This article was originally posted at JeffRandleman.com as part of The Gifts Of The Holidays series. The original is still posted there, along with several other great holiday ideas and resources. Check it out!

A few years ago, we started a new tradition: Family Advent Nights. This makes the third year that we’ve done this, and my whole family loves it! In fact, due to some circumstances beyond our control, we had to skip our planned Family Advent Night earlier this week and reschedule it for a couple of days later. The disappointment in my home was so great you could almost feel it.

My whole family loves it, and I have to admit, I do too…

Let me tell you up front that this is not my idea originally. Although we’ve made a few changes that fit our family better, I discovered this idea on the Familyman Ministry blog. This site is an incredible resource for men who want to be the best dads and husbands that they can be. I suggest you check it out.

Here’s the concept. Once a week, for the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we gather as a family after dinner. We start off with a simple craft. This year, the first week is a simple paper chain Christmas tree. The rest of the crafts for this year include a Christmas photo holder, an ornament, and a felt mitten craft. The crafts are simple, yet fun. I ordered a kit with all four crafts in it for each of my kids from Familyman Ministries. It was extremely inexpensive. See the kit here.

After the craft session, we head out into the living room for some deeper family togetherness. We start off by lighting a candle (or more) on our Advent wreath. While this is burning, we read a passage from the Bible coinciding with the week of Advent we are in. Again, the Familyman website has specific details. My older kids take turns reading parts of the passage, and then we pray together.

We don’t get too deep with the discussion here. After all, my kids are mostly very young, so we have to keep it simple. And that’s perfectly ok. Once we are finished with the Bible reading and talk, I read the family a Christmas story. We have seven different books so far, one for each night we do this, and a few other nights. These stories are fun, and they keep our kids attention, especially if I make up voices to go with the specific characters. Our younger kids loves this! Once again, Familyman Ministries has an excellent packet of stories that fit this perfectly.

While I am reading, Heather heads back into the kitchen to fix a snack. This isn’t anything extravagant. One night it was crackers and peanut butter drizzled with chocolate. Another night she cut up apples and had caramel to dip them in. Each night, we also allow the kids to have a small glass of sparkling grape juice. However, they get so excited about this that we have to keep it small, or else they are too wound up to go to bed!

Once the snacks are eaten, we are done. But usually, we will follow all this up with a classic Christmas movie, like A Christmas Story, or The Man Who Saved Christmas.

I love this tradition for two reasons:

First, it provides some excellent family time.

It gives me the opportunity to lead my family as God has created me to do. And it permits me to take part in the lives of my children, spending significant time with them and building great memories together. My kids love it, along with many of the other things we do together, and I know will treasure these times with me as they grow older.

Since I lost my dad, I’ve found myself reminiscing about the special times he and I spent together. While they might not have help tremendous power when they occurred, they do now. I want to create so many special times for my children, memories that they can hold onto long after I am gone. Memories that will reassure them of my love for them.

Second, it draws attention to the purpose we celebrate Christmas.

Although we may not stick to the particular details of Advent like tradition dictates, our family is poignantly reminded of the meaning of Christmas weekly. And that, in itself, is reason enough.

We’ve held this tradition for three years now (I’m completely avoiding the strictest definition of “tradition” here). Since this is still relatively new, it’s all open to modification. We’ve already tweaked a few things to fit our family better.

But, even though it is still kind of new to us, it has already developed a special place in our family’s Christmas celebrations.

I suggest that you look for similar things to develop in the life of your family. You’ll love it, your kids will love it, and who knows…? It might become something really spectacular!

Be deliberate, Dad!

What do you do to prepare your family for Christmas? Do you celebrate Advent? If so, how? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.