Many years ago our family started celebrating Advent. It has been such an incredible blessing to all of us because it radically transformed our approach to celebrating Christmas.
To be honest, I had never even heard of Advent. Thankfully, a dear friend who attended our church at the time, opened up her home one evening in very early November to share with the ladies of the church a whole slew of ways in which to center the celebration of Christmas exactly where it is supposed to be – on Christ! I purchased the book that Lesli recommended “Celebrating the Christian Year” by Martha Zimmerman and got started immediately gathering the materials needed for an Advent wreath. There were SO many great ideas but we limited the changes that we made that first year. Basically, we incorporated Advent, St. Nicholas Day and St. Lucia Day that first year. In the years since we have included Epiphany in our celebration as well.
One of the small things that we do now is to have Mary and Joseph travel throughout our home as they ‘journey’ to Bethlehem so as to join the rest of our Nativity scene. Of course, the baby Jesus is nowhere to be found once the couple arrives at their less than desirable accommodations. Late on Christmas Eve, once the children are asleep, we place the babe in the Nativity. On Christmas morning, we light a white votive candle next to the family as a reminder to the children that Jesus is the light of the world.
The first Christmas that we incorporated these changes, our little girl must have been about 4 years old. She went to bed talking about baby Jesus and woke up asking if he had come yet! I had already been downstairs to light the candle and she raced down the stairs, past the tree and the presents, and went directly to the Nativity scene. She called out with great joy, “Mama, Daddy! The Baby Jesus is here! He’s here!”. I will never forget that for as long as I live. An incredible sense of thankfulness to God overcame me as I watched our baby delight over the Lord rather than the presents or anything else that the world has to offer in the holiday season. What an incredible blessing!
If you are looking for ways to enrich your celebration of Christmas and help your children see the importance of the coming of Christ at Christmas I heartily recommend Martha Zimmerman’s book. The abundance of ideas that she offers can be somewhat overwhelming, but it also offers the opportunity for you to pick and choose the ideas that will work best for you and yours!
And just one last suggestion. Make SURE that you remember where you put the Baby Jesus when you take him out of the box and hide him in wait for Christmas morn. If you don’t, you may find yourself frantically searching for him VERY late on Christmas Eve. Ask me how I know. ;)
We do many of the same things or at least try to. This year was rough with the house for sell and everything else so we didn’t even get the nativity set out. I did incorporate a new advent calendar that makes the nativity scene when we finish.
I keep Baby Jesus in our Jesus box
June