The First Week of Advent

We are changing pace for the next few weeks as we turn our focus to the season of Advent and then Christmas.

This year we will start traditions to really observe the Advent season.  We will do our best to shut out the noise of pre-mature Christmas until we have prepared for it by waiting.   We will read the ancient texts and the words of the faithful though out history who remind those of us on this side of the cross what it means to feel absence and void and faith and deep desire - to hope in a redeemer not yet come. We will take time to quiet our minds and slow our schedules in what has previously been for us the busiest time of year.

After this practice of waiting and longing and then waiting some more, then finally, finally after knowing something of the weight of hope, we will begin our celebrations.

It's funny how our keeping of Christmas has evolved.  When Nora was a baby we did the whole Santa and reindeer thing mixed in with as much Jesus as would fit into the busy whirl.  Growing up I had never heard of Advent or the idea of celebrating Christmas over 12 days.  We had Christmas Eve services and cookies for Santa and bulging stockings and mountains of presents and a big family dinner. My childhood Christmases were magical.  When we first had kids I knew that I wanted to pass on some of those magical feelings I experienced - that je ne sais qua of Christmas that made everything so special.  What to keep, what to get rid of, what to add to....

Neither of us was opposed to Santa and I remember thinking it was sad when I heard of friends and family who just didn't "do Santa" at all.  But one year we were surprised in the days leading up to Christmas by how many people at our church kept asking Nora about Santa.  What was he bringing her, had she been a good girl for him, would he fulfill all of her two year old wishes?  (What kid needs a Savior when you have a Santa?!)  We were perplexed.  Surely church would be the place where Christmas was all about Jesus. Santa could then make his appearance at home, along with more of Jesus...

That got me to thinking that maybe the really absurd thing was that I was trying to hold onto something that was subtly robbing us of our joy. I had been chasing after a magical Christmas when what I was really longing for was the mystical - to be enveloped in that unfathomable mystery of God in the manger.

When one begins to truly experience the essence of The Light coming into the world, a greedy hunger takes over.  The magic of the North Pole, childhood nostalgia, mounds of gifts and food and anything else that isn't Him is unveiled as an empty filling.

But we all do it every year - completely fill up our schedules with family activities and delicious food preparations and gift exchanges.

Isn't this always the way of it?  How the good so quietly robs us of the best?

It is so easy to get so wrapped up with Christmas preparations that by December 25th,  there is nothing left in us which is prepared to adore Christ.   By then we are bone tired and adoration is hard work.

We've paid homage, certainly, in our special services and carols and readings of St. Luke's Nativity account at family gatherings.  Did we take time to adore?  When does that get penciled into the calendar? 

I needed to prepare myself better than I had in the past.

And so we began our journey to celebrate Christmas intentionally and differently.  I've been collecting ideas and traditions along the way.  This is what our first week of Advent looked like....

We are keeping a relaxed pace.

We decorated the house.  It feels strange to have such understated decorations up at such a time.  I like it.

This paper tree is made from pages of an old Bible to remind us of John 1:14

Advent Candles of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love

This clear plastic ornament holds our gifts to Jesus.  Whenever we do something out of love for another person, we write it down and put it in the ball.  We'll put this on our real tree when it arrives and open and read each one out loud on Christmas Day.

This year I made an Advent Calendar with readings from the Old and New Testaments, following the stories of the people who made up Jesus' lineage and the messages of the prophets who foretold his coming.
Each night we begin by lighting the wreath of candles.  Then I hide a bag with a paper ornament which corresponds to the night's reading.  The girls find it and we talk about the picture and what we are about to hear in the story.  Then Mark read those passages.  We sing a couple Advent hymns and say prayers and then close by putting the ornament on our "tree" and blowing out the candles.

 Ideally.

Mostly Lucy and Claire flop around on the floor, giggling intermittently while Mark tries to read.  And Nora plays with her buttons and has no idea what was just read.  There has been a fair amount of crying, yelling and even hitting when a disagreement arises over whose turn it is to blow out the candles or put the ornament on the tree.  And there is more crying as we have to explain for the 8th night in a row that, no, "The Wheels on the Bus" does not qualify as an Advent hymn.  So generally, it's not what you'll see on an episode of the Duggars, but I'm glad we're doing it each night.

As you can see in the background, part of our Advent decorations include our collection of singing Hallmark decorations because they entertain the kids for unbelievable amounts of time!

 Tonight our Lessons and Carols concert at church was postponed due to snow.  (It will be held on December 15th at 7pm at Hope Lutheran Church in Levittown if anyone wants to come by!)  I just love a good snowfall.  This was the first time the chickens experienced snow too.  They look quite cozy there with their little lighted cabin.