An Advent Calendar
[11-30-02 -- updated on 11-21-06]
Here's a creative way to observe Advent - a season
of waiting, expecting, hoping ... and a time for expanding our horizons
of caring.
Barbara Kellam-Scott, a professional writer and a
former member of the Witherspoon executive committee, has created this Advent
calendar based on one created by Suzanne Elston.
This calendar is also available in
easy-to-print PDF format.
Sunday,
December 3
First Sunday in Advent
This sharing calendar invites us to count our blessings through Advent and
on to Epiphany, with its traditions of Magi and gifts for the Christ
Child. Each day, give a gift for Peace on Earth.
As part of the 20 percent of the world's population
that consumes 86 percent of the world's resources, we pay special
attention to the 30,000 children who die every day from preventable
diseases and hunger and to women who also suffer disproportionately.
Begin using your calendar by deciding as a family on a
charity to which you will donate your sharing on Epiphany Sunday,
January 5. You may want to fix a special box to receive your
gifts, and decorate it as your family's special gift to the world.
Monday, December 4
Start your box off with a dollar for every day since
last Christmas when someone in your family got a gift - for a birthday,
an anniversary, or just because someone loved you!
Tuesday, December 5
Put in 50 cents for every member of your family who
knows the name of their doctor or has visited the doctor since last
Christmas.
Wednesday, December 6
Put a penny in the box for every finger and toe that
lives in your house (you can count pets or not as you choose).
In Afghanistan and many places in the world, land
mines left behind by wars are a constant danger to fingers and toes,
hands and feet, especially for children.
Thursday, December 7
Add 25 cents for every shower or bath someone takes in
your house today. Be glad you're one of the 3 billion people who have
enough water to bathe whenever they want. The other half of the planet
doesn't.
Friday, December 8
Add 50 cents for every girl or woman in your house who
goes to school or work today or drives a car anywhere at all.
We've learned a lot this year about Afghan women
coming out from under their burkhas and going back to school, but they
and many others are still oppressed.
Saturday, December 9
Give $1.00 for every member of your family who's ever
been to Hawaii, $2.00 if it was in 1941.
Sunday,
December 10
Second Sunday in Advent
Just 2 more weeks to Christmas, a whole month to
Epiphany.
Add 50 cents for every member of your family who
freely chooses to go to church today.
Monday, December 11
Give a penny for every year someone in your family has
lived in peace.
Tuesday, December 12
Add $1.00 for every person in your family who has
ridden in an ambulance. Give a kiss to every person in your family who's
ridden in an ambulance as a caregiver.
Wednesday, December 13
Give 50 cents for every firefighter or policeman you
know or see today. (Give the ones you see at least a smile - a hug if
you can.)
Thursday, December 14
Put in a dollar for each member of your family who has
all they want to eat today.
Friday, December 15
Add 50 cents for every person in your house who has
their own room - count studies and sewing rooms as well as bedrooms - or
shares their room with another person because they want to.
Saturday, December 16
Put in 10 cents for every newspaper, news magazine,
news show (radio or TV), or Internet site someone in your family reads
today.
Sunday,
December 17
Third Sunday in Advent!
Can you smell it? Can you taste it? You can certainly
hear it!
Put in 5 cents for every song anyone in your family
sings or hears today.
Monday, December 18 (one week to
Christmas!)
Give 5 cents for every time someone in your house
turns on a water faucet or fountain. Add a penny for every bottle
someone opens today for a drink.
Lots of people in the world don't have clean water,
and lots of them have to carry their water long distances.
Tuesday, December 19
Give 25 cents for every person in your family who has
a library card and 25 cents for every library book you have out now. (If
your books are overdue, take them back and pay the fine to the library!)
Wednesday, December 20
Add 50 cents for every person in your family who voted
this year in any kind of election. Make it $1.00 if they were a
candidate!
Thursday, December 21
Give 50 cents for every person you know who isn't
feeling well today. Give another 25 cents if they have someone to take
care of them. Hug the person who takes care of them, especially if it's
yourself!
Friday, December 22
Add $1.00 for each member of your family who has
worked in our legal system as a lawyer or judge or has served on a jury.
Saturday, December 23
Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year!
Put in a penny for every light bulb in your house.
Don't forget your Christmas lights!
Sunday,
December 24
Last Sunday in Advent
CHRISTMAS EVE!
No peeking!
Give 50 cents for every member of your family who is part of the Sunday
School pageant today, even if only by watching and cheering.
Monday,
December 25
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS!
Add 5 cents for every pound the main dish of your
dinner weighs and a penny for every cookie or candy someone in your
family eats today (if a cookie has candy in it or on it, count it
double).
Tuesday, December 26 Boxing Day in
England and other countries
Put in 10 cents for every box you have to throw out
from a Christmas present and every bag of wrappings. If you're going to
recycle them, it's only 5 cents each.
Wednesday, December 27
Give 50 cents for every member of your family who eats
out today, and an extra 25 cents if they eat fast food.
A billion people suffer from obesity in the developed
world, but in the developing world a billion people are starving.
Thursday, December 28
Put in 10 cents for every kind of medicine in your
house and 25 cents for every kind of medicine someone in your family
takes today.
Friday, December 29
Add 25 cents for every retired person you know who has
enough to eat and a safe, warm place to live and an extra 25 cents if
the retired person has someone who takes care of them every day.
Saturday, December 30
Give $1.00 for every person who was alive in 1906 that
someone in your family can tell a story about.
Sunday, December 31
Goodbye, 2006
Give 50 cents for every new piece of clothing someone
in your family wears to church today (2 socks, shoes, or mittens count
as one piece).
Monday, January 1, 2007
Put in 5 cents for each year in the life of the first
member of your family to write down the new date.
Tuesday, January 2
Give 50 cents for each member of your family who got a
flu or allergy shot this year.
Wednesday, January 3
Add 50 cents for every member of your family who has
lived past 70 years of age.
In Zambia, life expectancy has dropped from 50 to 40
years since 1990.
Thursday, January 4
Give 50 cents for each member of your family who's had
enough to eat, a safe place to live, and enough clothes as a child.
600 million children live in merciless poverty.
Friday, January 5
Count up how many years of education all the people in
your family have had. Remembering how many people around the world
have little or no chance for schooling, who can't read or write, give 10
cents for each year in the total.
Saturday, January
6
EPIPHANY!
How much did you save to
share? $____________
Where will you give it?
_________________________
Think about how your gifts will bring new light and hope to people
somewhere in the world.
