This Sunday (November 27th) marked the beginning of Advent in the church calendar. Advent is the season of joyful expectation of Christmas - the holiday celebrating Christ's birth (which probably actually happened in June or July, but oh well). Traditionally, liturgical churches encourage their members to commemorate Advent by lighting an Advent wreath each night and reading a short Bible story. Each candle making up the wreath (pictured above) represents one of the Sundays in Advent, so the wreath serves as a sort of "count down to Christmas".
The most fun part of Advent, however, is the Advent Calendar. It counts down the days in December until Christmas in a fun way. My sister and I used to get Advent calendars with little flaps that opened up for each day with a funny picture inside, and last year my roommate got a calendar with a little piece of chocolate for each day. My family, however, makes it a little more of a production now: we have a hanging calendar with a pocket for each day, and everyone in the family gets a small present each day (for instance, a pack of gum, a chocolate bar, a pair of colorful socks, a fun pen, etc). My mom still carries on this tradition now that my sister and I are off at college (which makes finals much more fun!). If you think this is as fun as I do, here is some inspiration to get your own Advent calendar going.
Happy Advent!
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