Monday, November 24, 2008

Advent

A reader asked what Advent is.

Basically Advent is the countdown to Christmas. Many people start it on the first day in December. But the actual Advent season begins the 4th Sunday before Christmas. Some years it is only 25 days, but many years it is longer.

Wikipedia defines Advent as: a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, in other words, the period immediately before Christmas.

Advent is often celebrated by the secular world, but as Christians we definitely should celebrate it.

I spent last night getting my box ready. Here is how we do it.

I get my calendar out and make sure everything is written down. I know that we aren't home on Monday and Wednesday nights so I have to take that into account when I'm organizing the dates for Advent. Ashlea wrote down all her activities that were school, work and church related.

I get a note card file box. On my note cards I write 25 days till Christmas, 24 days till, 23 days till, and so on until I have all the days leading up till Christmas. This year is 25 days till Christmas...right up to Christmas Eve.

I type up about 40 slips of paper with activities: See the lights in Chickasha, do a living nativity scene, wear green and red, make Jesus a birthday cake, etc.

Now comes the hard part.

Using the calendar and remembering days we aren't home, I begin stapling the activities to the other side of the cards.

Activities like seeing the lights in Chickasha require Ashlea to be home and not at school or work, so it must be a weekday after school lets out.

Having an all day pajama day requires that we not go anywhere. Singing carols in the car require that we do.

If we want to go caroling at Mimi's it has to be on a day we are already out. If we want to go have a fancy dinner it needs to be on a day we are all home.

So you see how schedules are very important for this.

More on Advent tomorrow. If you have any more questions, please ask away. Also if you do Advent another way, I would love to hear about it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the information on advent. I am not christian so had just been wondering what the practice of advent would include....pretty straight forward.

Michelle said...

Glad I could help.

You can certainly do Advent in a secular way as well. Christmas should be about memories and traditions. Of course, the reason for Christmas IS Jesus' birth but it can still be celebrated in a way that isnt all consumerism.

Are you the one that posted about the homeschooling questions?

Do you mind if I ask your name and something about your family? I enjoy getting to know my readers.

Thanks for all the comments. I love comments.