We don’t have a lot of traditions, but this is one that has stuck with our family. It’s easy to do and pretty low effort. It also costs zero money (after you buy the supplies). I love that each day in the month of December we are reminding the kids why we celebrate Christmas.

How It Works

Each morning our kids wake up and try to find where the wise men are in the house. I hide them in the farthest spot from the nativity scene that’s sitting in their playroom. Every day the wise men move and get closer and closer to baby Jesus. After the kids find the wise men, we go over to the advent calendar. In the advent calendar are little ornaments assigned to each day. The ornaments directly correlate with the Jesus Story Book Bible, and we go find and read the story in the bible that matches the picture on the ornament. After we’re done with the story, the kids go hang the ornament on their tree in the playroom.

Advent Calendar + Nativity Set + Ornaments

I bought all of our supplies off of Etsy. I wanted them to be beautiful, durable, and blend in well with the rest of our Christmas decorations. They key with the advent calendar is to make sure the pockets are big enough for the ornaments. I made this mistake the first year we did this, and the pockets were way too small and could not hold them! I found our advent calendar from this Etsy shop. It’s been great and having the numbers is a great way to show the countdown to Christmas. Not all of the calendars come with numbers.

Our nativity set is not currently being sold on Etsy, but here is a similar option. I like a nativity scene that the kids can play with too. Don’t forget to make sure your nativity scene comes with the wise men! Not all of them do.

The Jesse Tree ornaments are from this Etsy shop. You can have the supplies sent to you and you DIY the ornaments, or there is the option to have the Etsy shop owner complete the ornaments for you. I paid extra to have them come completed. All I had to do was add the strings to each disc when it arrived and they were ready to go. There are many variations of these ornaments, but I love that these align perfectly with the Jesus Story Book Bible – down to the image on the ornament.

And that’s it! No extra gifts to organize and no scenes to set up with an elf. It’s so easy and simple and my kids love it. All you have to do is remember to move the wise men each day!