24 Simple Ways to Create A Christmas Advent For Your Home

When I was a small child my grandparents brought us little chocolate advent calendars from Germany for Christmas.

Another countdown was a quilted candy cane that my mother made,  with one candy each day for the 24 days in December leading up to Christmas.

In a family of six siblings, somehow we survived the exquisite torture of waiting for each sibling to take a turn devouring the candy until it was our special night again.

Some years we would read a scripture or story each night as Christmas approached, and burn a special candle just a little bit while we read.

It wasn’t until much later than I understood that the purpose of Advent was to prepare our hearts and minds for the celebration of the birth of Christ.  What was once simply a pretty little tradition became deeply meaningful for me.

This year I’m adding another Christmas Advent tradition to the others that I cherish.

Years ago I learned that in preparation for Passover, many Jewish families clean every nook and cranny of their home. Aside from the practicality of this tradition, I love the symbolism behind cleaning our homes to prepare them for holy celebrations.

I love how it mirrors sweeping away the cobwebs that build up spiritually in our hearts due to neglect.

A New Kind Of Advent

To prepare my own home for Christmas, I’ve created an Advent for my home. It can be easily adapted to your home too!

1. Organize and clean the laundry room
2. Organize the shelves and desk in the dining room
3. Dust, mop and polish the dining room
4. Dust and clean the stairway
5. Clean the refrigerator, inside and out
6. Organize upper kitchen cupboards
7. Organize lower kitchen cupboards
8. Dust, polish and mop the kitchen
9. Organize the bathroom cupboards
10. Deep clean the bathroom
11. Organize the hallway closet and vacuum
12. Organize the kids’ drawers, shelves and closet
13. Deep clean the kids’ room
14. Organize master closet and shelves
15. Dust and polish master furniture
16. Vacuum master bedroom floors and wash walls
17. Organize family room shelves and cupboards
18. Dust and polish family room furniture
19. Clean family room floor and fireplace
20. Organize and clean entryway closet
21. Dust and polish living room furniture
22. Clean living room floors and windows
23. Take toys, books and clothing to DI (thrift shop)
24. Freshen up each room

They seem like such simple, mundane things, don’t they?  But simple and mundane can also describe fields of sheep and shepherds, mangers and stables and hay.

Each day is a step toward making room for the peace and hope of the Christmas season.

Please feel free to share the ways you remember Christ at Christmastime in the comments below!  When you have a few moments, I also recommend this beautiful video reminder of the very first Christmas gift.