Botticelli, “The Annunciation”
Lately there’s been a whole cascade of encounters that have made me think that we need to talk more about Advent.
People saying Christmas ends on the 26th; people being burnt out on Christmas by Christmas Day; and housekeeping plans that tell you to take the tree and decorations down starting the 26th so you can have a “clean house” by January First are all a part of this.
We have forgotten about Advent.
Now, I’m guilty of wanting to play Christmas music in December. :) (This is because there is SO MUCH GOODNESS of it that it takes months to listen to fully!) I put my tree up after Thanksgiving. It’s true. My grandparents put their tree up on Christmas Eve. So I realize that it may not seem like I’m big into Advent.
But I love Advent. I love keeping the baby Jesus out of the crib until Christmas Eve. I love the readings of Advent, and the music of Advent. I love the delicious waiting, as Mother Mary Francis says. * (Link goes to my all time favorite Advent book!)
We need to re-adjust. We can decorate slowly. We can save the parties for the actual Christmas season, which begins Christmas Day and goes for at least twelve days! In the old church calendar, Christmas was a forty day season that ended on Candlemas! (February 2) Yes, you can keep your nativity up that long (and your tree if you’re like me and have a fake one that won’t catch fire!)
Are there things we can do during advent to prepare for Christmas? Of course. We celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. We light the candles on the Advent wreath. We leave shoes out for St. Nicholas. St. Lucy’s Day is a great day to celebrate the coming of the Light of the World and to make St. Lucia Buns!
But the solemnity, the season, of Christmas begins December 25. It’s not over December 26. It’s a season. It’s a big old period for joy.
And likewise, Advent is a season—in preparing for that joy. For making our houses “fair as you are able” (People Look East)
Leila has a wonderful post about this, and it’s a great idea to incorporate some of these into your Christmas. I’ve tried to do this as well—I love the cocoa party idea, for example. Even if you’re single like I am, you can still celebrate the 12 days! I used to love taking time off after Christmas not just for our family reunion but for unwinding around the house and reading all my Christmas books!
If you’d like to celebrate Advent this year, just a note: Advent doesn’t start December 1 and go through the 24th. (I see this a lot.) It properly starts four Sundays before Christmas—this year it starts November 27. It’s movable, just like Lent’s start date is movable. So the first Sunday of Advent is November 27, the second is December 4, the third is December 11, and the fourth is December 18. Yes, we have the longest Advent possible this year, because it’s four full weeks! Sometimes the “fourth week” is really just a few hours, since the fourth Sunday of Advent can also be Christmas Eve.
If you need candles for your wreath, you can check here and here.
Living the season liturgically gives us time to prepare, and time to enjoy. It’s not all crammed together in a stress ball of madness!
BONUS: Here’s my favorite version of Veni, Veni (O Come, O Come Emmanuel):