Advent Overflow is a holiday program for families. From the first Thursday of November to January 4, your family spends November thanking the people who made your year better, then lets that gratitude spill over into a December of giving.
Advent Overflow runs from the first Thursday of November to January 4. Each day has a short reading for the grown-ups and one small thing to do together, usually 15 or 20 minutes, and most days come with a picture-book story for the kids. November is for giving thanks: your family notices the people who made the year better, writes them thank-you notes, and tapes the notes up as leaves on a paper tree on your wall. December is for giving back, one theme a week: Generosity, Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Over those weeks, the same paper tree becomes a Christmas tree, one green layer at a time.
Many of us inherited an instruction manual for Christmas: buy something for everyone, make a wish list, keep it fair, and don't show up empty-handed. It tells our hands what to do but skips the heart, and a lot of families reach January more tired than joyful. Advent Overflow starts with the heart instead. When people notice how much they've been given, the wish to give shows up on its own, so the program spends November on gratitude and lets December's giving grow out of it.
You keep the music, the lights, the gatherings, and yes, the gifts.
The thanks just come first.
There's no kit to buy. The whole season is built from paper, tape, and what your family writes.
Advent Overflow was made to be done with books at home, and the one to start with is the Guide, Advent Overflow: A Family Guide to Giving Thanks, Then Giving Back, from Thanksgiving to New Year's. It has every day's reading and practice, plus how to set up the wall and the tree, and it's all a family needs. Families who want more can add the extras: two Wanderful Woods storybooks with read-aloud stories for the season, two activity books for kids, and a write-in Workbook for the grown-up.
This website has every day of the season, one page at a time. Open the calendar, tap the date, and that day's reading, story and printable pages are there. Being online also means any family with a phone can join.
Until then, think of one person who made your life better this year. Picture their face, and name what they did. That's where all of this starts.