Truth In The Tinsel 2013

I have been way behind on blogging for a lot of different reasons, including tons of Holiday festivities. One of the things I have really been wanting to share is about the advent project I've been doing with the kids. I started writing this post 2 weeks ago before we started advent! This is like my 4th attempt, we'll see if I actually get it posted this time. Here goes,

This is our first year to try Truth In The Tinsel.



 If you haven't heard of it, it is an awesome devotion/advent/Christmas-craft-activity that teaches kids the story of Jesus birth. Not just a little snapshot for the Sunday before Christmas, but a daily devotion that really digs into the Biblical account of Christ's birth in a way that little ones can grasp.

I was a bit apprehensive at first. I had the same feeling I did when I started the 31 day series because it's something that I committed to at the last minute with little or no preparation. But we are about half way through now and so far it has been GREAT!

Each day Z will find "a clue" in his Bible. I just taped a CD envelope on the inside cover of his Bible. It's perfect because the envelope has a clear window on the front so he can see the clue right away.

Then we look up a passage in scripture and pick out where the clue is found in the Bible. Z loves this part, and since he is now learning to read it's the perfect opportunity for him to learn how to find references in the Bible.

Then we talk about it and make an ornament to go along with the lesson for the day.

Here are some the first 10  days as seen through my iPhone.

Day 1: Light 

We used streamers instead of tissue paper because that's what I had on hand

Day 2: Kingdom

I didn't have toilet paper rolls, but the kids had just as much fun with thick yellow paper and the crowns turned out great. 

Day 3: Zechariah

  I bought goggly eyes and lost them, go figure. But this was a fun one and we were at my parents, who luckily had bubble wrap. 

Day 4: Gabriel

 I know our version is a little feminine, and we did not have a bell, but my niece and daughter loved this one. SJ said "butterfly"  

Day5 & 9: Mary and Joseph

We did these on separate days. I did not have a clothes pin so we just did a coloring sheet and ornament frames, but next year I would love to make the dolls so that we can act stuff out. 

Day 6: Mary and Elizabeth

 We used leftover bubbles from Day 3 for the pregnant bellies.

Day 7: Sun

 We had chocolate gold coins and so we used those wrappers for the sun. It turned out really pretty and the chocolate was delicious. 

Day 8: Mary's Song

 We had a disc with a blank white front so Z painted it because that is his favorite thing to do. 

Day 9: Joseph's Dream

 This was my favorite because, even though it wasn't called for, I decided to teach Z to sew and he fell in love with it. He wants to do it everyday. 

Many of these are modified from the books version for time sake or lack of materials  (I made notations in red for those participating), but that's all part of the fun. I've enjoyed seeing all the Facebook posts showing variations and personalization of the same craft.

If you haven't checked out Truth in the Tinsel or seen it floating around on Pinterest you should take a peak. It's not too late to implement one of the modified schedules or pick and choose for yourself what and how you want to do it, and of course there is always next year, and the year after that.  Not to name drop, but I happen to know Amanda White (author, creator, blogger extraordinaire) personally from when I lived in Atlanta, and she is the real deal. With that said, this is not a promotional post, I did not get paid, no freebies. She doesn't even know I am writing this, so it's all totally unbiased and true.

I can't wait to work on the rest of Truth in the Tinsel and I am already taking notes on what I can do next year. Not only have I loved teaching my kids about the story of Christ's arrival, but I am learning a lot too. Hooray for Advent!