Countdown to Christmas - Names of Jesus Chain

Image from SpellOutLoud.com

I saw this post over at Spell Out Loud and fell in love with the Names of Jesus Advent Chain.  Last year, counting down to Christmas, we did the Jesse Tree from A Holy Experience and it was a neat experience, but Preston was too young to really get all the information, I think.  He lost interest just a little ways into it.  I want to do something simpler this year, and when I saw the name chain... I knew it would be perfect.  Nothing that required too much work, but gave us a moment to pause and focus on Jesus!  I have printed out the chain links, will be cutting them out and linking them together in a long chain and putting them up somewhere near our "classroom" (aka kitchen table) tomorrow.  Every day in December we'll take a link off so that the chain is getting smaller as we get closer to Christmas. I like that on each of the links there is a Bible verse to go with the name, so we can look it up and read about it!  In addition to the chain, as suggested by Spell Out Loud, I have printed out these Names of Jesus Ornaments.  I did the Black & White versions so Preston can color them and make them his own!  We'll be putting these UP as the chain links come DOWN!  All in anticipation of Jesus' Birthday!

I checked out and purchased the Truth in Tinsel eBook that I saw all of my bloggy friends raving about.  See Mama Jenn's post and printables for it here.  It is adorable and I am really looking forward to going through it with my boys at some point.  However, I don't think it's right for us this year.  I want something super simple and that doesn't require a lot of extra time or materials.  I think I will wait to do it next year when Callen is a bit older and will be able to take part in some of it.  After looking through it, though, I wish I was able to do it this year 'cause it looks SO fun!  I'm sure it will be equally as fun next year.  You can't do everything at the same time, right?

I'm pretty excited for December 1st to arrive so we can start our countdown and name study.  I love using this time to focus on Jesus, the real Reason for the Season.