Blockette's Advent Calendar

Last year Mrblocko pointed out how Christ is absent from a lot of our Christmas celebrations/traditions.  So, I've been trying to find ways to change that focus.  One of the things we are doing this year is having an Advent calendar.

I wanted the calendar to be a little more personal than something store bought, but I didn't want to spend hours and hours on something that may or may not get used again.  I also was not feeling particularly crafty with the sewing machine.  It seems to be temperamental this time of year.

So what's a crafty gal to do?  Make one out of recycled toilet paper and paper towel tubes.

You can't really tell from this photo, but all the tubes are of varying heights.  And Blockette just discovered that the insides of the tubes are painted with different colors.  I had thought she would like that little touch, and am quite pleased that I was right!

The tubes are hot glued onto a piece of cardboard that came inside a calendar to keep it from getting bent.  I knew I was saving that thing for a good reason!

At the beginning of November, I had read somewhere about how a mom held back 25 pieces of Halloween candy to put in their Advent calendars.  I thought that was a great idea.  Sneaky too.  And I'm all about being sneaky.

Originally, I had planned on covering the tubes with some tissue paper.  That was a massive fail.  The tissue stuck to everything except the tubes.  I read where one mom, who did a fancier version of this type of Advent calendar,  used small muffin tin liners.  I didn't have any of those, but I did have foil. 

I really didn't expect the foil to work.  I was so surprised when it did. And, I only used regular old elmers gel glue.  I'm sure the white glue would work, but we only had the gel stuff in the house.  The foil peels off and reminds me of a yogurt cup.  I bet using yogurt cup lids would work equally well.

 You're probably saying, "OK so it's an Advent calendar, but how is that bringing the focus back on Jesus for Christmas?  Isn't it just a way to give your child candy?" 

I guess it is, but inside each tube, along with the candy, is a Bible verse.  I found a great print out from Happy Home Fairy that contained 24 verses specifically made for a child's Advent calendar. 

However, if you look carefully at our calendar, you'll see that I made it to include Christmas Day.  I went hunting for another verse and decided on, "God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord."  Romans 6:23.  I thought it fit in nicely with the progression of all the other verses.

So far, the calendar is going great.  Blockette is as excited about the verses as she is about the candy.  She even wants to look up the verses on the Bible App she has on her Nook.  Hopefully, this is a tradition we will continue every year.  I think in the future I'll just write down the passages and have her look them up to read to us as she seems to be interested in the expanded versions of the verses.