For several years, we have done a Jesse Tree devotional during the Advent season. While I loved the tradition of telling the story of Christ from the beginning of Creation to the time of His birth, I felt like the message was not quite reaching my children, especially the younger crowd.
This year, I decided to switch things up and purchase Truth in the Tinsel as our Christmas devotional.
Each day leading up to Christmas is filled with Bible reading, discussion geared toward the younger child, and a simple, but meaningful craft. We will be making 2 of each ornament for our tree so the children can work in groups with the olders helping the youngers.
I had a blast gathering up all the supplies and separating them out into “Advent Bags” like I had seen on Confessions of a Homeschooler (I also snagged some of her Advent Ornaments to use as tags for the outside of the bags).
However, I realize not everyone enjoys, nor has time for, the craftiness of ornament making. Just this year, Truth in the Tinsel came out with premade printable ornaments for those of you who want to do the devotional without the craft!
You can also find Truth in the Tinsel in Spanish, and your entire Sunday School class can do the devotional with a 4 week Truth in the Tinsel Church Curriculum!
Amanda White, author of Truth in the Tinsel, has been gracious enough to give my readers a 20% off coupon code:
and I’ll be giving away 1 copy of Truth of Tinsel this week!
(scroll down to find the giveaway widget – email readers click here)
I also wanted to tell you about a new find from this past week that has me excited to share with my family and with all of you – Nature Study Through the Holidays.
This ebook is separated into weekly activities that include Scripture references, hymns to sing, and nature study ideas. One idea is to take a Red & Green Walk. The children go out and look for red and green things in God’s creation and record them. There are also suggestions for gifts your children can make from things they find in nature and ideas for keeping Christ and the peace He offers at the forefront of the season. This Advent Nature Study is well done and I am sure our family will be making many memories surrounding the activities found in it.
You can purchase Nature Study Through the Holidays here for only $5.00!
If you have any questions about how our family intends to use either of the products, don’t hesitate to ask. This is my first year using both, so I won’t have all the kinks worked out, but I do have a general plan as to when and how we’ll be fitting these in to our December days.
Now for the GIVEAWAY!
We havent done a Advent calender in the past but hope to this year. Thanks for the giveaway.
We usually do an Advent devotional, but I am not familiar with this one. I’d love to try it out and I’m sure my kids woudl love it!
We have not done an Advent study in the past, but I would like to start that tradition this year!
I have always wanted to do an advent calender with my kids!
We did an advent devotional last year but the kids were very young and may not have picked up much. I’m looking forward to this year.
Hi Amy, I tried using the coupon code and it said it was invalid. There was not a link to contact Amanda on the Truth in Tinsel page. Thank you for your help!
What a great giveaway!! Hope I win
I’m doing the GMG advent study this year and am hoping to use Truth/Tinsel to supplement it
these both look really great…I was looking for some Ideas for december!!!
My daughter is too young to do any Advent activities yet, but I have an Advent book I love to read during the season.
We do an advent devotional with an advent wreath before dinner. It’s a tradition my family had that I want to pass on to my kids – to help them focus on the CHRIST of Christmas in the midst of all the busyness and materialism of the season.
We have not done any advent devotionals in the past.
We haven’t but would love to.
We have done one in the past but I didn’t last year. Hoping to do it again this year though.
I want it!!! Thanks
I love getting your email notifications! You are an inspiration to this homeschool mother of 4 in Idaho. We have only done the LEGO advent calendar (how sad is that?!) so this would be fun to do this year. Thanks!
Last year we did an intense study on 25 names of Jesus. It was good, but too much! Truth in Tinsel looks more our speed:)
We haven’t done an advent devotional. Though we talk about Christ often through the season. Last year we read a Christmas story every day, the kids enjoyed that. This year I’m planning on doing the same thing, but want to wrap one for each day of December up to Christmas. Not all the stories are Christ Centered, but they are fun and if I get one we don’t like I don’t keep it. I make sure the one we read on Christmas eve is the true Christmas story, we have several with different pictures that we will use through the season. I’ve heard of Truth in Tinsel and thought it looks interesting.
We haven’t yet, but I would love for us too:)
We use advent calendars and advent calendars.
We haven’t done an advent before but I’m hoping to this year!
I would LOVE to win a copy of this and share it with my daughter this season! Thank you for the opportunity!
We do a family Advent devotional each year. I’m always looking for new ideas for this special time.
We do a Jesse Tree devotional and make ornaments for our Jesse tree, but I’ve also always felt that the little ones don’t make the connection. This seems like a great book!
last year we did the Jesse tree and loved it!
So far we have not done anything Advent related and I never did one growing up either. My oldest is now 3 and we do family Bible/worship time every night. I think this would be a great year to start the Advent thing with him and his little sister. The craft part would be a perfect way to spend time with them since baby 3 will probably be here before December!
I have never done an advent project with my family, but we plan on starting this year. I was actually given this book as a suggestion to use!
We have never done one before, but we are starting this year!
My kids would enjoy doing crafts through out the Advent Season and this would help me get them done.
We never have, but now that the children are getting slightly older (age 5 is the oldest), I think it may be time to start
Thanks!
Nancy
We have done advent calendars before but not a true devotional. It sounds like something that would be fun though. Thanks for the giveaway!
Yes, I have been doing Advent since I was a kid.
Yes, we do a daily reading from Luke and perform a service focused action each day.
I bought the Jesse Tree Advent Devotional to do this year but my children(6,3,2,4mo) are younger than yours so I’m thinking maybe I’ll save that for a few years and try this instead. Thanks for posting!
Yes, we have done advent celebrations with our kids in the past, and plan to do a Jesse tree this year.
My family doesn’t do a devotional (I live at home) but I would love to do one with the little boy I babysit.
We have done a jesse tree the last 4 or 5 years. I would love to try something new!!
I’m not good about doing organized devotionals but for the last 2 years we’ve had a magnet set that you add a piece to the scene every day in December. I’m planning to do better this year though!
Last year was the first year we did any sort of Advent activities. I’d like to have a planned devotional so that we can keep our focus on Jesus.
I would love to have something like this!!
I’ve always wanted to do an advent study with my family, but I’ve honestly never found quite the right one. This one looks great for the ages of my kids! I’d love to win it!
hello Amy it took me a while to figure out how to publish my comment,but i finally got it! Our little family consists of my three year old son Ty and myself.I have purposed to raise him with the knowledge of our heavenly Father,so I would love to enter to win Truth In The Tinsel.-Lisa
We too have switched back and forth doing Advent devotionals, and are looking for something new. Thanks, Amy!
We do an advent every year and I heard about Truth in the Tinsel from somewhere else so we plan on doing that this year.
this is the first year we’ll be doing a jesse tree!
We have not done an Advent study yet. My younger crowd is getting old enough now, so I would really like to do it this year!
This book looks really neat . . . would love to have! Thanks!
No we have never done that. It sure is something I would like to do though.
We are so looking forward to starting Advent as a family!!
We have and really enjoy it! Truth in the Tinsel is great.
I’d love to win a copy!
Oops, jumped the gun. We’ve tried a few advent devotions but haven’t landed on one we love. With 5 kids ranging from 10yrs to 2mo we’ll keep trying.
Not yet, but plan to this year.
This looks like it would be so much fun. I can’t wait to do it my kiddos!
Last year we did the candle lighting and the Advent inductive bible study. I would love to try these. Awesome.
We do not do a devotional but would love to. I need simple and easy.
We do an Advent Wreath with devotions. But this looks great! We would love to try it!
Would love to add this book to our Advent traditions!
I’ve been looking to get this book. What a great giveaway! Thanks for the opportunity to try to win it.
We’ve never done one but would like to!
I haven’t yet, but am going to do Truth in the Tinsel this year
I have never heard of this before, can’t wait to look into it! I’ve had the same problem with other studies that were to hard for my little guys so maybe this one could be a success. Thanks!
I always love new ways to approach Advent! This sounds like a good book for our family to try.
I couldn’t get the coupon code to work either.
I’m looking into it as I have a few people unable to use it, but I was able to get it to work on my end. Just waiting for Amanda to get back with me since she set up the code for me.
Try “Raisingarrows”
Try raisingarrows
We’ve always added a Christmas theme to our regular daily family devotionals, as well as, singing Christmas hymns. I’d love to add something in with a bit more structure and a craft.
Love it! Thanks!!!
We do an advent devotional that encompasses the songs about Christmas, it has some crafts and snacks and lighting of the advent candles. I cannot think of the name of it right now.
We usually do a Jessie tree countdown and try and read corresponding Bible sections. This sounds like a wonderful addition!
We would love to try this!
We’ve done a paper advent chain with a preparation activity (i.e. make cookies, send a card to a relative) and a verse on each link. I’m not sure if that will still work with the range of ages we have now.
We do a Jesse Tree type of devotional during December and have been blessed by it many years. Would love something new to try as well.
We have not done Advent Devotionals in the past but would love to start!
I would love to have a copy of this book. We do the adventwreath with a devotional nightly. But I just Baby #8 and realize I need to findsomething for this year. Kind of behind on things this year with our sweet distraction.
We just found out my husband will be deployed this December. Our children are just now getting old enough that I wanted to start focusing on the meaning of Christmas a little more, ages 5 and 3. This looks like it may be nice for me and the kids to do while my hubby is gone. Peace this Christmas season is going to have a different meaning for our family. Thank you for your blog ministry! I enjoy your perspective on everything ;0)
We use the month of December to focus on the meaning of Christmas, but we don’t necessarily do an Advent activity each year – really depends on the family dynamics at the time. We have 5 kids ages 7, 5, 4, 2, and 1 and baby due in March so we try to keep things fun and hands on while creating traditions at the same time.
We would love to do a devotional during advent… but don’t have one. How I would love to win this!
We don’t do an advent devotional, but now that my son is 3, I was thinking of starting one this year. Thanks!
I have been wanting to use Truth in the Tinsel this year so a coupon code is a blessing! I look forward to reading your thoughts and tips as December unfolds.
Looks like a fun idea. I love simple crafts, especially if someone else has already come up with the idea and supply list!
Would love to try this this year for advent.
Try putting in “Raisingarrows” for the code, it worked for me.
Last year was the first year we did this and the kids loved it so we are planning on doing it again this year:)
I would love to try this! I am wanting something new for this year.
We have not done advent devotionals in the past, but we want to get started on it this year.
We would love to try this for part of our Christmas devotions. Thanks for the opportunity.
We don’t do a Advent devotional but are considering doing one this year.
We don’t do an advent devotional. I’ve been looking for one so we could start this year!
We don’t have an advent devotional, but I’ve been looking for one!
We haven’t been doing an advent devotional, but I’d love to start a new tradition.
YAY! Can’t wait to win!
Yes, I try to do some sort of Advent devotional, but it changes every year. Thanks for the giveaway! Another blog also featured it!
This looks Awesome! What a great idea!
We haven’t yet really. We had a calendar that had tiny books with the Christmas story that we read each night. This year I think the kids are old enough to get more out of a real devotional.
I love the ideas!! How do you find all this stuff Amy? wow!! Thank you for helping me along!
Awesome!!! I would love to have this to do with my kids!! Thank you Amy for all the amazing ideas!
This is our first year doing a Christmas devotional, with our oldest being 3. I’m looking forward to it
sounds great!
We have done several different ones I have seen this one and considered it.
I would LOVE to win this
so exciting to have kids I can start to do these things with!!
We do an advent calendar that I made last year with scripture and a little memory item that the kids just love, Truth in the Tinsel sounds like it would be a nice addition.
We have not done any advent traditions yet but it is something I want to do.
Yes; http://www.holyheroes.com has a great Advent Adventure program & great jesse tree dvd with printables. we also use an advent wreath, with hymns & hope to try one of the ideas you mentioned above. Thx!
This sounds like a great devotional.
We do not have advent traditions in place, but am excited to work towards making traditions & memories for our family!
We currently don’t have anything like this so I would love to start a tradition with a beautiful like this.
We enjoy the advent season and are always looking for ways to celebrate it. The Arnold Ytreeide books are great but we would love to add some crafts and different activities. Thanks for the giveaway.
We have never done an Advent devotional as a family, but it seems like a good idea to begin doing so now that our kids are getting a little older. I like the idea of this one having crafts involved. I can use all the help in the craftiness department I can get!
We did an advent last year, but I made it up and to be honest it wasn’t done well at all. I love the idea of this and hope to win, but will probably buy it if I don’t. Were the supplies mostly stuff around the house or was there a lot of expense involved?
looks fabulous!!!
This will be our 1st year of starting an advent tradition in our family as our kids are now just getting to an age where they can participate! I would love to win this, but if I don’t I will be purchasing!
We’ve done the Jesse Tree for the past 10 years. Thinking a change might be great this year!
We haven’t done an Advent devotional yet, but this year we will be instituting more of our own family traditions, so this would be a great way to start.
Yes, we do a devotional. We have several that we switch around so it is not the same every year. Some years I need something really, really simple and some years I’m up to a bit more.
I just love this! I have never seen anything like it before. My kiddos would love it!
We do love the chocolate countdown calendars
but other than that we haven’t do. Anything.
*done anything.
This is such a wonderful idea!
We currently do not have a regular advent devotional we do. I have wanted to for a few years. Even bought a advent wreath and candles. This year is the year. I just started homeschooling this year so I am hoping to make it part of our schedule.
We would love to use this as a family this season! Sweet blessings, darci.
I have never done an advent book with my children or any kind of countdown with them. I think this book would be a great way to start a new tradition we a focus on Christ.
I’d like to do something that is consistent through the season. We haven’t done a complete Christ Centered advent.
We were going to do the Jesse tree this year also, but this one looks great too!
This will be our first year trying advent activities.
We haven’t done an advent calender devotional, but would like to. What a great giveaway.
Laura
we have not been very faithful about it, but would love to!
We have never done an official Advent study, but I would like to do one.