When I was older and had a family of my own, I began incorporating elements of the traditional Advent observances into our own traditions. Somehow, now, it's acceptable for non-Catholics to have Advent wreaths and observe Advent, but I think this is a good thing. Over the years, then, I've enjoyed discovering the old traditions surrounding the Advent season, and I've enjoyed creating a few of my own. So I thought I'd write down what we like to do, and maybe it will inspire others.
Advent Wreath:
I created my own Advent wreath, but they are certainly not hard to find. I'm not the least bit crafty, but I think ours turned out quite pretty.
I won't get into all of the symbolism of the wreath; there are great resources out there for all of that. But I'll highlight the basics. You'll notice that there are 3 purple candles, 1 pink candle, and 1 white candle for the middle. The color violet is a penitential color, reminding us of our desperate need for salvation and a Savior. The pink candle represents joy and is linked with the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday: Gaudete in Domino semper (Rejoice in the Lord always!). The white candle represents Jesus and doesn't get lit until Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Advent begins 4 Sundays before Christmas. One by one, the candles are lit each Sunday, till all 4 candles are lit on the 4th Sunday. At our home, we do this in connection with opening the Advent calendar. We read Scripture for that Sunday. Sometimes we sing a Christmas carol. At other times, we read a short devotional. When the girls were little, I had an ABC book about Advent that we would read every night as we opened flaps on the Advent calendar. We would also read it in connection with the Advent wreath on Sundays. We always close our time with prayer.
On Christmas Eve, we light the white candle (the Jesus candle), read Scripture, and pray. On Christmas morning, we light the white candle, sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, and read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible.
For additional resources and ideas, I have several links on my Pinterest board entitled Advent, but here are a few:
http://www.churchyear.net/advent.html (This site explains the basics and the traditions behind the wreath. It also has links to prayers and Scripture readings.)
http://www.churchyear.net/adventwreath.html
http://www.conversiondiary.com/2010/11/baby-steps-for-celebrating-advent-a-cornucopia-of-ideas.html
http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/holidays/making-meaningful-christmas-memories/celebrate-advent.aspx
Advent Celebration:
On the Sundays or Saturdays of Advent (whichever actually works for our schedule), we have a family night. This involves cookies or some other kind of special Christmas treat, a special Christmas drink, and a Christmas movie.
Some of my favorite Christmas drinks are wassail, mulled wine (Gluehwein), homemade hot cocoa, and eggnog. I make each of those at home except for the eggnog.
Again, I have these pinned to my Advent board on Pinterest, but they are all very easy to make.
Cookies are just whatever your family likes and doesn't get to eat every day. We like homemade Russian teacakes and shortbread, but I will also sometimes buy Milano or Bordeaux cookies from Pepperidge Farms.
Among our favorite movies are A Christmas Story, The Santa Clause, Elf, and Rudolph and the other cartoon movies in this genre. I always save It's a Wonderful Life for Christmas Eve, as this is my absolute favorite movie.
So there's a small glimpse of how we celebrate Advent and Christmas. My main goal has always been to focus the season on Jesus, but I've never minded throwing in the secular aspects, too. However, adding in something like an Advent wreath is a perfect way to refocus everyone on the real reason for celebrating.
0 comments:
Post a Comment