Advent is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.
For Christians, the season of Advent serves as a reminder both of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews for the birth of their Messiah as well as the waiting of Christians for Christ’s return.
There are many ways to celebrate Advent. For our family, it’s a time of focusing on Jesus, the true reason for this season, and turning away from the worldly celebration of the holiday.
What We Use to Celebrate Advent
We use this simple Advent Wreath (see photo above) that I made. I purchased the bare wreath at Hobby Lobby for $5 (50% off). I also purchased six floral picks and the white pillar candle at 50% off from Hobby Lobby. The tea light holders and tea lights are from Dollar Tree. The hurricane glass is one that I already have and use throughout the year.
The total cost to make the wreath was $15.84. We’ll use it year after year.
How We Use the Advent Wreath
Traditionally, five Sundays are chosen. As many of you know, we are a stepfamily, which means we often are not all under the same roof. This makes it hard to do a family devotion every night or on five consecutive Sundays, so we choose five nights out of the month. The nights may vary according to our schedule.
On the chosen night, we gather as a family around the Advent Wreath.
We have five children so each night they take turns lighting the candle(s). On the first night, we light one candle, the second night we light two candles and so on.
While the candle burns, I give a devotion and we pray.
The devotions cover various topics from year to year but all focus on Jesus…
- being fully God, yet fully man
- the sacrifice He made for us
- the promise & hope He holds for us
- our personal response to Him
The final night is Christmas Eve. The culmination of the month’s anticipation. On this night all five candles are lighted with the center candle representing Jesus, the Light of the World!
Does your family celebrate Advent? Tell me how?
It’s funny that you posted this. We have never celebrated Advent before, either growing up, as a couple, or as a family. I decided to start it this year. We have the same wreath from Hobby Lobby and some red taper candles with a white pillar in the middle (yes, all 50% off at Hobby Lobby). We have an Advent devotional guide from church that is guiding us through it, since we’re Advent newbies (available at the Crossings Community Church bookstore for $2: http://crossingsokc.org/bookstore/). To make Advent more meaningful for a 3-year-old, each Sunday we are also reading a bit of the book “What God Wants for Christmas” (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1602004285/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=nix9to5-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1602004285) and opening a figure from the set to add to the nativity scene. After last Sunday, our first Advent celebration, Bear kept saying, “I want to do more Abbent.” I guess he likes it! We’re also doing an activity-based Advent calendar that I’m going to blog about as soon as I get around to it . . .
Thank you for this post. My family are newbies as well and to be honest I had no idea what Advent was. We too are a stepfamily with 5 children so I will definitely be trying out this idea. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.