Advent

           Last year when Advent started, I was struggling to finish up a semester of school.  And after that I was exhausted.  We sponsored an Angel Tree child and we lit Advent candles sporadically, but I can say for certain that Advent was not all it should have been for our family.  The pace of this year is different.  We have four children, so we will always be busy, but we are much LESS busy this year.  I put some thought into what I would like Advent to be like this year, and it is now underway.

             Several weeks ago, I made the very odd request that my family save empty toilet paper rolls for a project I was working on.  With some Pinterest inspiration, I made an Advent calendar.  Starting on November 30^th and counting down to December 24^th, there are daily treats and activities for our family to do.  Instead of just a daily treat for the kids, I wanted to use this opportunity for our family to be more reflective, more connected, and more charitable.  In my first draft, I was ambitious.  As the beginning of the season approached, I realized that I had taken an already busy time of year and made it even more stressful for me.  That was really the opposite of my intent.  Making and decorating sugar cookies with the kids is great, but I don’t really want to make a “job” out of it.   I went back and simplified, and I carefully arranged activities considering my work schedule.  There are a few bigger things like making personal hygiene bags for the homeless shelter and donating food to the Samaritan House, but mostly it’s smaller things like leaving quarters on machines at the laundromat and decorating our home for Christmas. 

           The decorating is being done little by little.  This is both to make it easier and to make each thing more special.  Our activity for the first day was setting out the Advent candles.  The second day we put out the nativity set, and the third day we hung the garland on the porch.  I know that we are only in the first week of Advent, but so far, it is going exactly as I hoped.  The kids are playing along nicely.

           I am very excited because we got new garland this year.  Our old garland was so ragged!  This is so nice.  Hopefully it will last ten years like the old stuff did.  It's pretty expensive.  Once the garland was up, I realized that the old bows looked horrible, too.  I had trouble finding the size and color I wanted, soooooo……………. Drum roll here ………………….. I MADE them!  Me!  I made bows!  If you know me at all, you know I don’t have a single trait in common with Martha Stewart.  Well maybe we both have blue eyes, but that really isn't what I was getting at.  I'm saying I'm not crafty.   I had to watch the YouTube video about a dozen times while verbally berating myself for being so inept, but I finally got the hang of it.  My kitchen is covered in red glitter, and I have 12 beautiful bows for my garland!

           I worked Thanksgiving night, and I have been off since then.  I have tried to be productive.  I got a big hunk of our Christmas shopping done.  I still have a good bit to do, but I feel like I’ve made a dent in it.  The Angel Tree gifts are due this weekend.  We only get one name, and we always try to be as generous as possible.  We managed to get our boy everything on his list, and it is now wrapped and ready to go.  And I made bows.  Did I mention making bows?

           I needed to stay up late tonight so I can sleep late tomorrow, and I do believe I’ve accomplished my goal.  3:30am, and I’m off to bed.   Photos:

Oh the lusciousness of new garland!

Advent calendar

Bows!

Lots and lots of bows!

Angel Tree kid stuff

 

Wrapped up and ready to go!