Adventure Box: Day One!

Today was a sad day for us (read post below), so honestly it was a super day for us to start the ADVENTURE BOX!  We needed a bright spot in the day!

Today I started by setting the large box out in front of the children.  I didn't say a word.  Of course their eyes absolutely BULGED out of their little heads as they started firing questions at me...

"WHHHAAAAT'S THAT??!!!!!"
"IS IT FOR ME?!"
"CAN I OPEN IT NOW?!"

I just sat and smiled.  I said we would talk about it later.

This about killed them.

They would continue to walk past the box and drool - I mean stare - at it.  They would continue to ask questions and I would just smile.  The suspense was all they could take and I was loving it.

After a few hours I gathered them in the living room and set the box on the floor with us.  I had my Bible in my hand.  I looked over at our Christmas tree with gifts under it and I said, "Ya know, those gifts under there are all fine and dandy but do you know what the BEST GIFT EVER was?"

Eva quickly responded "JESUS!" and Jaden just shrugged his shoulders (note:  I can tell some of this is going to go over Jaden's head, however it's still important...and since I plan on doing it every year more and more will soak in).

I talked to them about the greatest gift of all time was God's gift to us in Jesus.  I talked about how I received Jesus into my life when I was a little girl and I explained that when they were ready that would be an exciting time in their lives too!

The Bible verse we read together today was John 3:16.  Again, we talked about the gift of Jesus. 

I then looked at the box and said, "You know....this is no ordinary box.  This box is an ADVENTURE BOX and over the course of the next few days we are not just going to have fun, but we are going to learn alllll about the gift of Jesus!"

I had them take the top off the box and look at all the wrapped gifts inside.  They were seriously giddy with excitement at this point.  I told them that each day we would have a Bible verse that we read together, and then we would open ONE GIFT A DAY until Christmas.  Each day the gift would be an adventure...something that would be fun, but also help us to understand the true importance of Jesus.

The children decided where they wanted to keep our special ADVENTURE BOX....and now we anxiously wait for tomorrow when we open the FIRST adventure.