Advent Starts Today - Day 1 (and a giveaway)

Our front door is decorated with a great saying:

BELIEVE IN THE MAGIC OF THE SEASON

The secular calendar doesn't start advent until Dec. 1; yet, advent in the Christian calendar started today.  And advent is my favorite season.  What is better than preparing for the arrival of Christ?  Preparing for this arrival brings a lot of magic to the season for me.

A few years ago, we started a Christmas (new) tradition where our family does something everyday of advent that focuses on Jesus.  Today was day 1 with:
SHOPPING FOR OUR ANGEL TREE CHILD

Both of the boys adopted a child off the angel tree.  Maddox picked a 3-year-old boy that wanted power tools.

Brewer picked a 6-year-old boy that wanted wrestling things.  

In addition to the toys the boys picked for them, they picked out a complete outfit including Spiderman light up shoes.  (I bet for a few seconds my kids were wishing they were these little boys.  Oh, how they would love to have light up Spiderman tennis shoes.)

It was a blessing to me in watching my kids shop for these kids.  AND THEY GOT IT!  They did not ask for things for themselves while we were out.  They understood we were shopping for others.

There really is a special magic to this season.  If you want to do advent activities with your family but haven't prepared any ahead of time, here are a few good resources.  Plus, you could always start on December 1st -- which gives you a few days to get it together.  Throughout the season, I'll be posting our activities here too.

Advent Resources:
-- Advent ideas from Focus on the Family, click {here}.
-- Advent Forum full of ideas from past years, click {here}.

What are some things you do for advent?

And now onto the giveaway...  I know some of you worked through reading this to find out about the giveaway.  So click {here} for the giveaway information to win an Amazon gift card.  Make sure you leave your comments to enter the giveaway on the GIVEAWAY POST -- not on this post. :)