The Keeping of Advent
(The Harris Family)
Thursday was all prepared. We had the turkey, the potatoes, the stuffing, the dinner rolls, a pie given from a friend, and green beans amandine. My kids had all come down with a virus that week, but were recovering. My mom and dad were visiting from Canada, and our house was full of anticipation for the week of celebrations. Around noon that Thanksgiving Day, the pesky little virus had found me next. Alas, Thanksgiving Day carried on without me.
Friday was the day we were to head out into the woods of the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest to chop down our Christmas tree, a new tradition we love to do together. We purchase our $5 pass from the Ranger Station and drive west. We bring hot cocoa in a thermos and enjoy the sips in the frosty snow-covered forest. If there’s enough snow, there’s sledding too. It’s one of our favorite ways to celebrate as Thanksgiving feasts give way to Advent preparation. That year would not be one of those years due to this unanticipated illness.
Traditions and holidays are a joyful and creative way for us to celebrate the meaningful events of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. But when plans change and expectations are unmet, we can throw our hands in the air or we can choose watchfulness. Sometimes we do both. In the quiet hours of isolation, I thought through our plans for celebrating Advent at home with our family.
We’ve been keeping the season of Advent ever since our kids were little. Through the years, we added new traditions, homemade crafts, advent wreaths, festive activities, several devotional style readings, and of course our favorite Swiss chocolates. These traditions help us to engage with the stories of our faith. In keeping Advent, we are practicing remembering… and eating delicious chocolate!
In 1 Samuel, we read that God helped the Israelites when the Philistines sought to engage them in battle. To commemorate this victory, Samuel set up a stone of remembrance so that the people would never forget what God had done for them:
“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’ “ 1 Samuel 7:12.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
-Psalm 71:18
The man-made traditions of the church calendar are like little “Ebenezers” that help us to remember the mighty deeds of God, and teach us year after year to pass them to the next generation. God has given us creativity and imaginations to steward, and there are a plethora of ways to help each other “remember”! Here are some of ours:
We’ve had various types of Christmas trees (real, fake, a wooden cut out, a tiny charlie brown tree) but our favorite is to chop down our own tree (even if it means risking one’s life on Mt Baker - ask Craig about that one!) on or around the day after Thanksgiving. We decorate while listening to Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown Christmas and drinking hot cocoa with whip cream.
I enjoy filling a basket with Advent and Christmas-themed picture books, even now that my kids are older. When guests come to visit, kids can rummage through the basket to find something fun to read.
We celebrate St Nicholas Day on Dec 6th with stockings. Inspired by a friend, we started this tradition in the early years of babies and toddlers. We wanted Christmas to be focused on Jesus’ incarnation, so what were we going to do about Santa? He was literally everywhere! I asked an older woman in my church what they did with Santa. My friend said that they celebrated St Nicholas Day to teach their kids about where the legend of Santa Claus came from. He was a Christian pastor who lived long ago and loved God and people. He was a generous man who was known for secretly giving gifts to people in need. Some of my ancestors were German, and tradition there has children leaving shoes outside their door the night of Dec 5th. In the morning, they open the door and find little treats and gifts in their stockings. We decided to go with this European tradition and open our stockings on this day as we celebrate God’s grace in the life of Pastor Nicholas and the impact he had on his community for the glory of God. Since then, we’ve been able to enjoy Santa a whole lot more!
Our advent calendar has been the biggest hit of the season. Inspired by a couple friends, I put together an old white window frame, tied up red ribbon and make paper pockets date-stamped for every day of advent. Inside the pockets were instructions of special things we would do that day, whether it was a Christmas cookie playdate, driving around to see the christmas lights, having a special hot cocoa with candy cane sticks, making almond rocha, watching a christmas movie, doing a craft, baking something for the neighbors, etc. Along with the activity, there was a devotional reading for the day. (None of these things were done perfectly or consistently or even every year! We don’t even get to half the pockets most years!)
We prepare an advent wreath for the dinner table. For years I have made my own wreath for our table with 4 candles to mark the arrival of each Sunday of advent and a white Christ candle for the center to be lit on Christmas Day. The kids have loved taking turns to get the pocket for the day and open up the scripture verse. They eat a chocolate during our devotional around the table.
Family traditions are a familiar thread that weaves itself through the story of our years and the constant changing seasons of life. They are traditions that hopefully our kids will take with them to enjoy in their families and to continue to tell the mighty deeds of God to the next generation.
In the quiet of that Saturday morning, with enough strength to brave the tree nursery, my dad and I took my kids, while my mom and husband were the next to get sick. We picked out the Christmas tree and decorated while mid-winter carols and Charlie Brown Christmas serenaded us in the background. I prepared the mantel with branch clippings, candles and acorns. I had dehydrated some sliced orange pieces I wanted to use as well.
My dad was sitting in the chair nearest the tree, and I asked him if he was watching the game or reading, and he said quietly, “I’m just reading in 1 Corinthians.” My father, meeting with the Word-made-flesh in the quiet of the early afternoon. I sat beside him and threaded my dried orange slices. Together, we listened quietly to the carols that would accompany my family through the watchful season. It was the beginning of Advent.