Blew my expectations out of the water! Great quality, great price.

I gave this to my 6 year old twin grandsons when they visited at Thanksgiving and they fell in love with it all . They named the shepherd AJ and his birthday is going to be the day they opened this, Novemember 22. They can't wait for Advent to start the book wiht AJ .

My daughter has been driving me crazy begging for an Elf... and that's not how we process Christmas. We look at Christ's coming, as a babe, born in a manager, and a naughty elf just doesn't easily make a connection about the birth of Jesus for me. Instead we've read Jotham's journey series aloud to anticipate and re-live Bible life and what the experience of the children alive when Jesus was born might be like. And my three older BOYS have been captivated and on the edge of their seats to listen for the entire advent season. But my girl, well she wants to share with her friends who talk about their elves each day. So I decided I need to find a compromise. So next year "Shep" (you get to name your Shepherd) will be hidden each day of December. I haven't done the hiding yet as I bought it after Christmas for next year so I can't report on that. But what i can say is- this kit, you are buying a stuffed shepherd and a book that introduces the concept (like the elf) of finding him every day in December. That's all the beautiful hard cover story book does- is set up the expectation rather simply. But they also sell a small advent book to read aloud, and you MUST purchase this as well. I loved it and will review it as well. So if you need an alternative this is it, but alone it's not a fully prepared daily connection to Christ without the advent read aloud book.

we do not do Santa at our house either, we did have an elf but our children know the Truth...Ive always had our elf do Bible related activities. But now we have a shepherd boy to go along with our Bible activities. So now our Elf has accepted Jesus and lives for him! Loved being able to download all the activiites for free aa well. Great book! love it!

With kids of varying ages, I was looking for something that would cover restless little ones and older ones who are ready for more information. This is a nice set, but be aware of what you are getting. Included in the package is a cute shepherd that captured my four year old's attention, and the picture book is a cute introduction to the concept, BUT, that's it. The advent countdown book is not the book in this set, so if you want something to do for the remaining nights till Christmas you will need to look elsewhere. I give it 4 stars as there are some online resources that tie in and seem like they will be helpful and are well thought out, but I had been expecting a more complete resource and am debating whether I should order the separate advent devotional book that is unfortunately currently out of stock.