Happy Advent My Fellow Homemakers!
In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You are aware of the beating of your heart. The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens.
Advent is the name of that moment.
~Frederick Buechner
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The season of Advent is one of wonder, waiting, contemplation, preparation, reflection, anticipation, and quiet all at once. As homemakers, the season of Advent can be made into a beautiful, not busy, season if we take it upon ourselves to welcome it into our households. To prepare our homes to be a quiet refuge for our family’s souls as our hearts begin reflecting on the darkness of the fallen world we live in and yearning for Christ’s arrivals. Both the arrival of Christ in the Manger and Christ’s second coming, the redemption of all things. To achieve this you may be called to create new traditions like having an advent wreath, turn off the screens and have deeper conversations, buy more intentional presents or even limiting the amount of get togethers to lessen the chaos.
This concept of quiet during the Advent season has been lost, even within the Church, to the hustle and bustle we are familiar with in todays holiday season. I enjoy how the editors of Watch For The Light put it:
Mother Teresa once noted that the first person to welcome Christ was John the Baptist, who leaped for joy on recognizing him, though both of them were still within their mothers’ wombs. We, in stark contrast, are often so dulled by superficial distractions that we are incapable of hearing any voice within, let alone listening to it. Consequently, the feeling we know as Christmas cheer lacks any real connection to the vital spirit that radiated from the manger….We miss the essence of Christmas unless we become, in the words of Eberhard Arnold “mindful of how Christ’s birth took place.” Once we do, we will sense immediately that Advent marks something momentous: God’s coming in our midst.”
My soul has been longing for something more during this season, than a single Christmas concert or Sunday sermon could offer. I knew advent must enter my heart and home by returning to the tradition of celebrating the Advent season. To truly take this time before celebrating Christmas to immerse our family in preparing our hearts for Christ’s arrival. To take each day, not just Sunday, to be quiet and reflect on what His coming truly meant and means as we await His coming again.
Below I have shared our family traditions and a few resources below that have been helpful for our family to truly embrace this Advent season:
Our Family Traditions
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- Every evening after we put Clara down, Andrew and I have been reading aloud from Watch For The Light , as our children get older we will have them join us.
- I have displayed the art from God With Us Advent Devotions and Art Prints and have been pointing out to Clara what we see. Every week I will display a new card for us to discuss. For budget we purchased the PDF version and printed the images on Card Stock. When our children are older we will go through the devotion guide that is included, but for now I love introducing Clara to beautiful artwork.
- This year we have an Advent wreath on our dinning table. Each afternoon before Clara’s nap we are lighting the candle and reading a poem from Waiting On The Word. We set Clara up with a snack to keep her content during the reading. Then we light the candle again every evening during our reading as a couple. I have made a post for you to learn more about the advent wreath, why we are doing it, and how to make your own HERE.
Resources For Advent
I will leave you this Advent Sunday with a poem:
Advent Sunday by Christina Rossetti
Behold, the Bridegroom cometh: go ye out
With lighted lamps and garlands round about
To meet Him in a rapture with a shout.
It may be at the midnight, black as pitch,
Earth shall cast up her poor, cast up her rich.
It may be at the crowing of the cock
Earth shall upheave her depth, uproot her rock.
For lo, the Bridegroom fetcheth home the Bride:
His Hands are Hands she knows, she knows His Side.
Like pure Rebekah at the appointed place,
Veiled, she unveils her face to meet His Face.
Like great Queen Esther in her triumphing,
She triumphs in the Presence of her King.
His Eyes are as a Dove’s, and she’s Dove-eyed;
He knows His lovely mirror, sister, Bride.
He speaks with Dove-voice of exceeding love,
And she with love-voice of an answering Dove.
Behold, the Bridegroom cometh: go we out
With lamps ablaze and garlands round about
To meet Him in a rapture with a shout.
How true it is that Christmas is too often talked about and not often enough thought about. Praise God that He came down to be with us. I ordered the book, “Watch for the Light”. It’ll be a bit late for the total Advent season but I think it’ll be a great devotional year round. I look forward to reading it together with my wife. Thanks for the reminder of the season and for the beautiful pictures.
Wow! You have shared such good information. We used to do a book advent but this year we’ve decided to read scripture daily instead.
I love that you bring your daughter into your traditions even though she is still so young. I genuinely believe their little hearts and minds absorb more than we give them credit for.
Lovely post. I can appreciate all your lovely traditions and your beliefs. Thanks for sharing.