jenn… you are the winner!!!! Check your inbox for an email from me 🙂
Thank you!!! I am so excited to share this with my children! 🙂
Jenn I just wanted to double check to make sure you received the email I sent you.
I did reply on November 28. And I just got your other email and replied to that as well. I’m not sure why the first one didn’t go through. Maybe it went to junk/spam folder?
Oh my goodness! This is so strange! I am so sorry, for some reason I am not getting your emails which makes me wonder about all of the other emails I may not be getting! 🙁
I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but let’s try again. How about you send an email directly to me at [email protected]. Let’s see if that works!
Hello again! I just sent an email to the other email address you sent. Thanks!
Hi Victoria,
Sometimes I struggle with the things that compete with Christ at Christmas: the commercialism, and even many traditions that have little to do with our Savior. I’m glad to read that your primary desire to keep the focus on Jesus!
It’s so true Scott! I know my kids will be plenty exposed to Santa and some of the other aspects of Christmas that really don’t promote the true meaning of Christmas, so it’s my intention to keep things simple and focused at home to fill their little hearts with truth!
love this set and love this idea!! So important to teach them the truth meaning 🙂
Yes it is! 🙂
I immediately fell in love with this! Someone gave me an elf the first year they came out and he is still in his box in the back of my closet. NOT a fan of that AT ALL! I always felt like “who has time for THAT?”….this is totally different! Puts the focus on where it should be! Thank you!! I shared on facebook.
The same thing happened to us too, Karyn. A family member gave us an Elf on the Shelf kit but I just wasn’t a fan. I know my kids will be exposed to Santa and his elves plenty but I really want the focus in our home to be on something bigger. Thanks for sharing!
Never knew what “elf on the shelf” was all about it for some reason the elves just creeped me out, so I am glad there is a Christian alternative. Thanks for the great info and the contest!