Yay! Advent Has Begun!

Hi there!  It's December!  Are any of you stressing about Christmas already? Are you worrying about spending too much money, not finding the right gifts, festive cooking or keeping up with too many social obligations? If so, you are not alone. I'm going to stop it right now, though. I am going to try to follow my own advice and make myself enjoy December! Come on and join me!

I am going to focus on ADVENT. I realize not everyone even knows about the church season of Advent so let me tell you what it is.  The word itself stems from the word "coming"...as in, a guest is coming. Guess what!? The guest is JESUS! That's a big deal!

Above is the Advent Candle that we use at our church.  We also have one at our home. We use the blue candles but the older tradition was to use three purple ones and one pink one.  Each Sunday during Advent (4 Sundays in all), we light a candle. When Christmas arrives, the one in the center is also lit, representing Jesus. It is a time to slow down and focus on what is wonderful and important about the preparations we are making for our guest, Jesus. The more candles lit, the closer we are to Christmas. The closer we are to Christmas, the more exciting it should be; it should not be reason to induce pre-Christmas panic.

I came upon this lovely little clip on YouTube.  I am so excited for you to see it! Please click here to enjoy this cool little treat.

A lot of people, even people who don't celebrate Advent as a church season, have become familiar with Advent Calendars. Do you do an Advent Calendar? If so, I'd love to hear what you do.