Advent

"O come ,O come Emmanuel... "

is a beautiful hymn that hearlds in the Advent Season.

Tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent, time to light your first advent candle.

Advent comes from the latin word"adventus" meaning, "coming",

expectant waiting.

I don't remember doing much to observe Advent when I was a child at home..

In the States, Christmas trees and decorations go up so quickly in December, they seem to over shadow, the Advent time of preparation for the Nativity.

I happened to be in a fall unit when I was in BVS, and still in New Windsor in December; and it was there that I made my first Advent wreath. One of our young leaders had spent a few years as a volunteer in Germany, and she introduced us to the wreath.

The Advent wreath is a Germanic tradition. The form, round, of the wreath

evokes the sun and announces its return. The Christains took up this tradition giving another significance to it. That of waiting for the return of Jesus, not only his Nativity at Christmas, but his second coming, too.

For four Sundays prior to Christmas a candle is lit.

The tradition is to use purple candles, but I never knew this and started making the wreathes with red candles....and now that I do know, I still use red candles because I think they're so much more festive!

Making a wreath has long become a tradition for me.

I love finding the branches, washing and drying them , and making them into wreathes...I've kind of run out of ideas as far as decorating them goes, but each year's is a bit different.

Observing advent , is a perfect way to preparer for Christmas, to remind ourselves, our kids and grandkids of its true meaning.

I received a lovely Christmas card one year. It showed two little angels kneeling beside the manger, one is saying to the other,

" His name is Jesus, He is the reason for the season".

In all the hustle and bustle of the moment, let's not forget the little angels' words!

Here's wishing you all a very Happy, Meaningful Advent;