Advent thoughts
Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent. I am absolutely over-joyed for this season!
I wrote an Advent post last year that I would like to share with you here, to give you a taste of our family traditions during Advent. You'll notice three glaring omissions in this post, mind you -- the feast of St. Nicholas, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (my mother's birthday) and the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Patrick's birthday). When these days come up, I will share with you what we do to give you a flavor for that as well.
I think it's tempting to scour the Internet, and amazing creative blogs and think, ohhh I should do that! Unfortunately for me, so many interesting ideas overwhelm me and so I get discouraged and do almost nothing. So I keep things basic. Here are our pared-down Advent celebrations
I wrote an Advent post last year that I would like to share with you here, to give you a taste of our family traditions during Advent. You'll notice three glaring omissions in this post, mind you -- the feast of St. Nicholas, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (my mother's birthday) and the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Patrick's birthday). When these days come up, I will share with you what we do to give you a flavor for that as well.
I think it's tempting to scour the Internet, and amazing creative blogs and think, ohhh I should do that! Unfortunately for me, so many interesting ideas overwhelm me and so I get discouraged and do almost nothing. So I keep things basic. Here are our pared-down Advent celebrations
- A creche, with an empty manger, awaiting Baby Jesus who appears on Christmas morning and is placed in His manger by the youngest child in the family
- An Advent wreath, which we light at every meal as we sing a beautiful Advent hymn
- Small treats in our shoes on St. Nicholas' day (and by SMALL, I mean, a Clementine, some chocolate, and a little tree ornament mommy made. No point stressing out over ANOTHER gift to buy/give/make!)
- And our Jesse tree. Not at all fancy but made with much love.
Yay for Advent! and yay for keeping it simple and enjoying who it is really all about. We will be keeping things much simpler here this year than last year and for that I am so grateful. I think sometimes, though well intentioned it is easy to over do and get caught up in the 'must-make-this-special-or-else' mentality. I look forward to hearing more about how you and your lovely little family will be celebrating.
ReplyDeleteLove to Noah! I hope he feels better soon.
I hope my post didn't overwhelm you! Believe me, now that the kids are getting older, they help with so many of these traditions (and insist upon them as well)! You will do something different every year and add more wonderful traditions as your little people get older. We didn't do the Jesse tree until our kids were old enough to understand something of it. With only one child all we did was the Advent Wreath and St. Nicholas day. There is so much beauty in heartfelt simplicity! Praying for you Jenna and hoping to sit down and write you back very soon. Life's been busy, but your letter is on my mind!
ReplyDeleteI loved this post :) we're also in the throws of praying and sorting out what kind of family traditions we want to establish :) I can't wait to hear more of what you have to say about Christmas!
ReplyDeleteHi Erin, your post did NOT overwhelm me, it just made me happy. And really, there isn't a huge difference between our family's traditions. I didn't write about how we celebrate the Immaculate Conception, cause, um, it hasn't been solidified, but we do Mexican food on Our Lady of Guadalupe too (convenient birthday meal for the husband who would eat nachos til he passed out).
ReplyDeleteAll the cookie baking and decoration making is something I dream of and I *did* attempt to make baked dough ornaments with Noah, and the applesauce kind, but he kept eating them. :D Some of our hopes and plans can't be put into practice until he's a little older!