The Christmas Star from Afar Review

Every December, families start getting excited for Christmas. Social media starts filling up with pictures of elves doing silly things. Some people love them and some people do not. My family has never done the elf thing because it is weird in my opinion. I think it’s kind of creepy and doesn’t really symbolize what Christmas means to my family. I feel like it is an attempt to convince your children to behave. It focuses more on the present aspect of Christmas than on Christ. We have had the same Nativity for forever. I don’t even know how old it is. It could possibly be older than my sister and me.  I remember playing with it when I was very young. I liked to hang the angel. It was always a big deal when we would set up the Nativity. At my Grandparents house, they always started with the manger empty and moving Mary and Joseph in and then Jesus was born and the animals and Three Kings came later. When my Grandma Rose passed away, we have parts of her manger too. So now we have camels and assorted animals and the black sheep. My uncle Steve painted the sheep black when he was a kid. He said it was because he was the black sheep of the family.  I always liked that story.

 While I don’t embrace the Elf, I am always looking for ways to create new traditions with Noah while maintaining those I grew up with. I learned about Star from Afar. It’s similar to the elf where you hide the star each day, and your children find it, and you read scripture and there’s different days where you create the manger and the whole story comes together.

Here’s how it works:

• Set up your nativity
• Hide the Star every night
• Once your children find the Star move all Three Wise Men to its location
• Read the optional scripture
• Repeat
• On Christmas Eve place your Star on the top of your nativity stable
• On Christmas morning your Three Wise Men reach the nativity scene and find their king, baby Jesus!
• You can easily combine the “Star From Afar” with other traditions your family participates in. Consider placing a little surprise or sweet with your Star everyday to make this fun game more like an Advent Calendar.

I really love this idea and Noah loves it too. I like that your kids know that YOU hide it, it’s not magic.   I think The Star From Afar is gorgeous because it’s made from wood and it will last for a long time. I can already see myself doing this tradition with my future grandchildren. I think that sometimes people focus so much on Santa and presents, they don’t really know the story of The First Christmas. I love that there are daily scriptures so Noah and I can share in the Word of God. You also have a choice of different skin tones which is pretty cool too.  I am having fun coming up with unique places to hide the star. Noah is really good at finding things so it’s been challenging to find somewhere that makes him hunt for it. It comes with the story of Christmas that you can read together daily or as often as you like. We like to take turns reading it. It would also make a great gift for many Christmases to come.

For more information and to order please visit The Christmas Star from Afar website.

I was provided with a free sample to facilitate my review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.