It may seem too soon to some to start talking about the holidays, but I came to grips last year with the fact that I have not enjoyed celebrating Christmas for several years. And I feel very guilty about that fact. As a kid I drove my mom NUTS-O by begging to put up the tree, searching for hidden presents, and staying hyped up on fudge and cookies for 3 weeks straight. When I began to loose interest in all the “Christmas fluff” I chocked it up to the fact that I didn’t have kids and well, Christmas is for kids, right?
But then I did have kids. And the excitement didn’t automatically return. I have been through several holiday seasons now just going through the motions and doing what is expected of me. Planning a holiday party for our office staff, birthday party for Savannah, gift exchanges, mom’s group parties, family get togethers, church events, cookie bakes, friends dinner parties, school functions, etc. The list goes on and on. It’s too stressfull and exhausting to be any fun at all.
And last year was the last straw for me. I am calling it quits on the season of “go and do and see and be seen and by the way, bring a wrapped gift for the exchange”. I’m completely OVER IT! This is Christmas for CRYING OUT LOUD!!!! It’s about family and togetherness and snuggling around the fireplace singing carols while sipping on mugs of hot cocoa, dammit!
Which brings me to why I’m talking about it today of all days. Over the weekend I ordered a few books for my new Advent tradition and they have arrived. It has gotten me so excited!!! What is my new Advent tradition? I’m so glad you asked!
First of all, do you know what Advent means? It is a “season observed in preparation of Christmas”. It starts on the 4th Sunday before Christmas each year and is commonly represented by an Advent wreath, which holds 4 candles. Each candle is symbolic, and I won’t go into that here, but basically one is lit each week leading up to Christmas day.
So now that you know what Advent means, isn’t it totally appropriate that I would get out of the “Christmas Rat Race” by starting a tradition that uses the calming effect of candles to get our minds re-focused on what this season is all about? This is just so cool, I cannot wait until December 2nd!
Anyways, back to my plan. Before Advent starts, I’m going to individually wrap the kids Christmas books that they already own, plus the 5 new ones that I got super cheap on Amazon. Then, each night at bedtime, we will light a candle and they can choose one book to unwrap. Then we will read it together as a family. Now, I do not have enough books for them to unwrap a new one each night of Advent (which I think is about 23 days this year), but my kids are still young enough that they enjoy repetition, so that will not be an issue.
I think this is a wonderful tradition because as the kids get older they will have more and more books to choose from. This can be something they look forward to each year that will be calming in the midst of such busyness. And I hope they will always have pleasant memories of the weeks leading up to Christmas, rather than this being the time of year when it was best not to disturb Mom.
***And just so you know, I totally stole the idea from Chris! Feel free to do the same if it sounds like somethig your family would enjoy too!***
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