Preparing for Advent 2017

For my practicing Catholic brethren, may I recommend this post: "We Don't Celebrate Advent" over at This Ain't the Lyceum?

Tried and true click-bait, it's a wonderful article that was written just in time so I don't have to write that sentiment . . . I don't have time anyway.

I used to go all out gangbusters for Advent, doing twelve different activities that had to be done every single day or I had failed my children. It was exhausting.

Through God's gift of six children, I'm plumb too tired to do all those Advent traditions, which helps leave me more in quiet anticipation: really what the liturgical is all about.

Per the blog post above, I'm going to try to re-train my wording: we observe Advent, more than we celebrate Advent.

What are we doing for Advent in our home?

1. Nativity Scene

I will put out our Nativity scene. We have a Fontanini set, gifted to us, so the children can play with it at will without breaking it.

2. Poor Box

All those years of making a poor box during Advent paid off: my 9-year-old spontaneously made and decorated a poor box and brought it to me, a fait acompli.

In addition, we picked up some "angel tree" cards from church and will buy some gifts for less fortunate children. My ideal is that I take the children to a store to shop in person, to really understand what we're doing, but, if I can't manage, we will cluster around the computer and order off of Amazon.

I see other mothers doing massive amounts of service out and about, and I laud their examples. Maybe one day I will be in a place to meet all those needs, but I'm not now.

3. Advent Wreath and Readings

I will continue to try to gather us around an Advent wreath once daily, but I plan to do so in the morning (when we already gather for prayers), having learned that children are crabby and melting down after dinner. I actually managed to order my Advent wreath candles in advance this year.

We will try to sing O Come, O Come, Emanuel.

I will not be doing a Jesse Tree (wonderful, but too complicated for me right now), but I will be doing readings out of the "Read-Aloud Book of Bible Stories" by Amy Steedman, thus continuing the tradition of reading the story of Jesus' genealogy / life during Advent, as we anticipate the birth of Jesus.

"Shower of Roses" offered a detailed reading schedule to coordinate with a Jesse Tree, but, for the life of me, I can't find that blog post right now to share with you! In short, just read a chapter a day and you'll be all good.

I know that I will miss some days and be imperfect about my daily reading aloud, so I began reading this book to the children a week before Advent began. Don't let perfection be the enemy of the good.

4. Special Feast Days

Of course, there are some special feast days during Advent, like the Feast of St. Nicholas, St. Lucy's Day, and Our Lady of Guadalupe. We will have special celebrations for those.

5. Waiting

We will try to save our many "Christmasty" or secular celebrations till the octave of Christmas, as best we can. Some things we can't wait or we miss them because the community celebrates all of Christmas during Advent: such as taking my daughters to the Christmas Tea at the Ballantyne Hotel. In our home, the Christmas tree gets decorated right around Christmas Eve, Christmas music in the home is quieted for now, and so forth.