Avent Begins

I'm not Catholic but I happen to love the season of Advent. It is a season of longing and preparation for the coming of our Messiah; both past and future. Even though my particular Baptist church does not recognize Advent or its customs, I personally practice as many of the traditions as possible.

I can remember very distinctly when I stopped being excited about Christmas. As soon as I found out that good ole Santa was really good ole Mama, the Christmas season lost its luster. It became less about the "magic" and more about the me (ie, the things I wanted). Inevitably, Christmas became a big disappointment to be repeated year after year.

Since becoming an adult, I've longed to recapture the spirit of Christmas but I didn't know how; that is until I began observing Advent. I've found that spending this four-week season reflecting helps me to reclaim a significant chunk of those excited feelings and intense anticipation from my childhood Christmases.

As today is the first day of Advent, I would like to share some of the things we did for anyone who would like to participate in this season of joyous anticipation.

For the little man, we kicked off Advent by reading the Annunciation account in Luke, as well as coloring some pictures of Angels. We also "lit" our first "candle" on our Advent Wreath craft, found here.

Today I spent some time online reading this Advent devotional, which specifically targets the 4 Sundays and the lighting of the candles. I also read a lovely piece of personal reflection by The Anchoress.

I will also be reading daily from this book with my son, as well as following the directed activities. And my own personal tradition is to go through the book Immanuel: Praying the Names of God Through the Christmas Season. It is a wonderful guide to Bible study and reflection upon the first and future coming of our Lord during this wonderful season.

God Bless!