A Series in re-runs. # 1 ~ Advent

I have been "gone" from the blog world for a WHILE . . . SORRY! Life had a way of yanking me off the path and zipping all creativity from my brain. But I have some 'off' time and I thought I would meander through some of my Christmas-y blogs and do some re-runs. Perhaps that will nudge me to write again ~ we'll see. So
RE-RUN # 1 :

 Advent . . . are question marks forming on your brow? I find that not too many people "do" Advent these days. Are you from one of those families that got the Advent calendars and did the readings and had the candle wreath? I didn't grow up doing that. I wanted to do it when my kids were small...never managed to do it. (Yeah, that is one of the [many] black marks against me.) Somehow, raising 3 small children, . . . then when the first 3 were older, one small child and three bigger kids ~ well, somehow I just never got the wreath on time, or made the calendar, or bought a calendar...then ~ zip--blink your eyes ~ and it would be the 2nd or 3rd week of Advent, and I would say, "maybe next year -- sigh" again! 

 So, what is Advent? The dictionary defines it as :
— n
Christianity the season including the four Sundays
preceding Christmas or (in Eastern Orthodox churches)
the forty days preceding Christmas

And in case you had a Mom, [like me] who never was organized enough, or just plain didn't do Advent...what lots of people do ~ or did ~ is to get a wreath with 4 rose colored candles evenly spaced around the wreath and one white candle in the center. 




< - - - - - - - - -    like this




The people that I knew who had their act together (see, I STILL feel guilty) and did Advent would light one of the candles each night of the first week, two the second week, etc., and all of them for Christmas Eve. They would look at one aspect of the Christmas story each week, preparing your heart for Christ's coming on Christmas. {You can find LOTS of info on the internet, if  you happen to be interested} 

 Can you hear (behind my scourging of guilt) that I love Advent. I love Christmas! I think it is wonderful ~ full to the very brim with wonder. It is shocking and breath-taking. 

 I know you'll hear grousing about how business has kidnapped it and made it all about guilt, business, spending too too much money - - - blah, blah, blah. And all the griping and grumbling about about Santa Clause...WELL! All the whinging about "lying" to our children about a fat man with no fashion sense who is overlord of a tribe of vertically challenged minions who slave all year to make toys... I know ~ I know.  "And", the whiners intone, "after all, Jesus wasn't even born in December!!"

I do not agree with any of that! OK?

  Except for the part about Jesus not being born in December, cuz he wasn't!!  But even that ~ perhaps especially that...is a source of wide-eyed wonder. For me, Christmas is about Jesus. It is our birthday party for him. Birthday parties are full of decoration, and songs, and traditions, a bit of wildness and JOY! See, I think that every year Jesus invites us ~ all of us, the whole world of us ~ to his party. He lets us come and lets us go a bit crazy cuz he wants us to all come to the party. He knows that many who come don't get it. He isn't fussed.

So I want to "Advent" for a while . . . look forward to the coming of Christmas and of Jesus. I want to ramble around all the "Christmas -y" stuff ... symbols and traditions and Santa and, yes, even and especially why we celebrate in December. . . there IS a good reason. K?

So, we're off ~ ADVENT!!!!!

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