Advent happenings

I never got around to doing my All Saints' Day post. I also lazed around about doing an Advent post, and here we are post-Epiphany! What's wrong with me?

So I will focus on Advent for now. Christmas soon to follow. Then maybe a New Year's wrap-up. By then it will likely be Noah's birthday so I'll have to regale you with stories all about us celebrating his turning one. Sigh. I'm not a lazy blogger. Just an otherwise-occupied one.

I digress.

I love Advent. As a child, I really only knew it to be the days preceding Christmas, but there was still a certain beauty to me in lighting the Advent wreath and singing the simultaneously mournful and joyous "O Come O Come, Emmanuel." I knew something was happening in the Church; something was happening in my heart, too. Baby Jesus was coming. And I was excited.

As the "liturgical co-ordinator" of our domestic church, I take the responsibility of planning how we celebrate the Church calendar. My husband has great ideas, and ideals, but I am the one who puts them into practice.

I have been reading a lot about Waldorf homeschooling lately. In a sense, I am "homeschooling" already so I don't think this is totally in left-field. Also, I just find it interesting.

What particularly inspires about this philosophy is the beauty and comfort children receive through rhythms -- no, not rigid schedules, not even planned activities necessarily, but simple family customs that mark the day, week, month and season. It can be as simple as the song we sing during diaper changes or the candle we light during bedtime routine.

So based on this, we decided to implement some special Advent rhythms into our family life.

We set up an Advent wreath, and ate dinner nightly lit only by the candles on the table. It made meals feel so special.

I loved lighting it every night and singing an Advent song. (Have I told you how much I like Advent music? I miss it already, now that we're in Christmas season.)

We also had a Jesse tree. I made the ornaments last year because I was pregnant and wanted to do something domestic (and despite my intense desire to make a baby quilt, quilting seemed a little... optimistic given my poor attention span). So I cut them out of construction paper and even brought them over to the university library to have them laminated. (This was just days after asking them to help me scan my ultrasound. The library technicians began to study me as though I was some curious specimen).

I wish they were made out of felt, now that it's all been said and done. But I love the Jesse tree anyway!

Reading the Scripture verses nightly filled out home with a real sense of awe at our Savior, prefigured from the very beginning. It also made a great symbolic reminder of the quasi-penitential nature of the Advent season, because of the barren looking tree sitting where our Christmas tree would go on December 24th.

I'd definitely recommend this as a tradition for your households (and if you're interested, the info can be found here).



And, for your viewing pleasure, my adorable kid, just hanging out (outside of Daddy's office... We're lurkers... and distracters, I think).

Also, note my bare foot peeking into the frame. Shoes, and socks, are for fully licensed drivers, which I am not.

Did I mention though that it's my New Year's resolution to get my license? I'll keep you posted.