Free Christmas Advent (+ 52 Ways to #LIGHTtheWORLD)

This past Sunday my family and I were watching the new #LIGHTtheWORLD ad campaign sponsored by our church. This new campaign encourages everyone to light the world this holiday season with acts of service. More specifically, we are asked to follow our Savior’s example of service by doing an act of service every day from December 1st to December 25th.

I can’t even tell you how inspired I was when I watched this short video. Tears came to my eyes, and my husband and I both wanted our family to focus more on service this holiday season.

Everyone in our family committed to do an act of service every day leading up Christmas. As we thought about how we could help our kids get excited about their acts of service, my husband looked at our Thanksgiving advent, and suggested that we write our daily acts of service on the back of the tags.

But I thought we could do something cuter.

So I made a Christmas service advent calendar, and I am so excited to share it with you!

So here’s how we are doing it. Every night starting December 1st until Christmas day, we are going to gather together and list at least one thing that we did that day to light the world and make it a little bit better. It can be as simple as smiling at a stranger, making someone’s bed for them, or it can be as involved as serving at a soup kitchen. The goal is to just do something every day.

Writing down what we did that day using this advent calendar will hopefully help us to stay on track and remember our goal. And I think it will be a fun way to look back and remember the joy we felt while serving every day.

Of course you can adapt the advent calendar to your family’s needs. Maybe instead of service, you will write down a fun memory or a scripture that meant something to you that day. Feel free to use this advent calendar however you want.

Putting the advent calendar together is easy! One of the best things about this advent is that you make the envelopes once, and then you can re-use them every year in December, for whatever you want!

I thought I would show you what I used, and you can modify it according to what you have.

Supply List: (The following links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. Thank you! I am so thankful for your support! )

Printer (or you could email the files to an office supply store, such as Office Depot, and have them print them for you).
Scissors-to cut out the envelopes and tags.
Glue or adhesive-to put together the envelopes (I use and love this Elmer’s tape runner).
Poster tack or double-sided tape-to adhere the envelopes to the wall. (I prefer the poster tack because it makes it easier to re-use the envelopes year after year.)
Optional: Scoring board-I LOVE my Martha Stewart Scoring Board ! It makes the folded edges so sharp and professional looking. (You can also use a ruler and the back of a butter knife to make a scored line. Line the ruler along the flap and slide the back of the butter knife along the ruler, to get a scored line. It doesn’t make the scored line as deep as the scoring board, but it works in a pinch!)
Optional: Bone Folder (I use this to make the scored lines, using the scoring board as my guide; it works amazingly well.)
Optional: Ribbon & Hole Punch-for cuteness on the tags. (I chose not to add ribbon this time but to see a great example of how cute ribbon can me it, see my Thanksgiving advent.)

When you download the printables, you will get all 25 envelopes, plus two pages of tags (there are a total of 6 tags). You can print as many copies of the tag pages as you need or want. You can mix and match them however you want.

Last night my mom and I sat down at the table and came up with a list of 52 acts of service that can really make a difference in the world. Some of the ideas include:

*Donate coats, mittens, hats, and boots to a homeless shelter.

*Give a sincere compliment.

*Spend some extra time remembering and pondering the Savior’s life and mission.

*Give a homemade gift.

You can download the complete list below.

There are so, so many ways to serve. Please leave a comment and let me know what you are planning to do this year to #LIGHTtheWORLD. I would love to hear from you! ♥