The Season of Advent is upon us! In fact, it begins this Sunday, December 2nd.
Advent season is the period of anticipation and preparation as Christians await the celebration of Jesus' birth on Christmas.
Although I was raised in a Christian home, our church and my family never really celebrated Advent until I was in college. It was at that time that my mom stumbled upon the meaning of Advent and began a simple tradition of Advent dinners. (though the preparation is not necessarily simple for her...)
Each Sunday during the Advent Season my side of the family gathers for dinner together. We have a brief devotion and prayer and then we light the candle on the advent wreath. It is a time to come together as a family and focus on the true meaning of this holiday season - Christ - which can be easily lost in the flurry of Christmas "activity".
This year Eric and I are planning to celebrate Advent daily with the children using the devotions and symbols of the Jesse Tree. It is too late in the season for me to fill my life with hurry and force myself to find the tree and make the ornaments (or purchase them). Instead, we will sit around the dinner table each night and read the scripture and devotion. The girls will then color in the symbol on paper and we will paste it on a paper with the scripture, which I will type and print. I hope to fit about 4 per page so that at the end of the season, they will have a book celebrating Advent Season. I hope it will become a keepsake book we can bring out each year!
Of course, there are so many wonderful ways to celebrate this season and look ahead with anticipation to Christmas! Does your family have special traditions for Advent season? Please take a moment and share them with us!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tis the Advent Season
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7 comments:
you don't have to be a catholic to take advantage of some of the great traditions:0)
we did a jesse tree this year too. i found a great website to print ornaments off of, then we cut, glued, glittered them as a family. i even stumbled outside to cut some branches to pop in a vase. i'm sure you'll see it on my holiday home tour.
what better way to prepare for christmas then to relive salvation history?!
i love advent!
My family would light the advent wreath for a litte while each night when we were younger. I haven't done it since I was probably 12 or so and have really missed the tradition.
I just finished my advent wreath today. We've used an advent log in the past too, but too many candles and too many little fingers right now (and not a high enough place for them all). We have several different books that have great devotionals that include a reading, story, song, and also sometimes an activity for each night of Advent. Our kids love it and it is a great way of preparing for Advent.
I am hoping to post on my blog in the next day or two the pictures of our Advent wreath/basket along with the stuff we do. :)
What a brilliant idea!!! I love it! Such a great way to bring Christ back into the picture. Truly a fantastic idea.
I need to find out more about the advent celebration. Thanks for sharing this!!!
sounds like a wonderful idea. i'm trying to figure out how i can keep my focus on Christ this Christmas. it's so easy to get caught up in the commercialism and hustle of the season.
We put all the Christmas cards we receive in a Christmas basket on the table. Each night we draw one and pray for them.
What a bunch of great ideas! We are starting a new tradition this year with kids. You can read the details on my blog post from Dec 2 if you are interested. :)
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