Advent is Here. . .Christmas is Coming
Every year, our culture goes faster and faster toward Christmas--we might as well not have Thanksgiving.
I observe Advent every year, but this year I'm really going to work at being more intentional, more peaceful, more joyful and hopeful and loving--you know, what we're supposed to feel at Christmas, so that when Christmas gets here, I'll really be ready where it's most important--in my heart and spirit.
To that end, I set up my 2 Nativity scenes yesterday. 2 may sound like overkill, but one of them (the larger one, in the dining room) was a set my grandmother bought for our family when I was a little girl. The other set is one that I asked for when I was about 7 or 8, I guess--I wanted to have my own set to put up each year. Just getting the figures out of the box--figures that were touched and placed and dusted and unwrapped and rewrapped carefully by my parents and grandmother each year--makes me feel so close to them all.
Then after dinner this evening, I'll light the first candle on my Advent wreath, sit and listen to some quiet arrangement of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and read and reflect.
I observe Advent every year, but this year I'm really going to work at being more intentional, more peaceful, more joyful and hopeful and loving--you know, what we're supposed to feel at Christmas, so that when Christmas gets here, I'll really be ready where it's most important--in my heart and spirit.
To that end, I set up my 2 Nativity scenes yesterday. 2 may sound like overkill, but one of them (the larger one, in the dining room) was a set my grandmother bought for our family when I was a little girl. The other set is one that I asked for when I was about 7 or 8, I guess--I wanted to have my own set to put up each year. Just getting the figures out of the box--figures that were touched and placed and dusted and unwrapped and rewrapped carefully by my parents and grandmother each year--makes me feel so close to them all.
Then after dinner this evening, I'll light the first candle on my Advent wreath, sit and listen to some quiet arrangement of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and read and reflect.