The fourth week of advent is represented by Angels or Love.
On the fourth Sunday in Advent we light all four advent candles. The suggested Bible passages for this week are:

Sun. Mt. 1:18-25
Mon. Luke 2:1-7
Tue. Is. 9:2-7
Wed. Luke 2:8-29
Thu. Luke 2:21-39
Fri. Mt. 2:1-2
Sat. Mt. 2:13-14

Suggested Hymn:

Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With the angelic host proclaim.
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King!”
Christ, by highest heaven adored.
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as Man with man to dwell;
Jesus, our Immanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King!”
Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He leaves His throne on high,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth;
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King!”
Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Oh, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King!”

Special note: In our home we light a large white candle on Sunday morning which represents Christ. The eve before Christmas we sit together as a family and read the girls the Nativity story.

The third week of Advent represents Joy. During this week we light the first two purple candles of Hope and Peace, as well as the rose colored candle of Joy.
The following are the Bible passages we’re reading during the third week of Advent.

Sun. Luke 1:5-17
Mon. Luke 1:18-25
Tue. Luke 1:26-35
Wed. Luke 1:39-45
Thu. Luke 1:46-56
Fri. Luke 1:57-66
Sat. Luke 1:67-80

Suggested Hymn:

Angels We Have Heard on High
Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Come to Bethlehem and see
Christ Whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
See Him in a manger laid,
Whom the choirs of angels praise;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
While our hearts in love we raise.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

The second week of Advent represents Bethlehem or Peace.
Each evening we light the first purple candle of Hope and the second purple candle of Peace. The suggested Bible passages for this week are:

Sun. Is. 40:1-5
Mon. Mic. 5:2-4
Tue. Is. 7:10-14
Wed. Is. 2:1-5
Thu. John 1:1-8
Fri. John 1:9-18
Sat. Mark 1:1-3

Suggested Hymn:
O’ Little Town of Bethlehem

In a push to put a heavier focus on Christ in Christmas and an effort to cut back on Christmas consumer debt, our family does an all home-made Christmas. It’s something we started last year, and fell in love with. There are, however, a couple of factors that need to be considered when doing an all home-made Christmas.

1) It’s easy to spend as much money on home-crafted gifts as you would on store bought gifts. So, in order to stay in the spirit of things, you have to get fairly creative with your projects and realistic about the time and cost of each gift.

2) It’s easy to overload yourself with tons of awesome wonderful gift ideas.

I believe we’re doing pretty good with issue number 1. Most of our materials are coming from things we have around the house or things we’ve been able to pick up for free or near free. It’s issue number 2, however, where we’re struggling. With so many great gift ideas available to do, we’re finding that the work load is greater than we anticipated.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s been great fun. And I’d take an afternoon of woodworking over an afternoon of shopping in the crowded malls. Any day. But in an effort of full disclosure, I will admit that I’m EXHAUSTED! LOL. At this point, Dh and I would be happy to have one complete project. Just ONE. As it stands we have a large selection of projects all in mid-process. I think all the open ended, incomplete projects, are wearing on us.

My hope is that, by the end of today, I’ll have one major project finished and three smaller projects wrapped. I keep telling Dh that we’ve passed the halfway mark and that it’s all downhill from here. I think he’ll believe it when he sees it.

I will say, though, that despite all the covert gift-making that is going on in this house, we’ve had a lot of fun time to do things together as a family. Including salt-dough ornaments and other advent activities. If you are someone looking for an advent activity to do with your family, I suggest checking out this blog I stumbled across today. She has some really cool daily crafts to do during the advent season. Including this neat Christmas tree craft. I’m going to have to scrounge around the house for some old thread spools. A couple days ago someone on craigslist was giving a whole bag of wooden thread spools away. Too bad I wasn’t fast enough to nab them…

This week of Advent is a week of Expectation or Hope. This week also represents Prophecy. Each evening we light the first purple candle and read from the suggested Bible passages.

Sun. Is. 11:1-10
Mon. Jer. 23:5-6
Tue. Is. 52:7-10
Wed. Ro. 8:18-25
Thu. Gen. 15:1-6
Fri. Deut. 18:15-19
Sat. Ps. 89:1-4

Suggested Hymn:

Joy to the World!
Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns:
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love.

Trinity Hymnal #149