Keeping Advent in our Home

We are trying hard to truly celebrate Advent this year; to fill our lives and home with joy and anticipation as we wait for Christmas.  Little by little over the past year or two, I have been figuring out ways to do this...ways that work for our family.  Of course, this all comes at the same time that the idea of Christmas...the commercialism and secular aspects of Christmas....is hitting home with Eli.  He is at that magical age where it is hard not to be all about Santa.  I am doing my darnedest to not take away the magic and fun of Santa (don't want to be a party-pooper), but refocus his excitement on what Christmas is REALLY all about.  Not sure if you remember last year, Eli seemed to get what it is all about.

I decided to get Eli in on the blogging action and ask him about our Advent preparation.  I then handed over my camera and told him to take some pictures too.

M: What is Advent, Eli?

 E: Waiting for Jesus' birthday!

M: Why do we celebrate Advent?

E: So we can celebrate Jesus' birthday!! (with much enthusiasm)

M: How do we get ready for Jesus' birthday?

E: We clean out our hearts. (I totally told him something along those lines during the first week of Advent.)

M: So what are we doing in our house to celebrate Advent and get ready for Jesus' birthday?

E: Lighting the Advent candles.

M: Why?

E: It keeps Jesus in our hearts.  It warms us.

M: What else?

after many hints and finally I pointed at it....

E: Oh yeah!  Our Jesse Tree!!

M: What's that for?

E: We read stories from the Bible about Jesus' people (his way of saying the lineage of Jesus....or Jesus' ancestors.)

That was about all I could get from him.  He's a busy boy.  After he took some pictures for me, he ran off to play with our Playmobil nativity set.

So yes, we have our Advent wreath on our table and light it most nights at dinner time while praying some Advent prayers together as a family and singing the Advent Candle Song (totally a blast from the past that makes me think of my days at Trinity.)  Around dinner time is also when I typically read the Bible stories for our Jesse tree.

Last year, I got this book, and I love it.  It is working well for us this year, even if we are behind...  I made an effort to actually get a small tree this year ($8 at Target!) and make ornaments to put on the tree.  Last year, Eli colored pictures of the symbols or of the stories as I read instead of hanging ornaments.  I am so happy with how the ornaments turned out.  I found some cute simple drawings and transferred them to wooden discs from the craft store using this technique.

I glued some purple ribbons on the back to hang them, and voila!  I am beyond pleased with the results.  And I love reading these Bible stories every year.  Eli is starting to be able to recall them. I love it.

Another thing we started last year is our Advent paper chain.  Eli and I make a paper chain to countdown to Christmas using purple and pink paper to represent the days in each week of Advent.  While we cut, link, and glue, we get to talk about the different colors and weeks of Advent.  Eli looks forward to tearing one off each morning.

This year, we did not jump on it and get our tree up the weekend of Thanksgiving as we have the past several years.  And it turned out that my slacking was actually a good thing.  I think not having our tree up gave us something to look forward to as the weeks of Advent progressed.  I decided that the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, would be a wonderful time to put our tree up.  So we did!  I am hoping to get Matt on board in making this a tradition.   It was a fun way to rejoice and start to get excited that Christmas is almost here.  What a great way to celebrate this 3rd Sunday (yay for the pink candle...Eli loves the pink candle!) of Advent. 

What else, what else....um, I raid the library and reserve all kinds of Christmas books to help us remember the reason for the season.  Last year, Books-A-Million had a great after Christmas sale.  There were fabulous titles on sale for dirt cheap.  We bought several for our collection, and I hope to hit it up again this year.

Overall, I am pleased with Advent in our home this year.  There is no "Elf on the Shelf" here. Instead a few nativity sets (Playmobil, Veggie Tales, and Demdaco) as a reminder of the season. Christmas gifts from Santa will be fun yet reasonable (Jesus got 3 gifts, so our boys get 3 gifts.) Just trying to keep it all in check.  Heck, I have had several Christmases where I just cannot find my spirit or the joy.  There is so much to do that I have a way of getting bogged down in it all and not taking the time to celebrate and enjoy.  I'm determined to maintain my joyful spirit this year. Taking things so much slower.  I shopped early and now need to wrap.  Christmas cards are slow going, but I know they will get done.  Decorating has been minimal, but present.  Not overdoing it on Christmas music, but I do love listening to it.  And with our upcoming birthdays to celebrate, I am still kinda trying to keep Christmas at bay.  I want to be sure we celebrate Eli's birthday (the 20th) and then Matt's birthday (the 23rd) before getting everything ready for Christmas day.  No wrapped presents under the tree yet.  Not until birthdays are finished.

So as I type, the boys sleep.  They are sharing so well these days....when it comes to germs.  Yuck!  Eli had a fever and a minor head cold, and now Jude has the fever.  We've all been cooped up with not a lot of activity.  It is enough to drive Mama batty, but we are hanging in there.  Only a couple meltdowns apiece (me included...).  Jude is super cuddly and doesn't want to be put down.  Eli is frustrated he hasn't been able to go to school.  Thankfully there is a pretty tree to gaze at when I want to pull my hair out...or while a cry.  (Mama's need a good cry now and then.)  I hope you and yours are having a happy and joyful Advent.