Advent Week 3: review and reflection on a mini-breakthrough day

There are only THREE days left until Christmas. In fact, I would say two as we celebrate with my husband’s family on Christmas Eve. I know many people say it, but this time has come so quickly. I still feel like it has crept up on my even though I was organised for Advent and have been doing Advent activities. I definitely was not as organised with Christmas presents this year, which has had the potential to be very stressful. More on how my stress levels are going later in this post.

If you have missed any of my Advent posts, you can find them linked below:
Advent plans
Week 1
Week 2

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp
My daughter continues to be uninterested in listening to me read but loves looking through the book herself and unwrapping the ornament each morning. She will go two or three days without colouring them in though and then suddenly do them all. She did let me read to her once this week! I have basically put this on the backburner for a future year but continue to do the ornaments with her and read the book for myself.

Kindness Angel

The Kindness Angel has probably been Isabel’s favourite part of our Advent activities (except perhaps for the Lego Advent calendar that she has been doing with her Daddy). She gets so excited whenever the Angel visits. She did catch me setting up one of the activities once when she had only a short nap though. She keeps trying to change the Angel’s nappy too- heehee.
This week our Angel had us making special ornaments for our family members (I can’t show the finished product until after Christmas as they are a surprise!) and baking cookies and making Christmas cards for her daycare workers.

Truth in the Tinsel

I realised that I haven’t done any of the Truth in the Tinsel crafts that I had planned for this week. We did make some angels from a kit that I bought on clearance at the start of the year. I used the Truth in the Tinsel angel day as inspiration for what we talked about while making them. Issy loves the craft and I really want to be more organised next year so that I have the materials I need to make all of the great ideas in here.

The little tree is getting very full!

Wondering about the mini- breakthrough day that I mentioned in the title? Friday last week contained a massive to do list for myself while my daughter was at daycare. This list not only included last minute Christmas shopping in the craziness of the shopping centres, cleaning the carpets with our carpet cleaner that I haven’t used in the 2 years since we bought it but also a long drive into unfamiliar areas with busy roads to pick up my daughter’s Christmas present. I find this particularly stressful usually. What made this a breakthrough day? The peace I experienced throughout the day. I had such a sense of God’s presence as I drove around or walked through the shops. I had been listening to an amazing audiobook (Lioness Arising by Lisa Bevere) while I cleaned the carpets first thing in the morning and continued to talk to God anytime I starting feeling stress creep in. It was a phenomenal day and a real testament to all that God has been doing in me this year. I’d love to say that this has continued to be the case, but I have certainly had my cranky, feel the stress of the season moments since then! It has spurred me on to keep pursuing that peace that passes all understanding in my everyday life though. I can honestly say that this Christmas season has been the most positive. I have succeeded in my intention to keep Christ at the centre this year.

Do you feel prepared for Christmas? How are your stress levels?