40 Things to do in preparation for the Birth of Christ

"Advent is here. What a marvellous time in which to renew your  desire, your nostalgia, your real longing for Christ to come — for him to come every day to your soul in the Eucharist. The Church encourages us: Ecce veniet! — He is about to arrive!" - St. Josemaria Escriva

Here are 40 ways to prepare your heart for the Birth of Christ! *note* I am NOT doing all of these. I am doing some. These are just ideas I had and decided to share.

none of the pictures are mine.

1. Spend 10 minutes in prayer daily - or if you already do this... why not 15 or 20?


2. Go to daily mass!


3. Go to adoration... "Oh Come Let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!"


4. Go to confession.


5. Pray a Scriptural Rosary (these are my favorite!)


6. Do a daily meditation ... I'm doing a few that are available on the Apple app store! Magnificat is $0.99, but Advent Daily Devotions is F R E E ! I'm also using the Word Among Us.


7. Don't listen to Christmas music until the fourth Sunday of Advent... Christmas is about waiting, right?


8. If you can't do that... what about not watching any Christmas movies until after the fourth Sunday?


9. Celebrate Advent as it's own season!


10. Volunteer your time and talents.


11. Read a devotional book. Right now I'm reading "My Vocation is Love" by Jean Lafrance and it's beautiful!


12. Write a letter to God. Write it like you're writing to a friend, with tough honesty.


13. Forgive someone who you haven't forgiven yet.


14. Think about how beautiful it is that Jesus was born. Like us, He depended on His mother, He cried, He couldn't do anything for Himself. GOD loves us SO much that He became an infant! How crazy is that?


15. Fast


16. Say thank you... even for the littlest things. Thank God for the sun, for your pillow, for your family (even if you got sick of them last Thursday). Thank your friend for texting you about dinner, for sharing something with you, for being a friend.


17. Be there for someone.


18. Read a book about Advent... The Catholic Company has a bunch (I'm looking at the one based on St. Therese's Little Way)!


19. Put up a Jesse Tree!


20. Do Lectio Divina


21. Do a daily examen


22. Go through all of your stuff and donate it.


23. Make a spiritual bouquet for someone who needs it.


24. Read Luke 1:1-2:21


25. Read Matthew 1:18-2:18


26. Read a bit of Luke 1:1-2:21 and/or Matthew 1:18-2:18 a day throughout Advent.


27. Read Advent and Christmas with Fulton J. Sheen . . . Leah Darrow posted on Facebook that she does this every year for Advent!


28. Pray a novena... EWTN has a bunch that you can look through! There's also the St. Andrew Advent Christmas novena and this Christmas novena


29. Find a giving tree and buy some toys for less fortunate kids.


30. Send a Christmas card to a soldier overseas


31. Go Christmas caroling at a convalescent home.


32. Send a Christmas card to someone that you normally wouldn't/haven't sent a card to in a while


33. Donate to a crisis pregnancy center.


34. Go beyond what is expected of you.


35. Write thank you notes to your teachers, mail carriers, lunch ladies, etc.


36. Bake cookies and deliver them to a neighbor you're not very close with.


37. Call someone who you haven't talked to in a while.


38. Pray for someone.


39. Tell them that you prayed for them.


40. Give something up that you taken granted. Even if only for a day.

I hope that you have a fruitful Advent season and a blessed Christmas!