Preparing for Advent - 4 ways

Remember, links in the text are re-linked at the bottom of each post.

So, it is time...time to begin seriously preparing for Advent.  Are your candles ordered?  I scoured Amazon and decided on these.  They are solid color candles and are supposed to be dripless. If you don't have your Advent candles (and you plan to use them in a wreath) order or get to the store quick!  (Michaels and Hobby Lobby often carry Advent candle sets.  Of course you don't have to buy them in a set, you can buy individual colors.)

That's one thing you can do to be prepared (and often the thing I forget until Saturday before Advent!!)...but what else?

Create a Holiday Binder

Over the past few years I've been collecting resources for the holiday season.  I have a great make-ahead Thanksgiving menu that I clipped out of the newspaper in 2007 and have used ever since with a few adjustments to suit my family.  A Santa Lucia bread recipe.  Several cookie recipes. Poems to read. Lists of books and movies we own (so I won't forget them).  A large stack of activity pages I found on various websites to keep the kids occupied while I wrap gifts. A list of our favority holiday shows to record. Lots of scraps of ideas scribbled down. A plan for an Epiphany house blessing.  I bet you have some of this bits and pieces, too.

•  Find a binder and binder dividers.  If you are like me, you have plenty of these around the house.  One just needs to be found and cleaned out. I use, and recommend, a 3-ring binder with several pocket inserts.  You can divide it up into seasons (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany) or by topic (recipes, crafts, fun stuff to do around town, etc - I find this the most useful for me). 

• Print a blank calendar.   This year mine runs Nov 30th - Jan 7th (Feast of St Andrew to the day after Epiphany).  Mark your calendar with important dates (parties, local events, feast days, etc)

• Use it and then don't forget to store it in your Advent box for next year, or whatever box will be the first you open to get ready for Christmas.

Make a plan to attend local events  

The holidays are such a good time to get out and get to know your neighbors and community.  Make good use of local events!  We will be going to our local small town tree and town lighting, a gingerbread contest that benefits a local charity, several particularly well-decorated homes, ice-skating in an outdoor rink, for example.

• Try to find several events that can be attended during Christmastide.  Our culture does most of its celebrating before Christmas even gets here, so it can be challenging to keep celebrating after the 25th.  I usually try to find several events or activities that will be ongoing after Christmas and save them for the 12 Days of Christmas.  

• Look for events on small town websites and in newspapers. Ask around, check out facebook pages, and pay attention to signs and other analog notices (posters in store windows, for example).

Get the house cleared and ready  

This is a good Advent activity for the whole family.  Start thinking about where decorations, the tree, etc will go.  Clear surfaces to make way for those decorations.  Plan where you'll move that furniture to accommodate the tree.

So many years I've left this for too late into Advent and felt harried.  While you don't have to do all this BEFORE Advent, it certainly helps to begin before Advent and have a plan for getting this done.

• Give the house a good deep-cleaning.  Then you'll just need to do touching up and some minor cleaning as the season progresses.  Clean out the coat closet a bit to make room for guests' coats.  Encourage the kids to do a purge of their rooms for give aways and junk.

• Clear out pantries, fridge and freezer.  And stock up on food storage supplies.  You'll probably be doing lots of baking and making ahead, so be prepared and get these ready.

Begin a good devotional practice for your family 

Obviously, this is the MOST important thing you should do to get ready for Advent.  And while purchasing a devotional is helpful, it isn't the only way.  You can find free ones only...or just plan to spend some good time in bible reading and prayer with your family. If you do decide to purchase one, there are so many good ones out there for kids, kids and families, adults, teens.

In a separate post, I'll recommend some we've used (purchased or free), but don't let yourself get too bogged down trying to find the "perfect" thing....you won't find it.  Maybe all you can do this year is light Advent candles and say a few words of prayer - that's ok!  Just select a book or activity that seems like something you can easily stick to for the season ahead and give it your best.

• Make that devotional time a priority.  It can be hard to find the time in a busy schedule.  Think about your days - when are you all gathered as a family naturally?  If you homeschool, first thing in the morning might make sense.  If your kids go to school, perhaps just after dinner.  If you can't do it every day at the same time, that's ok - even a few times a week is great!

• Make that devotional time appealing.  What will your kids enjoy (and what makes sense for the time slot you've selected)?  Snuggling on the couch in front of the fire?  In the morning gathered around the table with hot chocolate or tea?  At night with dessert?  Maybe sitting by the Christmas tree with only the tree lights on?

Be watching for a follow-up post with suggested devotionals and activities.  (Here you go!)

Above all, take a cue from the Grinch...

"He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!" 

That goes for Advent, too!

Links:
- Advent Wreath Candles
- Christmas Poems from Christina Rosetti
- Christmas TV listings
- My suggestions for Advent devotionals

Wait! Before Advent ... Saint Andrew!

Our Thanksgiving Table

(All links in the text are re-linked at the bottom of this post.)

Have you finished all your turkey, yet?   Ours is slowly being digested.  Last night was turkey soup, today is turkey casserole.  I do love the leftovers from Thanksgiving...but my kids seem to be tiring of turkey!  Maybe we'll resort to tacos later this week.

My slow roast turkey was another hit - whew!  It is pretty easy, but I made the mistake of needing my oven that morning to make a breakfast casserole.  Need to rethink that for next year.  Maybe an intant pot breakfast instead.

With the turkey almost gone, it must be time to start thinking about Advent!

Why is Advent my favorite time of year?  I'm not exactly sure...maybe it is in my contrarian nature to want to do something different from the culture. I do love the slowness of it, which is ironic because my actual days are a little crazy during early December.  Maybe it is the reminder to take it slow and really dig into the season of waiting and expectation.

Is there some link between how we approach Advent and how we live the rest of the year?  Perhaps.  We do live in Advent days...days of waiting for the coming of the King.

Frey enjoying the
Thanksgiving feast...
with a little kitty helper

Advent traditionally begins the Sunday after the Feast of Saint Andrew (Nov 30th).  So this year, it will begin on Dec 2nd.  But let's not overlook dear Saint Andrew in our rush to get to Advent!  Saint Andrew was fishing with his brother, Peter, when he answered Jesus' call to follow him, and thus became Christ's first disciple.

Because he is very closely associated with Scotland, and we have Scottish heritage, we lean toward those customs, but you can certainly find customs from the other cultures he's associated with (Greece, Russia, Amalfi in Italy, and Barbados).

Share the story of Saint Andrew's life with your children.  Many Saints' lives books will feature him.  The pickings are a little slim for individual books about his life, but I found a couple.  There is a Kindle book (I haven't read it, so I can really vouch for it - but it is only 99 cents!).  And another written for Scottish children by Lois Rock.

Here's a little kid-friendly video that will give you and your kids a quick overview of Andrew's life:




What other ways can we celebrate this last feast day before Advent?

Scottish Stovies -
doesn't that look delicious?!

• 
      
• Enjoy some Scottish delights: shortbread (buy it or make it), Scottish Stovies, or serve fish for dinner.

• Hang a Scottish flag (or the flag of one of the other countries that claim him as a patron saint)

• Draw a Scottish thistle (a guided tutorial)

Of course right on the heels of St. Andrew's feast (especially this year!) is the beginning of Advent.  Time to begin planning what you and your family might do.  In the next day or two, I'll start posting some ideas to get your family started!  Until then you can check out my Church Year page and follow the links under "Advent".

Blessed Feast of Saint Andrew!

Links from the text:

• Kindle book - Saint Andrew,  and this one by Lois Rock
• 5 Things You Didn't Know About St. Andrew  
• Scottish Shortbread Recipe
• The Order of the Thistle
• Draw a Scottish Thistle
• Craft a Scottish Thistle to wear
• Wear a thistle (a Scottish custom) - here's one you can make!

Christ's Soldier: St Martin, November 11th

St Martin and the Beggar - El Greco

I am a complete sucker for a good medieval festival...and one that we don't know much about...and one that has given us many traditions without us even being aware of it.  It's like a little treasure box of mystery! Gourds, squashes, turnips being carved into lanterns, kids going begging (like the beggar in the most famous story of St Martin) house to house for treats, having a big harvest feast including a large bird, and honoring soldiers...all these can be traced back to the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours.

Who was Martin of Tours?  
From the Encyclopedia Britannica:

"St. Martin of Tours was born in 316, in what is now Hungary and died November 8, 397, in Candes, Gaul (France). He is know for being the father of monasticism in Gaul, and the first great leader of Western monasticism.

Of pagan parentage, Martin chose Christianity at age 10. As a youth, he was forced into the Roman army, but later he petitioned the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate to be released from the army because “I am Christ’s soldier: I am not allowed to fight.” When charged with cowardice, he is said to have offered to stand in front of the battle line armed only with the sign of the cross. He was imprisoned but was soon discharged.

Legend holds that while he was still in the military and a catechumen of the faith, Martin cut his cloak in half to share it with a beggar. That night, he dreamed that Jesus himself was clothed with the torn cloak. When he awoke, the garment was restored. Moved by this vision and apparent miracle, Martin immediately finished his religious instruction and was baptized at age 18.

On leaving the Roman army, Martin settled at Poitiers, under the guidance of Bishop Hilary. He became a missionary in the provinces of Pannonia and Illyricum (now in the Balkan Peninsula), where he opposed Arianism, a heresy that denied the divinity of Christ. In 360 he rejoined Hilary at Poitiers. Martin then founded a community of hermits at Ligugé, the first monastery in Gaul. In 371 he was made bishop of Tours, and outside that city he founded another monastery, Marmoutier, to which he withdrew whenever possible.

During his lifetime, Martin acquired a reputation as a miracle worker, and he was one of the first nonmartyrs to be publicly venerated as a saint."

Lanterns
One story surrounding St. Martin involves his donkey becoming lost in the woods at night and children helping him to find the donkey with lanterns.  This transformed into a tradition of a parade of children with lanterns on St. Martin's day. There is an old tradition of using a root vegetable carved into a lantern that probably grew into our pumpkin jack o'lanterns.

Your jack o'lantern is probably long gone by the time St. Martin's rolls around on November 11th, so maybe instead of lighting that you could make lanterns another way: luminaries (paper bags with some sand in the bottom and a small votive candle, hole-punched tin cans, mason jar lanterns, or paper mache lanterns. 

The Beggar
Saint Martin is best known for sharing his cloak with the beggar.  Perhaps a recognition and remembrance of St. Martin's generosity would be to follow his example by giving away warm clothes and coats to those in need.  Spend the day culling clothes and deliver them to an organization that will get them to those in need.

Fall Feasting
In the Medieval church, the time of preparation for Christmas began in the middle of November. People saw St. Martin's (which occurred right before Advent), as a mini-Mardi Gras type celebration before the fasting of Advent began. This, of course, is also a time of harvest and putting up food and supplies for the winter.  It was a natural impulse to have a feast to celebrate, and on St. Martin's day a fat goose was the tradition.  This tradition continued well into the Renaissance and then came over to America with the settlers (in Virginia first and then in Plymouth), where it became a turkey very quickly!  It might be hard to pull off a big feast on St. Martin's day with Thanksgiving right around the corner, though.  But it is fun to know where this tradition originated.

Instead, perhaps a different type of "feast"?  This time of year is when vintners begin tasting the year's new wine.  Beaujolais Nouveau is still realeased right around mid-November, so why not find one to enjoy on St. Martin's day!

Another idea for modified feasting is to serve items that can be cut or torn in half and shared with the person beside you.

A Roman Soldier, Armistice Day and Veteran's Day
At the end of World War I, November 11th was chosen as the day for the ceasefire.  Was this just a wonderful coincidence that they choose a day on which people had traditionally celebrated a former Roman Sodier who became a Christian and gave up warfare?  That's a good question that I haven't found an answer to...but I have a suspicion that someone chose it purposely.  Regardless, it is a wonderful day to remember our Veterans (as we do in America) and give thanks for them and pray for soldiers and those affected by war all over the world.

A good children's book: 
Snow on Martinmas by Sleightholm

Coloring Page:
I found this lovely copy of the El Greco for coloring.

More reading:
St Martin traditions
Martinmas Lantern Walk
Some interesting articles on Martinmas