So now, for the next 10 days or so, they’ll be a brief blog interlude while we all enjoy a break from work, school, kindy and various commitments and spend some time with each other and our wider families.

This year the Pohutukawa trees all seem to be in fine form - even the little ones that were planted this year on the road side by the local school. The colour is refreshing at this busy time.

Have a good Christmas everyone.

Now, while that calendar was much better at telling the story than your average ‘Finding Nemo’ or ‘Shrek’ Advent calendar, some of the Scripture passages it had were a little odd (especially taken out of the context of the wider passage) and after 3 years or so of using it, it was time for a change.

So I was interested in Jonny Baker’s post - 25 new from si smith - advent comic, calendar and flatpack models which pointed through to Proost - 25 Advent Comic and Calendar (PDF Download), which looked interesting.

So I’ve downloaded the advent calendar package (not really interested in the models, so didn’t get those) and each day we’re taking the next day’s cartoons and putting them in a multi-pocket clear-file that the kids can flip through over the Advent period. There are blanks left in speech bubbles for you to add your own words (which the kids are supplying) and we get to talk about the story as we go and recap it when we add a new page. Plus, if your children like coloring in pictures like my daughter there is scope for doing ‘exegesis with crayons’.

Early days so far, but it looks like it’ll work well.

On a related note - the kids have also enjoyed Nicholas Allan’s “Jesus’ Christmas Party” with the cutout manger scene and figures for retelling the story.