Angels are the highlight of our Advent celebrations this year. From the angels that adorned the tables at the Advent By Candlelight events I participated in to the messages from the angels that changed everything to the lovely book and plush angel doll that showed up in our mailbox.

The book “Angel on Assignment, An Angelic Tradition,” beautifully written by Wanda Carter Roush has instantly become a family favorite! Written in rhyme, the book shares the heavenly messages delivered by angels to Mary and Joseph, to the shepherds and to the wise men regarding the birth of a baby who would change the world! The book teaches children that angels were present from the birth to the grave to the resurrection…”From a poor simple stable and a bed made of hay, To the cross on a hill, in a borrowed tomb He lay. Angels were there from the star to the stone, When the greatest gift to the world was made known.”

“Angles on Assignment, An Angelic Tradition”, has another message. The book teaches boys and girls that angels are sent from Heaven above and show God’s love by performing special missions. From sending comfort when we are scared to guarding and protecting, angels are all around us. The delightful illustrations by Mike Motz and Alicia Young engage the reader. Angels are hiding on every page and my daughter loved studying the book, shouting with excitement when she located an angel!

An Angelic Tradition– As an “Elf on a Shelf” alternative, our book came with a sweet plush doll that mirrors the little angel hiding in the book. The book explains that angels do much more than just sit on a shelf and suggests starting a new Christmas tradition with your family by assigning an angel to your house. Give your angel a name and use your angel to remind your family of God’s love. While other Christmas traditions center around receiving instead of giving. I like how the book encourages children to be “angels on assignment” looking for people in need and lending a helping hand by giving unto others and sharing kind words. This year our “Angel on Assignment” projects included purchasing gifts off of the angel tree at our church, packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, donating outgrown dance shoes to Traveling Tutus and purchasing cat beds and toys for Five Acres Animal Shelter, a no kill shelter in our community.

Creating an Angel- You can purchase an angel or make one of your own. Just look in the back of the book, “Angels on Assignment, An Angelic Tradition,” and you will find pages filled with ideas on how to make an angel. There are many creative ideas like making the body out of an old paperback book or using coffee filters for wings. The possibilities are endless.! I look forward to starting a new tradition of making an angel with my daughter every Christmas. As she gets older I envision the angels will get more intricate. There are patterns in the book if you want to make an angel out of paper. My daughter and I chose that option this year, tracing her little hands to use as the angel’s wings. We placed our angel by her Advent calendar to remind us of God’s love. We made a few additional angels to gift to others so they too can be reminded of God’s love and the message of showing kindness. The author, Wanda Carter Roush, encourages individuals to post pictures of their angels on the “Angels on Assignment, An Angelic Tradition” Facebook page.

I shared “Angels on Assignment, An Angelic Tradition” with the students in my daughter’s preschool class at their Christmas party and helped the boys and girls make angels so they can start this angelic tradition with their families. Through kind words or doing a good deed, sometimes it’s the little things that remind us of angel’s wings.

You can purchase this beautiful book on the author’s website at http://wandacarterroush.com or on Amazon. Amazon also has a digital version available. Make sure to check out other books and journals by Wanda Carter Roush. They make perfect gifts!