Reflecting on Advent

Advent this year was a little more fruitful than in years past.  I tried extra hard to get all the shopping done before advent started and was mostly successful.  We decided to postpone most of the decorating until Christmas Eve.  This really opened up my schedule.  Probably the biggest help was being on bed rest... really forced me to slow down this season and choose carefully events/activities which were most worth while.

We had nice and very helpful visits from friends and family.  This year we had two main traditions that we focused on.

1. Jesse Tree - This was a big success.  The boys loved putting the felt pieces on each day and learning all the Bible stories.

2. Advent Wreath & Singing O Come O Come Emmanuel - The little prayer books are just too long for kids and especially now, they are too little to understand the prayers so this year we just sang the first verse of O Come O Come Emmanuel.  Some friends from Pittsburgh turned me on to this idea last year and it worked out great for us.  (Do all kids love to sing prayers as much as mine?)  I also made "jingle bracelets" this year for them to shake during the "rejoice" parts ... another stolen idea from friends.  Of course lighting and blowing out the candles of the wreath are half the fun too.

When we got home from Christmas travels and I packed up the Advent stuff, the boys were very disappointed.  I was glad they noticed things were different.  It feels like a small victory for my domestic church reflecting the liturgical season goal. :)

For my personal prayer life I found I could really relate to Mary being pregnant and expecting her baby.  And with all the people coming to take care of me, I also could relate to Elizabeth and felt just very blessed.  It isn't the easiest thing to stay on the couch, but it helped to be encouraged by another friend who has gone through preterm labor and bed rest too.

Hope you had a blessed Advent!

Making turkeys for Thanksgiving.  I know, this doesn't go here but I thought they were making cookies ... just pretend this is them making Christmas cookies because they did a lot of that too.  Thanks Mom!

Nativity cookies which were made by my kids and their friends... they didn't last the day.

 The boys loved going to get the tree and especially "helping" Daddy get it off the roof.

One of my prouder bed rest moments.  We made car ramps out of boxes and scissors and tape.  The boys got REALLY into it.  Yes, this has nothing to do with Advent but it happened during Advent so tah dah!  :)