Today I’m over at Kitchen Stewardship chatting about Advent and some simple ways to observe the season:
“Thanksgiving is right around the corner and then the whirlwind to Christmas Day begins–parties, concerts, family engagements, travel. Did you know that traditionally, the holiday cheer didn’t begin until Christmas Day? December the 25th is just Day One of a twelve day season of Christmastide that doesn’t end until January 6th!
Does that make your head spin? Some of us are beginning to already feel the holiday stress in the air. Twelve days of Christmas after we’ve already been Jingle Bell Rocking for weeks doesn’t sound appealing, it sounds exhausting. But maybe the problem isn’t with the twelve days of celebration, maybe the problem is that our culture has lost the beautiful season of Advent amidst all the hustle and bustle…” Read the rest here.
This was a great post…especially for those who are new to celebrating Advent. I like that you said that it’s not a “countdown to Christmas”. I think that is so true.
Now I have ornaments to make for a Jesse Tree. I’d best get started as soon as possible.
So many good ideas! I have to admit I feel annoyed with society every year because it seems like everyone is tired of celebrating Christmas by the 25th, just when we’re getting started! The radio stations play Christmas music for 2 months before the holiday. Would it kill them to keep carols on the air for two more weeks?
My biggest challenge is I almost feel forced into celebrating Christmas early. If you want to participate in community Christmas events or see, for example, a local Nutcracker ballet, you have to do those during Advent. I struggle with finding the balance between not missing out on those family and friend celebrations while keeping Advent a separate and quiet season.
I completely agree. All of my children’s holiday recitals, etc. are between December 1st and December 25th. I’m a convert, so I don’t mind having a little early Christmas spirit, but it often feels excessive and I am saddened by how “secular Christmas” (if that makes sense) completely disappears on December 26th. My parish does make an effort to celebrate the Christmas season after Christmas Day, so that is helpful for the kids.
Wanted to say thank you for posting all these ideas for Advent…we’re going to take several 🙂 I completely agree with you on how celebrating the *real* 12 Days of Christmas is almost painful after just having “celebrated” for an entire month! We’re working to make Advent it’s own celebration this year…wanted to share our quilted Advent placemats and table runner that we’ll be using this year to help us celebrate. Prayers to you, Haley, and your family this Advent and Christmas season! http://enterundermyroof.blogspot.com/2014/11/activity-quilted-advent-placemats-table.html