Why a google Advent Calendar?

Moms, we know all too well the struggle of trying to make Advent Advent-y and Christmas Christmas-y the Catholic way. We want to find an Advent Calendar filled with more than just delicious chocolate to fight over after dinner. As Catholic mothers, we want Advent reminders that help us do less running and instead keep us Christ-centered while we joyfully prepare for the Lord’s birth. We want something to help us stay “Full of Grace” this Holiday season. 

We decided to face this struggle with craftiness and ingenuity. By curating simple Advent devotions and activities onto a google calendar, we bring you the Advent content you are looking for to your virtual doorstep each day! You might not even miss the chocolate. It’s that exciting.  

What’s more, it’s not another app you have to find space for on your phone, and then open separately. It’s a Google calendar full of links to our favorite Advent resources that can come straight to your home screen. Collectively, we spent over 100 hours hunting down what we hoped to do with our own families, and then organized them into manageable chunks that emphasize the liturgical themes of hope, peace, joy and love, as well as the overarching messages found in the Sunday and weekday readings. 

Already want to get it? We’re selling it on Etsy for $5!

What does it look like? And How about a sample day?

Pssst! Open the “sample day” link from your computer first. Then it will show up on your phone. The sample day is Friday, December 2.

 

What’s Included?

In addition to finding good stuff from fellow Catholics, we’ve added a little sprinkle of our own expertise throughout the 28 days. Our favorite are plans for family activity nights, including instructions for a Nativity play, a follow-the-angel game, and symbolic DIY popcorn garland. It even has movie night recommendations with discussion questions, daily cleanout challenges, and a free printable Christmas postcard. 

It has:

  • Links to curated Advent video playlists for moms
  • Links to curated Advent video playlists for kids
  • Links to curated classic Advent sermons
  • Links to curated Advent and Christmas music
  • Links to helpful Advent podcasts for families on Advent and the Jesse Tree
  • Links to blog posts about Catholic Advent devotions, teachings, and practical advice
  • Links to our favorite resources like crafts, book lists, daily Mass readings and reflections, and examinations of conscience for kids and adults.
  • Printable PDF Advent wreath prayer and lighting instructions
  • Printable PDF instructions for a family Nativity Play
  • Printable PDF instructions for a symbolic popcorn garland-making family night
  • Printable PDF instructions for a follow-the-angel family game
  • Printable PDF instructions for an images of Christ scavenger hunt
  • Printable PDF daily examen for moms
  • Printable PDF Christmas postcards
  • Printable PDF Candy cane prayer postcards
  • Printable PDF weekly theme flyers for hope, peace, joy, and love
  • Weekly family movie recommendations with printable PDF discussion questions
  • Daily cleanout challenges
  • Daily activity suggestions based on the calendar focus for each day of the week

What’s the value?

We believe being prepared for Advent should be affordable and accessible. That’s why we are offering this to you, for as little as $5, which you can make through our Etsy shop. By spending the $5 on your Full of Grace Google Advent Calendar, you help support all the moms at CraftyCatholicMoms.com as we expand our mission as Catholic mother entrepreneurs.

We hope the sale of this product helps us to continue to craft affordable resources for moms that encourage mothers by minimizing the time it takes to overcome day-to-day challenges while amplifying the joys of motherhood. We also want to make that $5 work really hard for you so you can work a little less.

In asking for payment, we are not, in any way, claiming copyright over the materials we’ve linked to that we did not create. We’re offering the service of curating the resources we found.

How is it organized?

Each day on the Advent calendar will show just one event. Each event starts with a reminder of the liturgical theme, hope, peace, joy, or love, followed by the day of the week and which week of Advent it falls in. The themes are linked to printable theme flyers.

Below the recommendations is a Google form you can fill out as a daily planner. It will automatically send you an email of your responses so you can remember what you’ve decided are your priorities for the day.

Then, we added special content just below the daily heading to offer a focus suggestion with recommendations for that day of the week.

  • Sundays: Mass, rest, and works of mercy
  • Mondays: Household
  • Tuesdays: Shopping
  • Wednesdays: Mom retreat
  • Thursdays: Flex/catchup time
  • Fridays: Family
  • Saturdays: Prep work

Every day, we’ve organized the links and information into five basic categories so that you can pick and choose what you’re interested in. Those categories are Read, Do, Craft, Watch and Listen, and Your Curated Playlists.

  • Links to the daily readings, blog posts and reflections, and our Advent book list fall under Read.
  • Activities, including Mass, prayers, Advent wreath lighting, and the cleanout challenges, fall under Do.
  • Crafts are, well, crafts. Links to Jesse Tree and O Antiphon ornaments, plus a few pinterest idea boards can be found here.
  • Watch and Listen directs you to some great visual and auditory content with notes about the length of videos and podcasts.
  • Your Curated Playlists gives you direct links to mom-approved playlists. 

How do I use it?

  1. Purchase the calendar
  2. After purchasing you will get an email with simple instructions to access your calendar and synch it with your personal Google calendar from a computer. You can also download the PDF instruction file with the calendar link in your Etsy account (Profile -> Purchases and Reviews). Once you’ve downloaded it on your computer, it will show up on your phone.
  3. On your computer, open the link to your “Full of Grace” calendar, and it will automatically redirect you to your personal Google calendar. Select “Add” in the pop-up window. Once you’ve synched it on your computer, it will show up on your phone.
  4. “Full of Grace” Advent calendar will appear in the checklist under “Other Calendars.” and will be automatically added to your personal calendar. There’s only one event with all of the information each day. To hide the “Full of Grace” events on your personal calendar, just uncheck the checkbox.
  5. To synch our calendar with other digital calendar programs, please use Google Help, or create a free Google account. 

Once you have access, you can personalize the calendar further by adding times or reminders or activities, or even deleting some content. Use Google Help to understand how to edit the way you want. 

What’s Next?

We continue to invite the Holy Spirit while we define our Catholic Niche. We cordially invite you to share your feedback with us on your experience with this product. We appreciate your patronage this Advent season. 

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