Advent

Advent is by far my favorite part of the Christmas season. From the time I was a little girl, and before I was even born, my dad's family set aside time each Sunday afternoon/evening for advent activities on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. When I was younger we used to go to my grandparents house for advent and sometimes my aunt's family and my cousins would be there as well, and then as we got older we started having advent at our own house. My parents assigned each member of the family a certain Sunday of Advent. My brother always had the first weekend in December because he was the youngest, then I had the second, then my mom the third and my dad the fourth.

Our advent activities usually began by lighting the appropriate candles on the advent wreath and reading a passage of the Christmas story from the bible, followed by something fun together. If it was your week of advent, you got to plan what that would be. We did everything from making ornaments to putting on Christmas plays to playing homemade board games to flashlight capture the flag in the snow. Advent always included drinking my dad's homemade eggnog, having some tasty dessert, and usually ended with watching a Christmas movie. We often invited my grandparents to join us, and some advents have been spent decorating their hospital or nursing home rooms as they've aged. I remember even making it a priority in college to try to get home for advent as much as possible, because in our family, it doesn't feel like the Christmas season unless advent is involved.

Once I married Aaron and started own family I was very eager to carry on this tradition. Aaron and I have been doing this for years, but this year is the first that Rowan seems old enough to begin to get the concept. On the first Sunday I explained the wreath and which candle will be hers to light, and let her choose the special activity. She picked making Santa ornaments, and she and I baked a coconut butter cake together to have for dessert. Now every morning she wakes up and asks me if it's advent yet, and if she gets to light her candle again. What fun it is to share these traditions! Last Sunday we made paper snowflakes and then for a snack we folded tortillas just like the paper and used kitchen shears to make edible snowflakes. We drizzled melted butter, sugar and cinnamon over them and baked them in the oven.

Making Santa ornaments

Rowan with her finished ornament

Biting into her tortilla snowflake

Hot cocoa with heart shaped marshmallows, for drinking by the fire while reading Christmas books

In addition to Sunday advent activities, we always have an advent calendar, usually of the chocolate variety. I remember receiving chocolate advent calendars from my aunt and uncle as a child and thinking, "Could there honestly be anything better? For a whole month I get to eat a piece of chocolate every day!" This year, however, with the massive sewing kick that I've been on, I was excited to make the girls an activity-oriented advent calendar, something nice that they could have for years to come. When I was a kid, we had this cloth advent calendar with pockets, with a little mouse that you stuffed into the pocket of the appropriate day. My brother and I had an ongoing annual argument about who got evens or odds on the calendar that year, because the person with evens would get to put the mouse in it's pocket on Christmas Eve, the most special day on the calendar. I wanted something like that for our house, and my friend Nitasia came across a cute idea of making 25 mini-stockings and stringing them up. That way you can put a treat or a piece of paper with a fun activity for that day in each one. She graciously shared a bunch of her wool and cashmere scraps and while recovering from my recent hospital stint I spent a lot of sedentary time at my sewing machine making all these little stockings. We're having a lot of fun doing the activities in each one. Some of the highlights so far have included going for a drive to see Christmas lights, making frosty sundaes, singing Christmas karaoke, and going to the Nutcracker. Things on tap in the next couple of weeks that I'm excited for: ice skating at the rink in town, a night hike up Mt. Battie to see the Christmas star lit up on top, going to the Live Nativity, and a Grinch puppet show.

The finished advent calendar

For me, advent is not only about getting ready and counting the days, but it's about setting aside time from our busy schedules to enjoy each others company, to play together, making memories, and of course, drinking your yearly quota of eggnog.