Bucket of Blessings: Our Family's Christmas Advent & Devotional Time

Jesus is the Best Gift of All...

And that's why we celebrate Christmas. Love's Pure Light came to Earth to free us from our sin and give us the gift of eternal life if we choose to accept Him as our Lord and Savior. (John 3:16-17, Romans 10:9).

God gave so much--all He had, to rescue us.  What a blessing. He gave and so we give, not only at Christmastime, but all throughout the year, so each year our family participates in Bucket of Blessings to help us remember why we celebrate Christmas.

We LOVE the Bucket of Blessings and hope your family will enjoy it as well!

Bucket of Blessings

Purpose: To highlight the fact that Jesus was and is the best Gift of all, and how we are to bless others just as Christ blessed us.

Let's get started:

• Find or purchase a bucket or box. Something small or large depending on what you'd prefer or have lying around. Feel free to decorate it with your kiddos. :)
• Choose an Advent/Christmas devotion/Scripture reading. This year we are using the God's Gift plan from the Bible App. We've used other sources before and you can create your own devotion time using the Bible as your guide. The book of Luke Chapter 2 is where you will find the most popular version of the Christmas story.
• Decide how many days/nights you'd like for this to last. This year we're doing 9 days only because that's how long the devotion lasts. We typically do 5-7 nights.
• Choose a time & location to do the Bucket of Blessings with your family. For us it's after dinner sitting near the Christmas tree. For you it may be in the morning at the breakfast table.
• Schedule Blessings for each night. Here's what we're doing this year, feel free to take these ideas or come up with your own:
• Day 1: The Blessing of Words. I found a .99 book from GoodWill for each of my kiddos. It was my night to give them a blessing.
• Day 2: The Blessing of Fun. We will play "The Candy Cane Game." It's basically a "Mom hides candy canes and whoever finds the most wins," game, but the kids love it.
• Day 3: Bless Your Neighbor. We will make/sign Christmas cards and take them to our neighbors.
• Day 4: Bless Your Brother or Sister. This night each sibling will have several minutes to talk about only the good things about their brother or sister.
• Day 5: Bless a Stranger. This year we will be putting a few quarters in the shopping carts at Aldi's. It's fun to be someone's quarter angel!
• Day 7: The Blessing of Grace. Grace is getting a gift we don't deserve, so this year, each kid will be able to pick one of their nightly chores for me to do for them as an act of Grace.
• Day 8: The Blessing of Sugar. Something sweet is to be celebrated! Right!? This night Daddy will be choosing a sugary snack for each kiddo. It's his night to give a blessing!
• Day 9: A Blessing is a Blessing just because. So on this night the kiddos will have an extension on their bedtime! Yay for them, but more prayers will be needed for us! :)
• Begin and enjoy! I find giving the blessing after the devotion/scripture reading time is best for attention purposes.
• Note: Gifts that are not tangible are hand written, rolled up, tied with a bow and put into the buck of blessings for the kids to pull out and read.

I'd love to hear how you've taken the Bucket of Blessings and made it your own! Have Fun!!