Readers Share Advent Book or Christmas Experiences
You are invited to post your own experiences and pictures of your family using The Advent Book or to share your own unique Advent & Christmas celebrations and traditions on this page.
Blessings, Jack & Kathy Stockman
My husband’s parents gave us The Advent Book as a Christmas present several years ago, before he and I even had children. We both grew up celebrating Christmas, but the worship was always limited to Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We looked forward to using the book to make the entire month of December a celebration.
We started reading it when our daughter was a tiny baby in December 2004 and cherish the memories we have made over the past several Christmases using the book every year.
I listed the address to our family blog as my website above. You are welcome visit the blog and read about our (sometimes silly, sometimes serious) memories made this December. But, in particular, please view the blog entry I made on December 1, 2008. It shows pictures of our daughter helping us open the doors to The Advent Book all the way back in 2005 when she was just beginning to walk!
Through the next years, she was able to fill in the blanks of the story when we would stop reading, such as “Mary was engaged to a man named _” There, we’d pause and she would say, “Joseph!” with great delight.
She is now four years old this Christmas and was able to quote the story almost word for word this year. I am sure knowing Scripture in this way will help her grow in faith. And, the pictures help her understand the actions in the text. I love the painting of the host of angels. It has always been my favorite. My daughter loves the painting of Mary looking down at the baby Jesus knowing these things were precious and thinking about “them often in her heart.” The book you made is a family treasure to us.
Thank You.
Comment by Veronica Boulden — December 26, 2008 @ 9:28 pm
Last year Kathy & Jack came and spoke to the MOPS group that I belong to. At the time of their visit my husband had just finished 6 months of chemotherapy, and we had too many medical bills to even think about purchasing the book for ourselves at that time. I was very upset, and when I cam home and told my husband about the book. My husband thought I was crazy for not purchasing it that night. So I called one of my friends who was going to be ordering the book directly, and planned on placing our order with hers. Much to my surprise, the very day my friend was going to place the order I found a copy of The Advent Book in my mailbox. I will never know who purchased the book for us, but all I can say is that it was a wonderful and much appreciated surprise. We read The Advent Book with our three children every night. If we going to be away from home for an evening, The Advent Book went with us. We shared it with everyone who happened to be at our house last Christmas season. By Christmas Day, my son Benjamin was reading the book to us. I was amazed by how much of the story my children could repeat word for word to anyone and everyone who would listen. My children have already started talking about when we are going to start reading The Advent Book again. We look forward to all the wonderful memories that will be made with our family sharing one of the most wonderful gifts we could ever receive!
Comment by Rosie McCune — October 30, 2009 @ 12:30 pm
I heard Jack and Kathy speak at my MOPS group last year and purchased the book that day. My boys were 1 & 2 last Christmas and loved the Advent Book. They told everyone about “Christmas Time” which is what they called our special time reading the book, lighting the candles, praying, and ending with a little chocolate. The book made such an impact on our whole family–it brought us together every night for the purpose of growing together in Christ. It will now be the center of our Christmas season. What a beautiful book, what a wonderful tradition.
Comment by Mindi Colon — October 31, 2009 @ 1:51 pm
Last year, I stumbled across an announcement that Jack and Kathy would be speaking at a local parenting group nearby. I was very diappointed that I would not be able to make the special event since I immediately saw the value of The Advent Book. I ordered a copy online and before it was even shipped to us, the coordinators of our MOPS group told us that Jack and Kathy would be coming to speak to us at our Christmas party! Being a bookworm, former teacher, and first generation Christian, I was honestly elated!
My husband and I read through The Advent Book last year when our daughter was 18 months old. She loved looking through the pictures and learning to point out the characters. Every night she would ask to read ahead. Instead, we would let her flip back and review the story. And each night she knew which book to retrieve when I asked her to get her “special book”. I truly believe her little heart grasped the simplest meaning of Christmas last year as we made connections between the book, her nativity play set, and the creche exhibit we visited.
This year, she is already telling everyone in the store that we are shopping to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. She says she is going to have a party with Jesus in heaven after she is really, really, old! I cannot wait to launch our Advent season with Lena this year, and The Advent Book was a huge inspiration for me. This year, we will be opening a special envelope each morning that will have a figure to add to her new Advent calendar and also a slip of paper with a special activity like baking cookies or making a gift for her grandparents. And each night, we will end the day with a reading of The Advent Book.
Thank you, Jack and Kathy, for helping us navigate the path of bringing Truth and the message of Christ’s love into our little girl’s heart! We tell everyone about your book and hope many homes will be blessed by it!
Comment by Danielle Krause — November 19, 2009 @ 9:41 pm
We met Jack & Kathy when they came to speak at our church MOPS group about 5 years ago. All of us moms loved their ideas on how to celebrate holidays and traditions. Many of us bought The Advent Book and it has become a special family Christmas tradition. We read it with our children, now aged 14 and 7, each night in December leading up to Christmas as we have for several years. It is something they look forward to every year. Wherever we are on Christmas Day, we read it aloud with all who are gathered.
We have given The Advent Book as presents to our friends with families so that they can experience the same warm tradition. This year, we have a foreign exchange student living with us from Norway, and she will get to experience The Advent Book tradition with us this Christmas season. We will be giving her a book for a Christmas gift, so that she can share it with her family in Norway next year.
Comment by Vicki Dellinger — November 27, 2009 @ 12:04 pm
I met Jack & Kathy last year when they came to speak at our MOPS group - what a wonderful presentation! The ideas they shared were great and all of the moms loved them. I purchased The Advent Book that day - and I am so glad I did!
Our family loves The Advent Book! Our girls 7 & 4, enjoy reading it every night in December before bed. We just got it out yesterday - and they can’t wait until Dec. 1st to start reading it! The artwork is beautiful - and it helps us remind our girls what Christmas is all about.
Every family needs an Advent Book - ours will be passed on for generations!
Comment by Betsy Gasper — November 29, 2009 @ 10:04 am
The Advent Book has to be our family’s favorite Christmas tradition. Our three kids have taken turns opening the doors and reading since they were tiny and as toddler’s could recite the passages from memory. They loved to find the animal on each page and our favorite memory was the year our youngest happily spotted the chinchilla on her page and exclaimed, “There’s the enchilada!”
I work at a preschool and every year we share this book with the children. Many have never heard of the real story of Christmas and they take the message into their homes and share it with their parents.
Last year our family lived in Brazil for a short term mission opportunity. I was teaching English and had a module on holiday celebrations. Of course, my first thought for a Christmas lesson plan was the Advent Book! I was blessed to have the Stockman’s help in having one sent to me in Brazil and shared the story with my students. The book remained as a gift to the school so others can continue to hear the message of God’s love.
Each year this tradition keeps our family purposefully centered on the beautiful miracle of Christ’s birth–it is a precious celebration!
Comment by Ann Miner — December 3, 2009 @ 8:15 am