During Advent, we always have an Advent calendar. Truth is, we tend to have more than one Advent calendar and a Jesse tree. My mom made Meg and Clare each an Advent calendar on which you hang little ornaments (accompanied by a scripture verse) on a Christmas tree each day of Advent. This year we used an amazing Advent calendar from the National Gallery of Art, which I discussed here, and Meg was given an Advent calendar for her birthday which she kept in her room. Each morning we would open the Advent calendar window for the day and at dinnertime we would add our ornament for the Jesse tree (which, being a longtime U2 fan, I kept calling the Joshua tree). Our parish provided the ornaments for the Jesse tree. Each week of Advent after Mass, there would be a stampede of mothers going to the vestibule to pick up the ornament sheet for the following week. On top of all this, our family used an Advent wreath each Saturday night for Vespers.
With all of this going on in Advent, I had to ask myself what tools we had for our children during Lent. Meg and Clare decided to give up treats on Fridays during Lent as well as Ash Wednesday, which seemed like a doable sacrifice for a three and five year old. (This sacrifice has led to many discussion on "what is a treat." It will not surprise anyone who knows us that their father's definition of a treat is a bit broader than my definition.) We have also started listening to the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles' Lent at Ephesus. I mentioned here Anne's appreciation of their Advent music so we decided their Lent music would be a good choice for our house. But I still wanted something that worked like an Advent calendar because I thought it would make the time of Lent more concrete for the girls.
To my great delight, I opened Clare's preschool folder and found exactly what I was looking for.
With all of this going on in Advent, I had to ask myself what tools we had for our children during Lent. Meg and Clare decided to give up treats on Fridays during Lent as well as Ash Wednesday, which seemed like a doable sacrifice for a three and five year old. (This sacrifice has led to many discussion on "what is a treat." It will not surprise anyone who knows us that their father's definition of a treat is a bit broader than my definition.) We have also started listening to the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles' Lent at Ephesus. I mentioned here Anne's appreciation of their Advent music so we decided their Lent music would be a good choice for our house. But I still wanted something that worked like an Advent calendar because I thought it would make the time of Lent more concrete for the girls.
To my great delight, I opened Clare's preschool folder and found exactly what I was looking for.
Each day of Lent, the children color in a square on the road to Easter. I have hung the page on our back door so the girls can color a square each morning. Meg's class made a crown of thorns out of play dough and toothpicks. The kids were encouraged to remove a toothpick for every good deed they do during Lent. Clare wants to make her own crown of thorns (which is easily done) and that will give us yet another Lent tool for the girls.
I am feeling very grateful for our preschool today and I am very happy to have these tools in place for Lent.
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